No Code - Part 2

If you remember Polaroids, you might appreciate this.

Hi Son,

I started to grow closer to “No Code” not necessarily due to the music, but because of the album art and the packaging. There is a music blog called Heavy and Weird who echoed their sentiments about these aspects of “No Code.”

“Good album artwork and packaging can build a level of mystery and is a portal into what the band may be attempting to communicate with their music. It’s an incredibly important part of releasing an album proper and I reckon Pearl Jam have always made a continued effort to present their albums with interesting and intriguing artwork.”

The album artwork for “No Code” became more for me than just admiration. I began to covet it. The album cover is a 2x2 square of 156 Polaroids that were taken randomly by Eddie and the guys. Before you unfold the cover, you only see the two following flaps below. The front one contains a couple of photos of note. One being Eddie’s foot after he was stung by a sting ray. The other is Dennis Rodman’s eye. One interesting fact, at least to me because I grew up in the 1990s, is that Dennis Rodman was a friend of the band. Especially during his time with Bulls. Ed had grown up just north of Chicago (Evanston) so he had been a life-long Bulls fan. The guys would even release a B-side called “Black, Red, Yellow” that was dedicated to one of the color patterns Rodman would use in his hair. Your old man even did a podcast episode discussing that song.

After you unfold the packaging and look at the whole 156 Polaroids, you notice a pattern. A triangle with what looks to be a circle, even an eyeball, appears when you look over it. I was just captivated by this image. So much so that I did decide to have it tattooed on my left arm. When you turn over the image and look at the other side the upper left shows the track listing in the form of a list of songs you might see on a jukebox. The upper right are the record credits and the bottom two are the guys in the studio recording the album. This is all unique to the rest of the catalog. There are other albums that do have elaborate album artwork, but nothing like “No Code.” This really was a time of redefinition for a band that was the highest profile rock band in the world.

All of this to me was impressive. However, it was the tip of the iceberg. When you brought out the CD it showed a lot of words and a lot of symbols. In some ways it resembled a Ouija Board. Somewhat creepy, but also very interesting. When you bring out the other slip, it shows various snapshots of the studio while they are recording “No Code.” When you look at what’s inside, it’s really something I did not expect. There are several Polaroids. Looking at each photo they are actual replicas of what is included in the 156-photo cover.

When you look at the back of the photos, you see there are names of the tracks and some of the song lyrics. Some of the backings have most, if not all of the lyrics. Others have an abbreviated inclusion of lyrics, sometimes only of the chorus of the song. This is all very cool, however when you sort through the number of Polaroids that are included with the album, there are only 9. The record itself have 13 tracks, so what happened to the other 4? This is really where the fun lies with “No Code.” When the CD and vinyl was released in 1996, there were four different sets of Polaroids. In theory, if you had all four sets (four different CDs/LPs) then you could have a Polaroid for all 13 tracks. The four different releases were “coded” by the following. “C,” “O,” “D,” and E.” If you had enough friends out there who had one of the three other versions of your album, you could collect all 13 tracks. I mean this is some “cereal box” type of shit, where you could buy enough different boxes of “Fruity Pebbles” you can collect all of the characters off of the “Flintstones.”

There was also a cassette tape version of “No Code” that was released. Even in 1996, though they were phasing out, cassettes were made and sold. The packaging wasn’t as elaborate, but when you look back at it from 2025 it’s very cool. While being very interesting, it’s also very rare. If I were to go back and try to find and buy a cassette tape of “No Code,” that would probably take off 5 years of when I would hope to retire (which is never, so why not just fucking do it).

So I do own copies of the CD and the LP. However, there was also a 25th Anniversary pressing of “No Code’ on LP. The original LP is a one disc, black vinyl. When it was repressed in 2021, there was a clear version of the LP. The first time it was released, I got my email from the Ten Club saying this was available for members only. I mean shit, there has to be an advantage to paying the annual dues of being in the Ten Club. However, I was not fast enough. By the time I finally clicked through the email, and this happened within minutes of the email going out, the clear-version had already been sold out. I was pissed and disappointed. The newly released version of what I consider to be my favorite album artwork ever was GONE! Then a year later they pressed another set of clear vinyls! YES! I got online after receiving the email as quickly as possible and got one!!! Right now it sits unwrapped next to the black-vinyl version that I have. I want to keep it wrapped as long as possible, although I realize there is a high probability that you were find the wrapped “No Code” a little later in life and will get your hands on it. I can only hope the vinyl and the cover remain in Mint condition!

So is this my last note about “No Code”? Helllllll no!! This is my progression about my relationship with the record. Even though I grew onto the artwork and packaging, I still was lukewarm on the music. Why did that change? I mean it had to if I am considering this record as my second favorite?!?! Instead of “Vitalogy,” “Vs.” and for Christ sakes “Ten!!!!!!” Well that would be the next step in my regression. The music. I will tell you more about that later.

Love,

Dad