Vs.

One, two, three, four, five against one.

May 30, 2026

Hi Son,

Your mom and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary yesterday. It’s insane to think we’ve been together for 20 years and married for 16. The last Pearl Jam album of the 90s I need to cover with you is their second studio album, Vs. Like yesterday, May 29th has a significance when it comes to your mother and me. October 19th carries significance for two reasons. The first is my birthday. The second is the date in which Vs. was released in the United States. That’s right, your old man shares a birthday with Pearl Jam’s second studio album, twelve years apart. Unfortunately I am on the wrong side of those twelve years. Over a year ago I introduced their first studio album Ten. That was undoubtedly their most iconic record and one of the most iconic records released in 1991. It was part of the renaissance of grunge. They exploded onto the scene and had to come up with a follow up to that?? There was also the acclamation of bringing in a new drummer. Dave Krusen who was the drummer recorded on Ten dropped out of the band shortly after. They hired Dave Abbruzzese to tour with them on the Ten promotion circuit. Dave A. (so I don’t confuse him with Dave K.) would bring an “animalistic” energy behind the drum kit.

There was also an internal struggle happening as Pearl Jam was coming out of their newfound fame and glory from Ten. Like most of the Seattle sound coming out of the early 90s, their beginnings were minimalistic. The budget to record your first record was tight. The resources available to tour the US and the rest of the world was somewhat of a struggle. Now they weren’t scraping for money. The band, except for Eddie, seemed to begin to embrace this new lifestyle. Eddie was firmly against it. He was so against “selling out” that he would sleep in his truck during the recording of Vs. The cover art of Vs. (the sheep trying to put it’s head through a wire fence) would be used to symbolize how the band felt during the making of the record. When I initially told you about No Code I went over the chaos that ensued leading up to that record. This would be the start of that chaos.

I really do believe Pearl Jam’s best work was when they were at each other’s throats, figuratively speaking. The tracklist starts out with two absolute bangers in “Go” and “Animal.” “Go” is one of their grungiest sounding tracks out of their entire catalog. The music and the lyrics paint an image of someone trying to gather their stuff in a hurry and drive away in their car as fast as possible. There was a rumor that the song was about Eddie’s truck and the constant worry that it would break down on him. Regardless of the meaning, it’s a fantastic beginning to the record. “Animal” would feature a lyric out of the gate that almost became the name of Vs. “One, two, three, four, five against one.” Given the state of the band and their resistance to “selling out” they considered themselves as five against the one who was stardom. Eddie’s vocals throughout has him growling into the mic. Every part of the track has a feel of a wild, feral and aggressive animal. Arguably one of their best live performances of any of their songs came at the MTV Music Awards in 1993. Mike and Jeff are bouncing all over the stage. Dave A. is destroying the drum kit and Eddie is suffocating the mic. The lone sane person out of this performance was Stone. Bless you, Stone. The true rock of the band.

Pearl Jam Unveil 'Animal' at 1993 MTV Video Music Awards: Watch — Not putting the video up out of concern it will be flagged. Check out the link, it is priceless.

Track 3 is “Daughter.” This would become one of their most popular singles. The song is mostly a ballad about a girl with a learning disability who is abused by her parents. I want to point out as a tangent that I believe Vs. is a masterclass lyrically. Eddie really begins to show his chops on the album. This is a huge reason why this is my favorite band. As upbeat as the music sounds, the lyrics are dark and descriptive. The shades going down to cover up what is being done to this girl is absolutely unsettling.

The shades go down, it's in her head
Painted room, can't deny there's something wrong
Don't call me daughter, not fit to
The picture kept will remind me

The song itself is played on almost every setlist when Pearl Jam tours. Generally, they will play through the song until they get to the outro. Rather than end the song, they “tag” another song that fits in well with the music from the outro. A few examples are “Another Brick in the Wall Part 2”, “With My Own Two Hands”, and “It’s O.K.” It’s one of the best parts of attending one of their shows.

Track four is “Glorified G.” The inspiration of this song was largely driven by the fact that Eddie and Dave A. were like oil and water. Eddie found out that Dave A. had just purchased a gun. When he asked “You bought a gun?” the response from Dave A. was “In fact, I bought two.” Hence the opening lyrics to the song. I hate using this word, because normally when I describe something like it, it’s not meant to be a compliment. However, when I say that “Glorified G” is hokey, it’s one of the cooler “hokey songs” that I’ve ever heard. I assume the music was meant to mock someone who was more “Country” and conservative. I really love this song. I will go on the record saying that I am not against the Second Amendment and I believe it should be lawful for citizens to own guns, however it’s way too loose on the requirements to buy and furthermore what guns are available to the public. Next up is Track 6 “Dissident,” which has one of their cooler opening guitar riffs. Like “Glorified G” the guitar on this song is contrary to a lot of typical riffs the band produces. Hell, I liked the opening riff so much that it was my ring tone for a couple of years (when I had a flip phone).

Now we come to the song that resides in the category, “I wish the message was not still relevant today.” Track 6 is “W.M.A.” The acronym stands for White Male American. The story behind the song was from police harassment that happened right in front of Eddie. This is how he describes it.

“And I’m sitting there with this guy who’s of a darker color than me, and along come these cops, they run around with their bikes trying to look cool. So here they come, they’re heading straight for us. And they just ignored me and [started] hassling him. Compared to me, this guy looks as respectable as fuck, but they started hassling him, and that just blew me the fuck away. So I started hassling them. . . . And one thing led to another. . . . I had all this fucking energy rushing through me. I was mad. Really fucking angry. I got back to the studio and the guys had been working on this thing and I just went straight in and did the vocals, and that was the song.”

The music to the song is just groovy as all hell. It’s Jeff and Dave A. who really shine on this song. Jeff has a bass riff throughout that is something I could listen to on repeat for hours at a time. For the drum part, the story goes that a drum beat was played on a loop throughout the six-minute track. However, when the band toured in 1994 and played W.M.A. there was no loop. Dave A. would play the continuous drum part for the entire song (e.g. Atlanta 1994).

The song itself has become a top 10 song out of their catalog for me. For the reasons above, but also for the messaging of White Privilege. I wish I could say that wasn’t still prevalent today, but there are several assholes out there who are trying their damnedest to make it as pronounced as it was during the Jim Crow era. This song to me is a reminder of my own privilege and to recognize that I need to be there for those who do not have it.

Track 7 is “Blood” which is one of the hardest songs in the entire catalog. I’m not going to say a lot about it, other than if you are looking for a song to rage to. This track is where it’s at. Especially at the end of the song where it’s just unleashed chaos. Now we come to Track 8, “Rearviewmirror.” This for me is the most personal song on Vs. One of the most personal songs I’ve ever heard in my life. I’ll give you my take. On the surface, it’s a story of an abuse victim escaping their abuser. “Once and for all. You’re far way. I hardly believe. Finally the shades are raised.” I think this meaning can be extrapolated to anything you feel released from that is traumatizing you. This song really took on with me after your mom’s stroke 8 years ago. Not only the night of that event haunted me, but then the ensuing events for the rest of that year (2018). I was diagnosed with P.T.S. by my therapist, who I sought out shortly after your mom’s hospital stay. I’ve broken out of my P.T.S. so I can say “finally the shades are raised.” The meaning of this song alone makes it legend for me. The music is fantastic as well. It’s one of their most distinctive guitar riffs. When you listen to the recording, at the end of the song you hear drum sticks hit the floor. I’ve read that Dave A. was so spent after wrecking his snare drums that he threw his sticks out of relief. I love this song so much.

Track 9 is “Rats.” Another song with a great Jeff Ament bass riff. The meaning of the song criticizing humanity for living more lowly than rats. Track 10 is the longest title in the Pearl Jam catalog, “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town.” It’s a ballad which describes a person who never left the small town they grew up in. While she’s working an “old flame” comes in who she doesn’t initially recognize. When she comes to, she can’t even muster up the nerve to say “hello” to him. This has become another staple in Pearl Jam’s setlists when they tour. The penultimate track is “Leash.” It’s an aggressive rocker where the chorus repeats “Drop the leash. Get out of my fucking face.” It could be taken as an anthem of youth feeling constrained from being able to make it on their own. Whatever you make of it, it’s another good rocker to rage to.

Now we come to the closer, “Indifference.” In my opinion, there hasn’t been another closer that measures up to it. The music is methodical and soulful. This is a song you turn the lights down and close you eyes when you listen to it. It’s truly spiritual ad raw. The lyrics are in the perspective of someone who has put in every piece of energy they’ve had to spend to try to make a difference on a larger scale. This is their crying out to the universe asking “How much difference does it make?” No matter how much you sacrifice of yourself, things never change. While that makes it sound like the subject of this song is defeated. I believe it’s a cry to letting out their frustration to find someone who can show them the difference they really did make. It’s so damn hard to see the results of your own efforts. For myself, a lot of times it’s never good enough. I’m in need of support of someone who can tell me otherwise.

“I'll swallow poison until I grow immune
I will scream my lungs out 'til it fills this room
How much difference
How much difference
How much difference does it make?”

Because the band had gained so much notoriety from “Ten,” their sophomore album would go on to set a record (at that time) for the number of copies sold after the first five days of it’s release. While “Ten” was truly a masterpiece, I feel like that record was the band kind of feeling out what they wanted to be. “Vs.” would be the start of expressing exactly who they were. I’m on record saying that “Vs.” is the most flawless album they produced. Every track engages me in some sort of way, due to it’s lyrics or it’s sound. They really wasted nothing on the production of this record. Even though it’s not my favorite record of theirs (Yield then No Code then Vitalogy), I do think it’s their best work out of what has been over three decades.