Yes, it has been a whole quarter of a century since Pearl Jam released their second studio album, "Versus."
At the time, they were emerging as the world's biggest, most popular band, a title that they had unofficially taken from Nirvana. Kurt Cobain, the frontman for Nirvana, was pretty clearly jealous. The most Pearl Jam took the spotlight from him and his band, the more he unleashed scathing criticisms of Pearl Jam, saying that there was nothing alternative about Pearl Jam, and basically lambasting them at every turn.
True, Cobain made up, at least sort of. He famously slow danced with Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder at a music awards program.
Yet, those criticisms taking aim at Pearl Jam's credibility and alternative credentials persisted. Other prominent alternative musicians and artists have taken up that cause, including Radiohead's Thom Yorke, P.J. Harvey and the Smashing Pumpkins's Billy Corgan. And, of course, there was Courtney Love, who publicly suggested after Kurt Cobain's death by suicide that it should have been Eddie Vedder.
Indeed, those were some turbulent times during the salad days of grunge, when it still dominated the airwaves, and fresh, creative music seemed to be everywhere, and it seemed that rock music had never been stronger, or had a more promising future. After all, it was not all ridiculous, petty drama and transparent jealousy. That was one aspect of it, to be sure, but there was great music. Like the famous line from Charles Dickens to open "A Tale of Two Cities," you could argue that for grunge rock, it was the best of times, and it was the worst of times. Yes, the petty nonsense was undeniably there. Still, there was some incredible music being made by numerous bands, and much of it has withstood the test of time.
Obviously, times have changed.
But 25 years ago on this day, Pearl Jam released their second studio album, "Versus." It was actually not originally supposed to come out on this date, but Eddie Vedder changed the release date when he saw that his band's album was slated to be released on the exact same date as Nirvana's third studio album, 'In Utero." One thing that I always appreciated about Pearl Jam was that, rather than taking the bait and escalating the tensions between themselves and Nirvana, which would have made a very public feud between the two biggest bands in the world at the time, they always seemed to bend over backwards to diffuse the situation. Releasing "Versus" at a different date was just one of those aspects that illustrates this.
It is a great album, and helped solidify Pearl Jam's credentials as simply a great band, whatever label you wanted to pin on them. I am still a fan of the band, but back then, was a huge fan, to the point that some thought I was obsessed with them. But part of it was that it seemed amazing to me that a band that was so conscientious, so aware, could make it so big, even though they hardly seemed to pull any punches with their overall message. I found their incredible energy very appealing, and felt that I could relate to their anger, to their desire to mean something, to their desire to protest what they felt was wrong. "Versus" helped to further all of this, and helped also to not only shape the band, but to give them a bit of a different direction musically.
A great album, released on this day 25 years ago.
The Courtship of Eddie Vedder: Our December 1993 Cover Story on Pearl Jam by Jim Greer October 19 2018:
https://www.spin.com/featured/pearl-jam-1993-eddie-vedder-interview-cover-story/
Eddie Vedder on the cover of Time. Pearl Jam and Nirvana at No. 1. In the fall of 1993, grunge was king. By Allison Stewart October 12, 2018:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/eddie-vedder-on-the-cover-of-time-pearl-jam-and-nirvana-at-no-1-in-the-fall-of-1993-grunge-was-king/2018/10/11/cae6123c-bffb-11e8-90c9-23f963eea204_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.cfb7ca521ef0
Pearl Jam’s ‘Vs.’: 10 Things You Didn’t Know Morning softball games, “glorified pellet guns” and other trivia surrounding the band’s hit 1993 LP By DAN EPSTEIN:
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