Red Mosquito

They’re aren’t many for me. Most needed time to grow. I’m excluding Ten because the songs were infused on me over about a weeks time when a family friend played them over and over on a vacation.

Here’s my list as best I can remember:

Go
Rats
Nothingman
I Got ID
Red Mosquito
Brain of J
Breakerfall
Can’t Keep
You Are
All Night
Hold On
Fatal
Strangest Tribe
Life Wasted
Army Reserve
Amongst the Waves
Yellow Moon
Comes then Goes

My list would have to be reversed, as in Pearl Jam songs that took a while for me to appreciate.

This is an interesting question. My gut response was initially, "Probably a lot of them," but that really isn't the case; a lot of their songs really did require some warming up. A few easy ones though:

Go
Last Exit
Do the Evolution
Brain of J
Given to Fly
Man of the Hour
Marker In the Sand
Dance of the Clairvoyants

Really strong initial reactions to all of those.

*oh yeah, "Fatal" too -- that blew me away on first listen.

Yeah, there are far more that I liked on first listen than not. If I were to list them it would be obnoxious.

I can say I guess that Ten took a while to really sink in properly. I just didn’t deeply connect with it right away the same way my friends did…but the first time I heard Vs., every song hit me like a ton of bricks in late Fall 1993. I have been a fan ever since. All of the traditional rock songs on Vitalogy were love first listen and I proclaimed it the best of their albums immediately to the consternation of those same friends in ‘94. Loved No Code right away (Who You Are admittedly took some time), all of Yield on first listen, all of Binaural on first listen, most of Riot Act right away, all of s/t, mostly Backspacer, maybe 2/3 of Lightning Bolt and all of Gigaton on first listen. Same experience with most of their b-sides as well, but while those grew further and songs I took time for grew, it’s nearly all fabulous to me now. Maybe there are 5-10 songs in the whole catalogue, including b-sides, that I don’t care for.

Definitely the first three singles -- Even Flow, Alive and Jeremy took some time. But Once, Black, Oceans, Deep and Release were instant likes and sold me on the album.

Probably at least 2/3 of them. At least.

i'm here.

tragabigzanda wrote:Probably loved every song on blind principal until lightning bolt.

also, here.

Bammer wrote:Probably at least 2/3 of them. At least.

if there's a standout song, it's probably I Got ID.

During the middle years, about half their songs were growers for me…and the growers tended to become the favorites.

Once they replaced their unique brand of anthem-shy slapdashery with rock and roll professionalism for ST, the songs tended to work so hard at selling themselves that they didn’t leave a lot to reveal under the hood. Interesting but imperfect decisions were replaced with calculated draws. For those records, generally the most I was ever gonna like a song was in that first couple of weeks of release.

everything until Binaural

of the girl. loved it before it was even over.

World Wide Suicide was probably the song I liked the most on first listen

Do I have to have kept liking them?

Because some on my list are truly great, and some have gotten dull.

Given to Fly may have also been a love at first listen. Most have taken a few listens to unlock, if for no other reason than the resetting of expectations. Dance and Superblood are both 5 star songs for me that I adore and listen to constantly but I was lukewarm on each initial listen (Superblood especially).

Mind Your Manners and Fixer were also immediate love.

My first listen for everything post Riot Act is on one of the boards. If I was a better person I would have saved them in a separate file

B wrote:Do I have to have kept liking them?

Because some on my list are truly great, and some have gotten dull.

Good point. My sentiments exactly. The ones with the hook that get you at first listen are boring now whereas the growers are the ones I most enjoy. Live versions are a different story.

I can't even listen to vitalogy because I keep pressing the next button. That's not to say I wouldn't enjoy the shit out of hearing any song on there live

man, there are so many...

Most of them up to Backspacer, really.

Even Flow!