The E.H. Ruddock Memorial Rank the Lead Singles Thread

[stip]

So the purpose of this thread is to rank your INITIAL reaction to the lead singles off of pearl jam records. If you were not listening or don't recall your reaction don't include them.

1. World Wide Suicide--easily my strongest reaction to a lead single ever. Still one of my favorite pearl jam songs but the energy in this song was EXACTLY what I needed Pearl Jam to give me coming off of the album I like the least

2. Given To Fly
3. The Fixer

These two are very close and I'm remembering back 15 years with GTF, but two songs I love that felt good at the time and got played to death. GTF probably gets the nod for the same reasons as WWS. Following an album that I felt a bit let down by I needed a huge song that did everything I like. The Fixer is just a really enjoyable song

4. Mind Your Manners
5. I Am Mine

I'm not sure which of these I liked more. I'm gonna say MYM, but I'm really not sure. I am Mine is one of my favorite pearl jam songs, and I don't think MYM will ever overtake it, but MYM might have been more enjoyable on first listen. I doubt I played I am Mine nearly as often the day it released


6. Spin the Black Circle
7. Nothing as It Seems
8. Who You Are

Probably that order. STBC and Who You Are both came out at what was probably the height of my fandom (at least insofar as pearl jam eclipsed everything else), but Who You Are felt like a mess (it was years before I appreciated its charms) and did not bode well for No code, and STBC was too loud and abrasive for what seemed like a song about a guy who liked vinyl. It was Pearl Jam's first real thrashy song, and that's never been my favorite style of theirs. Nothing As It Seems was just a hard song to love as a single, and I think I was mad at it for not being grievance.

[Jorge]

1. Worldwide Suicide
2. Mind Your Manners
3. The Fixer

Those are the only lead singles I was around to experience as a listener-- like an actual fan-fan.

(Not a lead single, so maybe off-topic: the first "new song" I experienced after becoming an actual fan was "Man of the Hour", and I fell head-over-heels in love with it immediately. If that had been an album single, it would've topped my list easily)

[dimejinky99]

I have my uses. Limited as they may be:)

[stip]

1. Worldwide Suicide
2. Mind Your Manners
3. The Fixer

Those are the only lead singles I was around to experience as a listener-- like an actual fan-fan.

(Not a lead single, so maybe off-topic: the first "new song" I experienced after becoming an actual fan was "Man of the Hour", and I fell head-over-heels in love with it immediately. If that had been an album single, it would've topped my list easily)

i can only assume Ole would be number 2 on your list, then.

[stip]

man of the hour probably would have been in the 4-6 area for me. I thought it was a very powerful song, but it's also not the kind of song one plays to death 20 times in a row, which I think a lead single should be

[Thejambi]

Moved from the other thread.

Initial reaction :
Nais
I Am Mine
WWS
Mind Your Manners
GTF
The Fixer
STBC
Who You Are

Currently:
NAIS
WWS
Who You Are
GTF
I Am Mine
The Fixer
STBC

Need time with MYM.

[Blenheim Augustine]

Ranking

Go - made Ten sound like a distant memory - tight, efficient, aggresive, fun.
Given To Fly - I fell in love with this song and played it over and over.
Mind Your Manners - I am really liking this tune as a single and in terms of what it might mean for the album following a disappointing Backspacer - it also makes me look at Backspacer as messy preparation for a great album.
Spin the black Circle - raw, aggressive, punky, "this isn't Vs" - said the "Not For You" message clearer than Not For You.
I am Mine - I did like this song when it came out, but it was slightly underwhelming as a single
Nothing As it Seems - played the b-side (insignificance) more than the A-side - I love the song but I have no idea why this was chosen as a single. Was it an anti-choice like WYA or just Ed being a douche?
World Wide Suicide - the chorus is abysmal, I remember being disappointed by this
Who You Are - Confused.com.
The Fixer - A low point in my fandom. The only single that I don't actually like as a song.

[Heathen]

man of the hour probably would have been in the 4-6 area for me. I thought it was a very powerful song, but it's also not the kind of song one plays to death 20 times in a row, which I think a lead single should be

it's actually exactly the kind of songs I play to death 20 times in a row

if we're only going by the singles we heard outside the album, I'm like the shitty 80's French pop fan above and only have these to play with:

MYM
WWS
The Fixer

Actually I'm not even 100% sure I've heard WWS before hearing the self-titled. Anyway...

These are three songs that would never had me checking out their respective album if I weren't familiar with the band. The Fixer is pure garbage, WWS is pretty bad and MYM looks like an okay song in a genre I don't care about. So yeah, give me Man of the Hour any day over these.

[digster]

Since I got on board....

Nothing As It Seems
I Am Mine

are the two top ones, NAIS in particular being pretty amazing. WWS and Mind Your Manners are pretty much on the same level after that and The Fixer unsurprisingly brings up the rear.

[Thejambi]

man of the hour probably would have been in the 4-6 area for me. I thought it was a very powerful song, but it's also not the kind of song one plays to death 20 times in a row, which I think a lead single should be

Man of the Hour would be a solid 2 or 3 spot on my list. It is the type of song that i enjoy the most from Pearl Jam.
Side note i think it is brilliant at the end of Big Fish.

[Thurman Murman]

1. Go - Convinced me early on that Ten wasn't going to be just a one off. Great lead single!

2. Who You Are - Didn't know what to make of it on first listen, but over the summer of 1996 it just kept growing on me. Didn't hurt that i also had Habit to listen to which was more in line with what i had grown to expect from the band at the time.

3. Spin The Black Circle - Don't particularly love this song, but at the time i was just eating up everything about this band. Also didn't hurt that they gave us Tremor Christ at the same time.

4. Given To Fly - Actually a song i've grown to love more over time...was sold as more of a return to form at the time.

5. Nothing As It Seems - Like Who You Are a bit of a wtf when i first heard it but just grew to love it. Still stands up as one of my favorite tracks from the bands second act.

6. I Am Mine - Nice pretty song but found it at tad boring at the time.

7. World Wide Suicide
8. Mind Your Manners
9. The Fixer

[tommymtcom]

Lead singles I experienced as a fan:

1 - NAIS - Song that got me into Pearl Jam
2 - I am Mine - Really liked this track when I first heard it on the Bridge school bootleg and the studio performance improved it quite a bit.
3 - Mind Your Manners - Best of the post-riot act punk songs, imo. Much prefer Eds vocal style here to the rockers on Avacado and BS
4 - The Fixer - Kinda stupid and cheesy, but it seems to know that and even revel in it.







5 - WWS - Hate, hate, hate this song. Probably my least favorite Pearl Jam song.

[darth_vedder]

Man, I barely remember from that long ago.

I remember hearing "Animal" via the MTV awards and that's when PJ got me. I knew it was a departure from 10, and I loved the raw and aggressive style (WITH A GROOVE!!!).

I bought Vs the day it came out, but I don't remember "Go" as a lead single. I must have partied that memory away.

All I remember hearing on the radio from Vitalogy at the time was Corduroy, and I instantly thought it was the best PJ song they've ever made (up to that point).

I completely missed out on No Code, so Who You Are went right passed me.

I loved GTF when I heard it, and it was up there with Corduroy for me.

I remember being a little underwhelmed by NAIS. I liked the song good enough, but it just didn't have any "radio hit" qualities at all to it (like GTF did). As time went on, I grew to appreciate this song more.

I Am Mine made me think Pearl Jam is officially old and boring now. I've warmed up to the song somewhat, but at the time, RA was a bummer for me.

I didn't like WWS at all, still don't.

The Fixer sucks.

MYM, is OK, but I still need to listen to it more. The best part of the song to me is the beginning, and it's only like 5 seconds.

[Kevin Davis]

Singles I experienced as a fan:

Given to Fly
Nothing As it Seems
Who You Are
The Fixer
World Wide Suicide
I Am Mine
Mind Your Manners

This list is a little deceptive since I'd had a live recording of "I Am Mine" for about a year prior to the album release, so when it came out it didn't really get any kind of special attention from me, as I was already familiar enough with it. I didn't really start listening to it until the whole album leaked. But if we're ranking the songs simply on the quality of the songs alone, it's higher up the list for me.

[EJ]

Its hard to rank first impressions of these since I'd heard a few live versions before they were released as singles: NAIS, I Am Mine.

Also, I don't remember when lead singles were released for Vs or Vitalogy. I bought both the day they came out and had actually heard other songs from each album before the singles came out.

[Thejambi]

Singles I experienced as a fan:

Given to Fly
Nothing As it Seems
Who You Are
The Fixer
World Wide Suicide
I Am Mine
Mind Your Manners

This list is a little deceptive since I'd had a live recording of "I Am Mine" for about a year prior to the album release, so when it came out it didn't really get any kind of special attention from me, as I was already familiar enough with it. I didn't really start listening to it until the whole album leaked. But if we're ranking the songs simply on the quality of the songs alone, it's higher up the list for me.

Yeah i had the bridge school NAIS and I am Mine well before the studio releases. I ended up liking the studio versions much more than the acoustic tracks i had.

[EJ]

Singles I experienced as a fan:

Given to Fly
Nothing As it Seems
Who You Are
The Fixer
World Wide Suicide
I Am Mine
Mind Your Manners

This list is a little deceptive since I'd had a live recording of "I Am Mine" for about a year prior to the album release, so when it came out it didn't really get any kind of special attention from me, as I was already familiar enough with it. I didn't really start listening to it until the whole album leaked. But if we're ranking the songs simply on the quality of the songs alone, it's higher up the list for me.

Yeah i had the bridge school NAIS and I am Mine well before the studio releases. I ended up liking the studio versions much more than the acoustic tracks i had.

I actually was a bit disappointed with the studio version of NAIS compared to what I'd previously heard from the Bridge School show. The live one blew me away when I first heard it - I couldn't get enough and was beyond excited for the album.

The studio version just sounds too muted. It wasn't a great choice for a lead single either. Its grown a bit on me, but its not nearly as good as some of the live versions of it. And, I generally prefer the studio versions of their songs.

[E.H. Ruddock]

So the purpose of this thread is to rank your INITIAL reaction to the lead singles off of pearl jam records.

Are you sure the purpose of this thread isn't

Spoiler: show

[solace]

1. Spin the Black Circle
2. Go
3. Given To Fly
4. Who You Are
5. Nothing As it Seems
6. Mind Your Manners
7. World Wide Suicide
8. I am Mine
9. The Fixer

[E.H. Ruddock]

Go

the rest