Today we’re takin’ a shot at ranking Pearl Jam’s albums – from the least solid to their all-time best.
It ain’t easy, ‘cause honestly, we don’t think the Seattle crew has ever dropped a straight-up bad record (unlike, say, Bruce Springsteen with Human Touch or U2 with Pop – yeah, we said it). This ain’t meant to be the ultimate list or anything — more like a thoughtful guide to their discography, starting from the ones that didn’t hit as hard, all the way up to their masterpiece.
12 BACKSPACER
Pearl Jam’s ninth studio album — easily their most straightforward and accessible — kinda shows the rush they were in when writing and recording it. You can feel it in the simplistic arrangements and in Eddie’s lyrics, which this time around don’t hit as hard.
Sure, it’s got some heavy hitters like Just Breathe, Amongst the Waves, and Unthought Known. But there’s also a bunch of filler (Johnny Guitar, Supersonic), songs that probably would’ve sounded way better stripped down (Speed of Sound especially), and a few tracks that just didn’t age well (Gonna See My Friend, Got Some, Force of Nature).
Still, it’s a solid album — fresh, light, and easy to vibe with.
11 LIGHTNING BOLT
One of the strongest albums from the second half of Pearl Jam’s career. Over half the tracks really stick with you — from the heartfelt ballad Sirens to the pissed-off punk energy of Mind Your Manners, the moody vibe of Pendulum, and the haunting feel of Yellow Moon.
If they’d just cut a couple tunes from the final tracklist — like the bluesy Let the Records Play and that reworked version of Sleeping By Myself — and swapped in a couple of unreleased gems from the same era (Walk Off, Desert Walk), we might’ve had their best record since Yield.
Worth noting: Brendan O’Brien’s production feels a little off at times — like on Future Days, where the background layers kinda clash with the song’s delicate core.
10 PEARL JAM
The ballads on the Avocado Record — the only album the band self-produced, stretching the recording process over 14 months — are hands-down the highlight here. You’ve got the heartbreaking Come Back, a tribute to Johnny Ramone, the emotional Parachutes, and the epic closer Inside Job.
Even the rock tracks hit pretty hard — Life Wasted, Marker in the Sand, and Gone are definitely standouts.
What doesn’t totally land, though, is the album as a whole. It feels a bit too long in places and you can tell it got weighed down by the dragged-out writing and recording process. Solid record overall, but it proved one thing: for a band like Pearl Jam, having a producer in the room still matters — big time.
9 GIGATON
If Side A of Pearl Jam’s eleventh studio album is one of the best halves they’ve ever put out, Side B kinda drops the ball — too many filler tracks lined up back-to-back.
The first half is stacked though, no doubt: the experimental Dance of the Clairvoyants, the badass Quick Escape, and the grand, sweeping Seven O’ Clock — all top-tier PJ. That momentum helps make up for weaker tracks like Never Destination, Take the Long Way (music and lyrics by Matt Cameron), and the sleepy Comes Then Goes.
Gigaton wraps things up in style though — with the slow-burn groove of Retrograde and the emotional punch of River Cross, a song that Vedder had already been playing solo since 2016.
8 BINAURAL
Pearl Jam’s first album of the new millennium isn’t just home to some straight-up killer tracks — like the mid-tempo Light Years, the dark and moody Nothing As It Seems, and the heartbreaking Parting Ways — but it also features some of their most fired-up, underrated ragers, like Insignificance and Grievance.
What doesn’t totally land, though, is the album’s sound — that binaural recording style by Tchad Blake kinda muddies things up, blending the instruments and vocals a little too much.
Now, if they’d thrown in Sad, Fatal, and In the Moonlight — all cut from Binaural and later dropped on Lost Dogs — we might be talkin’ one of their all-time best records. But yeah… that didn’t happen.
7 RIOT ACT
Riot Act is hands-down the Pearl Jam album most tied to the moment it was born. The band had just gone through the trauma of the Roskilde tragedy, right as George W. Bush took office and the Twin Towers came crashing down.
In the middle of all that chaos, the Seattle crew managed to write and record some of their most powerful songs ever — I Am Mine, Love Boat Captain, All Or None. But there’s a flip side too: some tracks feel a little too basic (Get Right) or lack real punch (Ghost — killer lyrics though).
The stripped-down, bare-bones production by Adam Kasper definitely works in the album’s favor. Another reason why Riot Act still hits a nerve.
6 DARK MATTER
Right now, Pearl Jam’s latest record isn’t just their most recent—it’s hands-down one of their best in the last 25 years. It’s packed with hard-hitting rockers like Scared of Fear and React, Respond, some mid-tempo jams that already feel like PJ classics (Wreckage), and songs we’ve been dying to hear for what feels like forever (Upper Hand).
Among the can’t-miss tracks (and there are plenty), you gotta shout out the powerhouse Waiting for Stevie and the closing track Setting Sun, which might just be one of the best album closers they’ve ever dropped.
5 YIELD
This could’ve been Pearl Jam’s best rock album of the ’90s if it weren’t for the heavyweight competition from Ten, Vs., and Vitalogy. It’s a pretty positive record (Faithfull, Wishlist, Low Light, All Those Yesterdays), but it still keeps that raw anger from their early days alive — especially on the unforgettable Do The Evolution.
Produced to perfection by Brendan O’Brien, Yield also rocks Given to Fly, one of Pearl Jam’s signature jams and straight-up one of their best songs ever. Plus, In Hiding — a single that never got the spotlight but definitely could’ve climbed charts worldwide.
4 TEN
Does it even need sayin’? Ten is the band’s debut album — and it just turned 35 this year. All their mega-classics are on here: Even Flow, Alive, Black, Jeremy, Porch, and the deeply touching Release.
The only real hiccup on their debut? Rick Parashar’s production — way too polished and radio-friendly. Luckily, Brendan O’Brien came through in 2009 and remixed the whole thing from top to bottom for the re-release, giving it some serious grit back.
3 NO CODE
Who knows if Pearl Jam would even still be a band without No Code — the real turning point in their discography. Jack Irons, the drummer who stepped in for Dave Abbruzzese, played a big part in shifting their early sound into something different. It freaked out their label back then (Epic) because sales tanked, but it marked a fresh start for the band.
You got Present Tense, Smile, Off He Goes, Red Mosquito, and the tribal vibes of Who You Are and In My Tree all packed in here — honestly, nothing more needs sayin’.
Fun fact: this is actually my favorite PJ album.
2 VS.
If there’s one perfect rock album in Pearl Jam’s catalog, it’s Vs. — a snapshot of a band that leaves nothing to chance and plays every note like their lives depend on it. And you can totally feel that fire: from the high-energy Go, Animal, and Blood to the classics everyone knows — Daughter, Dissident, Small Town, Indifference — all the way to the experimental sounds of W.M.A. and the soulful blues of Rats.
Can’t forget Rearviewmirror either — one of those ten tracks that’ll keep Pearl Jam’s legacy alive even fifty years from now.
1 Vitalogy
This ain’t just a Pearl Jam album — it’s the Pearl Jam album. The record where every band member, even though they weren’t super tight back then, came together and laid down their best work — an album that truly changed the game.
Dark, raw, and at times straight-up intense. From the punk punch of Last Exit to the almost hardcore grind of Spin The Black Circle — a love letter to vinyl when everyone else was buying CDs and tapes — to unforgettable jams like Corduroy and Not For You.
But the real crown jewel? No doubt Better Man. Written by a 14-year-old Eddie Vedder, probably on his bedroom floor, it’s like their Born To Run, their Where The Streets Have No Name — the song that defines them.
Can’t skip two of their best ballads either: Immortality, which echoes Neil Young’s Cortez the Killer, and the moving Nothingman, co-written by Jeff Ament and Eddie Vedder in just a couple of hours.
The best damn Pearl Jam album ever. Period.
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Born in Reggio Emilia in 1980. He created pearljamonline.it in 2001 and wrote the first edition of “Pearl Jam Evolution” in 2009 along with his wife Daria. Since 2022, he is behind 2 podcasts: “Pearl Jam dalla A alla Z” and “Fuori Orario Not Another Podcast”. He has collaborated with Barracuda Style, HvsR, Rolling Stone, Rockol and Il Fatto Quotidiano. He continues relentlessly to try to find “beautiful melodies that say terrible things”.
Favorite song: Present Tense
Favorite album: No Code
Favorite bands/artists other than PJ: Tom Waits, Soundgarden, Ramones, Bruce Springsteen, IDLES, Fontaines D.C., The Murder Capital, Dead Kennedys, Mark Lanegan, Cat Power, R.E.M.