Top 5 : Pearl Jam Songs

     Even though it seems to have blown out of proportion with a movie, a record, a book and a tour, I wanted to do a list in honor of the 20th anniversary of the best American band out there.  I decided to go with Top 5 Songs, which was almost as hard as picking the Top 5 Beatles Songs.  I kept the list to only original songs, leaving Last Kiss and Leaving Here, both strong candidates, out of the running.  A couple things I thought while researching this list... I always liked Binaural but most fans consider it the bands worst album, upon further listening I still don't get it.  I think it's a much better album then both Riot Act and Pearl Jam, which I find lackluster.  Also, I always considered the era of great Pearl Jam albums to end with Vitalogy, everything after seemed to be pretty formulaic, but listening again I couldn't help but love No Code, probably the most underrated Pearl Jam album.  But enough about the albums, here are my Top 5 favorite Pearl Jam songs...

5) Just Breath (Backslider)
          Super simple lullaby style song.  For a band that is at it's best when it goes big, loud and fast, this is a great departure.  Eddie Vedder has always had a special style of singing that worked great the bigger songs, but here he shows that he has the versatility to do slow and subtle as well.  That says nothing about the powerful lyrics, something Vedder has never had a problem producing.

4) Life Wasted (Pearl Jam)
          Ok, it was a mostly lackluster album.  It had a couple really good tracks and this was probably the best of the Formulaic Album era.  I liked the Wasted Reprise even better then the song, but since it was called a reprise and was just the chorus with only an organ as accompaniment, I considered it part of the song as a whole. 

3)  Better Man (Vitalogy)
          Some times this song takes some knocks for being to commercial, so I guess I really like commercial music because I love this song.  The way it builds from a guitar, to guitar and lyrics, to all out rock fest is perfect and fits the subject matter wonderfully.  Vedder's lyrics are best the more personal they get and it doesn't get more personal then this song.

2)  Porch (Ten)
          I'm not sure there is a song that gets me more pumped up then Porch.  Another song that uses the art of building up to a furious crescendo, it starts with Vedder singing with only a guitar riff backing him up, then adds a little drums before the song erupts into a crazed frenzy.  The unplugged version from Pearl Jam's MTV Unplugged is just as intense and easily Pearl Jam at it's best.  I keep my fingers crossed any time I see them live that this one makes the setlist, because it makes the show that much greater.

1) Black (Ten)
          This one is special to me for various reasons outside of how great it is as a song.  Even though it is closer to a rock ballad then the type of Pearl Jam song I enjoy the best, it's easily my all time favorite.  The lyrics strike home and have given me comfort many times over the years.  Vedder's intensity by songs end leaves me breathless every time I hear it.  It's possibly one of my top ten favorite songs by any band ever.

Honorable Mentions: Alive (Ten), Yellow Ledbetter (Old Dogs), Footsteps (Old Dogs), Go (Vs), Rearviewmirror (Vs), Blood (Vs), Corduroy (Vitalogy), Hail, Hail (No Code), Lukin (No Code), Do The Evolution (Yield), Breakerfall (Binaural), Nothing As It Seems (Binaural)