Rank the Albums Again. This Time Weighted! #1: Vitalogy

[Iholdthepain]

This is serious stuff, guys!

[chewm]

Why dont we rank the whole catalog? This time weighted!

[BurtReynolds]

Why dont we rank the whole catalog? This time weighted!

that day will come, make no mistake about it.

[Lament]

I really didn't mean to judge -- sorry if I caused offense, by all means listen to what you want to. But surely you can understand how that type of remark could come off as typical "I'm going to call attention to myself via an outlandish claim about how much I don't like Pearl Jam anymore" RM bullshit, yeah?

Fair enough, but I hope I made myself clear that that isn't what I'm trying to do. At no point did I say anything about disliking the rest of the catalog. If anyone wants to read it as being a slap against Pearl Jam, I'll probably never be able to convince them otherwise. But I choose to see it as a testament to the greatness of Vitalogy.

From the time I was fifteen, at every single point in my life I've either been working a job that revolved around music, been very actively performing music live, or both. To this day. I know everyone says that "Music is my life," but a cursory glance at my existence will tell you that, huh, it might really be mine. And as I get to the point where some of the artists I've been into have been in my life for over two decades...well, twenty years is a long time to be listening to anything. Especially when there's more new music (and easier access to old music) than there's ever been before. If music really is your life, it gets harder and harder with each passing year for the stuff you grew up with the make the cut on their own merits.

So when I look at an album like Vitalogy that does, that's a mind-bending achievement in my eyes. When I think about the first twenty-five or so CDs I ever owned and 24 of them wouldn't make my all-time top 100 but one of them might be my third favorite album ever, that's pretty striking to me. When I look back at the albums that got me through my formative mid-teen years and this stands above them all for me, ahead of anything by U2 or Radiohead or Prince or Public Enemy, or Depeche Mode or Oasis or The Who, that's amazing. When I throw in everything I went on to discover and love in my late-teens and twenties up to this very day, from the Manics to Kanye to PJ Harvey, Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Wonder, Sly & the Family Stone, the Clash, Public Image Limited, Rilo Kiley, Outkast, and everything else, and I see Vitalogy still sitting in the top five as the rest of the catalog slides a bit further down with each new great album I discover and fall in love with...well fuck it. That's an absolutely astonishing piece of work as far as I'm concerned. And it's worth all 100 points I gave it.

[The Argonaut]

I'm still not convinced.

[BurtReynolds]

[Lament]

That's fine. I'll head back to the Kanye, Uniform Aesthetics, and whatif threads where I belong.

[tommymtcom]

That's fine. I'll head back to the Kanye, Uniform Aesthetics, and whatif threads where I belong.

Thanks.

[E.H. Ruddock]

That's fine. I'll head back to the Kanye, Uniform Aesthetics, and whatif threads where I belong.

No. You are better when you branch out

[Iholdthepain]

That's fine. I'll head back to the Kanye, Uniform Aesthetics, and whatif threads where I belong.

Thanks.

WTF?!

I agree with Ruddo...

[Jorge]

Goddammit, you guys scared Lament away again!!!

[BurtReynolds]

this is why we can't have nice things.

[Jorge]

4/5, can I send you a revised weighing? I want to make a few small changes.

[Kaius]

19
18
14
11
11
11
9
4
2
1

[Iholdthepain]

RIP RM!

[The Argonaut]

Thank you for having us to your dinner party. The wife and I had a truly nice time.your dinner party. The wife and I had a truly nice time.

[BurtReynolds]

If you guys played auction draft fantasy football you'd know how to do this right!

[epilogue]

That's fine. I'll head back to the Kanye, Uniform Aesthetics, and whatif threads where I belong.

I love Lament. And I love his participation. But this kind of post really bugs me. Blech. It's so fucking passive aggressive and childish. And insulting.

Lament, buddy, you know full well that's not at all what anyone is saying. You ain't gotta play it like that.

[LoathedVermin72]

Team Lament

[tommymtcom]

Is the other team Team Kevin Davis or Team Argo?