Pearl Jam's first singles

[stip]

Bracketing Ten, since they were an unknown, we have

Animal
Spin the black Circle
Who You Are
Given To Fly
Nothing As it Seems
I am Mine
World Wide Suicide
The Fixer



In most cases these are not the best songs on their respective albums, but are they indicative of those albums?

[warehouse]

i agree none of them are the best songs from any of their albums. 'no code' is probably when they started matching the first single w/ the feeling of the album pretty well.

[nightmareblack0206]

How dare you "bracket" 10......

[BurtReynolds]

Given to Fly is probably the only one that isnt indicative of its album. Maybe I Am Mine, but that album is all over the place.

[stip]

Given to Fly is probably the only one that isnt indicative of its album. Maybe I Am Mine, but that album is all over the place.

Not given to fly?


I was going to guess at the start that most of the singles were outliers, but looking at that list I don't know that I'd say that anymore. They all seem to point to the style and approach of each record, even if the song itself is somewhat unique.


It is pretty safe to assume that the album will be a fairly even split of fast songs, mid temp anthems, and slower pieces, regardless of the single

[Coach]

I loved Who You Are as a first single. Still do.

[digster]

Actually, I would say they do a pretty fair job of representing the records, for better or worse. Probably the only one that sticks out is I Am Mine; that feels like an easier pill to swallow in terms of its accessibility compared to Riot Act on the whole.

[WtOB?]

Nothing As It Seems and I Am Mine kind of are.

[McParadigm]

So no one's gonna point out that Go was the first single off Vs, eh?

[WtOB?]

Guys, Go was the first single off Vs.

[mastaflatch]

thanks for pointing that out.

[McParadigm]

If only I'd waited a moment longer

[BurtReynolds]

Given to fly doesn't sound like Yield to me . it screams "we interrupt this album to bring you our new hit single".

[stip]

So no one's gonna point out that Go was the first single off Vs, eh?

i did not know that.

[BurtReynolds]

Go, Animal, same difference

[nightmareblack0206]

ARE YOU PEOPLE FKN NUTS FOR BASING YOUR OPINION WITHOUT 10?!

[nightmareblack0206]

Stip....help me out here with these PJ babies. ...

[WtOB?]

Stip....help me out here with these PJ babies. ...

Bracketing Ten, since they were an unknown

[McParadigm]

Given to fly doesn't sound like Yield to me . it screams "we interrupt this album to bring you our new hit single".

I sort of disagree.

Given, like I Am Mine, is a distinctly open-armed moment relative to the surrounding creations. That much is true. However, I think all of the first singles have done a good job of foreshadowing how this album will be different from what you already know.

Go is just about as thrashy and removed from Ten's theatrical calculation as Vs gets. If you're hearing it for the first time, in 1993, you're being intentionally prepped for the tighter and less flashy sound to come. Black Circle captures many of the most jagged and howling sounds of Vitalogy, as well as the relative absence of "once there was this girl who wouldn't go and change with all the girls in the change room" type storytelling. And, if all you know of Pearl Jam is 1991-1995, Who You Are is a pretty definitive warning about how No Code is going to change all of that for you.

And Given to Fly, in early 1998, delivered two messages relative to what Pearl Jam had been during the last four years or so:
1. We're not afraid to sound like we love you, anymore.
2. We're a calmer, more introspective version of those guys who were all like "I'd rather be with etc" and stuff.

Given to Fly doesn't predict the record in terms of sound...but it is the best song on there for letting 1997 Pearl Jam hardcore Barkley K. Moneywallet what his fan club renewal is getting him into.

[Norah]

ARE YOU PEOPLE FKN NUTS FOR BASING YOUR OPINION WITHOUT 10?!

You're kind of missing the point of the thread.