PearlJamSongRanker.com FINAL poll #24: Tracks 12 and beyond

[Chloe]

Yeah, me too... normally I really like Bugs. Guess today isn't one of those days.

[harmless]

My favourite album, featuring my favourite PJ song, but here's the best I could do:

Corduroy (Vitalogy, 1994)
Tremor Christ (Vitalogy, 1994)
Better Man (Vitalogy, 1994)
Nothingman (Vitalogy, 1994)
Last Exit (Vitalogy, 1994)
Immortality (Vitalogy, 1994)
Satans Bed (Vitalogy, 1994)
Not For You (Vitalogy, 1994)
Whipping (Vitalogy, 1994)
Spin The Black Circle (Vitalogy, 1994)
Bugs (Vitalogy, 1994)
Aya Davaita (Vitalogy, 1994)
Pry To (Vitalogy, 1994)
Hey Foxymophandlemama Thats Me (Vitalogy, 1994)

[stupidmop]

Tremor Christ (Vitalogy, 1994)
Immortality (Vitalogy, 1994)
Bugs (Vitalogy, 1994)
Better Man (Vitalogy, 1994)
Last Exit (Vitalogy, 1994)
Whipping (Vitalogy, 1994)
Satans Bed (Vitalogy, 1994)
Corduroy (Vitalogy, 1994)
Not For You (Vitalogy, 1994)
Spin The Black Circle (Vitalogy, 1994)
Aya Davaita (Vitalogy, 1994)
Nothingman (Vitalogy, 1994)
Hey Foxymophandlemama Thats Me (Vitalogy, 1994)
Pry To (Vitalogy, 1994)

There's not really a track on this that I really dislike, the last 3 are the ones I listen to the least though.

[Dr. Van Nostrand]

Immortality (Vitalogy, 1994)
Tremor Christ (Vitalogy, 1994)
Last Exit (Vitalogy, 1994)
Corduroy (Vitalogy, 1994)
Better Man (Vitalogy, 1994)
Not For You (Vitalogy, 1994)
Spin The Black Circle (Vitalogy, 1994)
Satans Bed (Vitalogy, 1994)
Nothingman (Vitalogy, 1994)
Whipping (Vitalogy, 1994)
Aya Davaita (Vitalogy, 1994)
Pry To (Vitalogy, 1994)
Bugs (Vitalogy, 1994)
Hey Foxymophandlemama Thats Me (Vitalogy, 1994)

[LetMeSleep]

Tremor Christ (Vitalogy, 1994)
Immortality (Vitalogy, 1994)
Last Exit (Vitalogy, 1994)
Corduroy (Vitalogy, 1994)
Not For You (Vitalogy, 1994)
Satans Bed (Vitalogy, 1994)
Whipping (Vitalogy, 1994)
Better Man (Vitalogy, 1994)
Spin The Black Circle (Vitalogy, 1994)
Aya Davaita (Vitalogy, 1994)
Nothingman (Vitalogy, 1994)
Bugs (Vitalogy, 1994)
Pry To (Vitalogy, 1994)
Hey Foxymophandlemama Thats Me (Vitalogy, 1994)

[Birds in Hell]

Tremor Christ (Vitalogy, 1994)
Last Exit (Vitalogy, 1994)
Corduroy (Vitalogy, 1994)
Spin The Black Circle (Vitalogy, 1994)
Immortality (Vitalogy, 1994)
Not For You (Vitalogy, 1994)
Satans Bed (Vitalogy, 1994)
Whipping (Vitalogy, 1994)
Nothingman (Vitalogy, 1994)
Better Man (Vitalogy, 1994)
Bugs (Vitalogy, 1994)
Pry To (Vitalogy, 1994)
Aya Davaita (Vitalogy, 1994)
Hey Foxymophandlemama Thats Me (Vitalogy, 1994)

[MattA75]

1.Better Man (Vitalogy, 1994)
2.Corduroy (Vitalogy, 1994)
3.Not For You (Vitalogy, 1994)
4.Last Exit (Vitalogy, 1994)
5.Nothingman (Vitalogy, 1994)
6.Immortality (Vitalogy, 1994)
7.Satans Bed (Vitalogy, 1994)
8.Tremor Christ (Vitalogy, 1994)
9.Spin The Black Circle (Vitalogy, 1994)
10.Whipping (Vitalogy, 1994)
11.Aya Davaita (Vitalogy, 1994)
12.Bugs (Vitalogy, 1994)
13.Pry To (Vitalogy, 1994)
14.Hey Foxymophandlemama Thats Me (Vitalogy, 1994)

[Farmer John]

Immortality (Vitalogy, 1994)
Corduroy (Vitalogy, 1994)
Not For You (Vitalogy, 1994)
Last Exit (Vitalogy, 1994)
Nothingman (Vitalogy, 1994)
Tremor Christ (Vitalogy, 1994)
Better Man (Vitalogy, 1994)
Satans Bed (Vitalogy, 1994)
Whipping (Vitalogy, 1994)
Spin The Black Circle (Vitalogy, 1994)
Aya Davaita (Vitalogy, 1994)
Bugs (Vitalogy, 1994)
Hey Foxymophandlemama Thats Me (Vitalogy, 1994)
Pry To (Vitalogy, 1994)

[Anders]

Vitalogy

Corduroy (Vitalogy, 1994)
Immortality (Vitalogy, 1994)
Better Man (Vitalogy, 1994)
Nothingman (Vitalogy, 1994)
Tremor Christ (Vitalogy, 1994)
Not For You (Vitalogy, 1994)
Spin The Black Circle (Vitalogy, 1994)
Last Exit (Vitalogy, 1994)
Satans Bed (Vitalogy, 1994)
Whipping (Vitalogy, 1994)
Aya Davaita (Vitalogy, 1994)
Bugs (Vitalogy, 1994)
Pry To (Vitalogy, 1994)
Hey Foxymophandlemama Thats Me (Vitalogy, 1994)

[Anders]

Whipping is overrated.

[Jorge]

Whipping is overrated.

agreed x100

[LetMeSleep]

Whipping is overrated.

Not true. It just suffers without Dave A.

[stupidmop]

WippeeeeennnnGAH is awesome

[stip]

Better Man (Vitalogy, 1994)
Immortality (Vitalogy, 1994)
Corduroy (Vitalogy, 1994)
Last Exit (Vitalogy, 1994)
Nothingman (Vitalogy, 1994)
Spin The Black Circle (Vitalogy, 1994)
Tremor Christ (Vitalogy, 1994)
Not For You (Vitalogy, 1994)
Whipping (Vitalogy, 1994)
Satans Bed (Vitalogy, 1994)
Aya Davaita (Vitalogy, 1994)
Bugs (Vitalogy, 1994)
Pry To (Vitalogy, 1994)
Hey Foxymophandlemama Thats Me (Vitalogy, 1994)


I disagree with myself already.

I like seeing Betterman in a number 1 slot

[Kral]

Not For You (Vitalogy, 1994)
Better Man (Vitalogy, 1994)
Last Exit (Vitalogy, 1994)
Corduroy (Vitalogy, 1994)
Immortality (Vitalogy, 1994)
Tremor Christ (Vitalogy, 1994)
Satans Bed (Vitalogy, 1994)
Nothingman (Vitalogy, 1994)
Spin The Black Circle (Vitalogy, 1994)
Whipping (Vitalogy, 1994)
Bugs (Vitalogy, 1994)
Pry To (Vitalogy, 1994)
Aya Davaita (Vitalogy, 1994)
Hey Foxymophandlemama Thats Me (Vitalogy, 1994)

[stip]

Whipping is overrated.

agreed x100

Is whipping thought of much beyond being a good song. It is buried pretty far down most lists.

[harmless]

Whipping is overrated.

Not true. It just suffers without Dave A.

Some of those early songs were written for Dave A. They pale without him. This is half the song without his aggression.

[LetMeSleep]

Whipping is overrated.

Not true. It just suffers without Dave A.

Some of those early songs were written for Dave A. They pale without him. This is half the song without his aggression.

This guy gets it.

[McParadigm]

Part of what makes Vitalogy interesting to me is that it defines what makes Pearl Jam interesting.

What is supposed to be their most self centered, "I'm angry because I'm famous" record is actually completely incapable of separating the experienced from the witnessed. It cannot let go of the big picture long enough to be self-centered, even when it wants to be...and as a result it's not really a record about self-pity or anger or even doubt (even if it indulges in each of those qualities)...it's a very primal and unedited expression of the desire for change.

Part of this means that it cannot dismiss or purposefully shun the fans that the band mattered most to...so it cannot let go of the music's most inviting emotional core, or intentionally disengage the way more internal (possibly more artistically direct) statements like In Utero try to do.

The other part is that it spends almost as much time in narrative or outward-looking concerns as it does in confessing its own sins and fears.

That's what makes this record more interesting to me than a lot of its contemporaries: that want for something better, not just for the self or the society, but just that feeling of running up against forces that deny or refuse change, even though you already have.

If I were to try and explain this band's output from the mid-90s until the self-titled record, I would say that they worked hard to limit their commercial standing but were too empathetic and emotionally honest to attempt the purposeful destruction of Neil Young or the massive tectonic shifts of David Bowie or Radiohead. This was a band of fans, at heart, and they couldn't bring themselves to actively dismiss the people who they really, genuinely mattered to. Genuineness is important, here. So they introduced subtle shadings, instead…Vitalogy was claw-mark intense, No Code almost sounded like a studio outtake bootleg (a la Basement Tapes) of a band whose collective voice was blown out, and even if Yield was a return to more inviting sounds it was still willful and a little bit backwards.

So Whipping has a place in the story. I never really understood the Vitalogy-as-anti-hero storyline. It weeps for the unloved, it aches for the one record that will change your life (as opposed to the one million that make you famous), and it rages as much about other people's problems as it does it's own. Even at its central core, it can't help promising that it doesn't want to take what you, the listener, can't give.

The subject of divinity (or perfection) pops up repeatedly on that record, as a force or idea or even a source of pressure. Mistrust or the comfort that skepticism provides are there, as well. Whipping is a good song for that record, because it wants both.

[malice]