The Critique of Pearl Jam's "Ten"... Or Lack Therof

When you think of popular music today, you don’t typically think of rock and roll music still topping the charts as it did in previous generations. Today’s music all revolves around the rap, hip-hop, and most recently house music genres. But to this day, one album still stands supreme and has lasted the test of time. This album is Pearl Jam’s “Ten”. “Ten” is a collection of eleven songs written by Eddie Vedder, the band’s lead singer. This particular collection of songs may seem like a greatest hits album, but it in fact is just their first album and possibly their best album.

The album begins with the song “Once”, with its eerie yet tantalizing opening riff setting the tone for the album. It displays Eddie Vedder’s intention of the album: to rock the socks off of the audience. They play perfectly into the realm of grunge rock in the early 90s. Pearl Jam then transitions right into “Even Flow” with a similar intro to the end of the previous song, but then takes off to rock bliss. Each song on the album brings a different side of Pearl Jam together to make one great album. “”Jeremy”, often described as the best song on the album, shows a more sensitive side of Pearl Jam as they belt out about a troubled boy who solved his problems by showing up to school and shooting himself in front of everyone who had made fun of him in school. Eddie Vedder shows us this sensitivity in lyrics such as “Jeremy spoke in class today. Try to forget this...Try to erase this...From the blackboard.” This power and raw emotion exemplifies the reoccurring dark side of the album.  

Every song perfectly transitions into another with similar sound until the whole song shifts to a new and unbelievable side of rock music. The album truly is something special. Honestly if not every song, nine of the eleven could have been a #1 hit at the time if they were not competing with each other and the great grunge rock artists at the time such as Kurt Cobain’s Nirvana, Alice in Chains, and Radiohead. There is very little to criticize about the album. It did not receive the true credit it deserved until two years later when it was the #2 album on the Billboard 100. I believe that the album was perfect and was a great representation of the grunge rock period.

Overall, Pearl Jam set the tone for rock and grunge standards. “Ten” is a timeless classic and will forever be remembered as one of the greatest albums of all-time.