Red Mosquito

Go vs. Jeremy

Oof. Both top 15 songs for me. Both essential. Both loved.

Go

Go is rather special

Both phenomenal songs, but Jeremy feels more singular - excepting maybe Alive and RVM their best mid tempo anthem. And the video is still pretty powerful. Go is great, but I do have 4-5 pearl jam songs doing something similar I like just a little bit more (including Animal). Easy vote for Jeremy despite how good Go is.

Two great wind ups for both of these songs too, but there is something just a little more magical about the rumbling opening chords to Jeremy. And the vamping that happens for the last two minutes of Jeremy, the combination of wordless despair, sadness, and empathy is pretty powerful. Go has adrenaline in spades, but Jeremy captures more of what Pearl Jam does so uniquely well.


And the woooaaaaa moment starting at around 4:16 in the video is a catalog highlight.


I wonder if Jeremy should be in my top 10.

More great hidden moments in jeremy as well, like the 'hidden' scream underneath the scream around 4:47 (again, video time)

If anyone wants a summary of stip’s long posts, he basically says vote for Go

If I didn't have 7 other threads to get to...

Voting Jeremy, which is likely a new development. I lived in a world for many years in contempt of that song, mostly because it is such a big hit it obscures many of the great things about Pearl Jam. The c’mon man, Pearl Jam is more than just Jeremy argument. But time has a way, and with the song has melded into the larger landscape of the band’s catalogue than defined it. And in that space, it’s become a genius of a song for me. Like many notes already, the payoff in the second half of the song is nearly unmatched (Alive, Porch, and Release might have bigger payoffs but its close). The intensity is a thing of wonder on this one, especially live.

Go is amazing, and part of that one-two punch with Animal that is likely responsible for the birth of my hardcore fandom. I take nothing away from it other than it doesn’t do as much for me these days as the other song it is up against...but this is damn close.

liebzz wrote:The payoff in the second half of the song is nearly unmatched (Alive, Porch, and Release might have bigger payoffs but its close). The intensity is a thing of wonder on this one, especially live.

Unmatched, if you ask me. This is a Jeremy vote without hesitation.

Black too. The back end payoffs on Ten are next level.

These would be in the running for my two favorite songs on their respective albums. But I'm giving the edge to Go; they may have better album openers, faster songs, but they've really only managed to capture the particular combination of anxiety and exuberance that one time.

digster wrote:These would be in the running for my two favorite songs on their respective albums. But I'm giving the edge to Go; they may have better album openers, faster songs, but they've really only managed to capture the particular combination of anxiety and exuberance that one time.

I don't know. I kind of feel like they caught something very similar in the song that immediately follows. Maybe not anxiety, but still something that feels adjacent.

They're certainly similar as far as PJ goes, but I personally disagree. Animal's a bit more conventionally pummeling. To me, the most notable part of Go (especially on the studio cut) is that piece right after Mike's first solo, before the last run-through of the chorus. There's this great combo of precision in the playing while simultaneously feeling they're on a precipice.

stip wrote:

digster wrote:These would be in the running for my two favorite songs on their respective albums. But I'm giving the edge to Go; they may have better album openers, faster songs, but they've really only managed to capture the particular combination of anxiety and exuberance that one time.

I don't know. I kind of feel like they caught something very similar in the song that immediately follows. Maybe not anxiety, but still something that feels adjacent.

This is why Animal underwhelms me just a bit. I think Go is superior and too tough an act to follow for something roaming around in the same headspace.

tragabigzanda wrote:Jeremy, but I could be convinced otherwise

Remember when you first got Vs. You popped that CD (cassette for me) and you heard that first new music from them since the Singles soundtrack. (Or the VMAs if you watched that and saw Animal). The opening starts and it’s a fucking kicking drum groove while the guitars and bass kinda noodle around and warm up. Then they stop. Dave counts it off...


BAM



...and we never looked back.

Both Top 10

Jeremy is the song that made me fall in love with Pearl Jam.

I originally went with Go but listened and changed my vote. Both great great tunes.