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We understand the danger in attempting to crown the top 25 Best Pearl Jam Songs of All Time, especially before Backspacer is officially even released. The claims can be highly personal, comparable to playing favorites with your kids. Or, worse: trying to tell other parents who their favorites should be.
Instead, we enlisted the help of Paste readers and a couple resident PJ junkies of our own to compile what would be the ultimate Pearl Jam mixtape. The numbers don't rank the songs in any particular order, and you're going to be disappointed at the exclusion of some obvious hits, but take a gander at the list and let us know what you think.
1. Release
2. In My Tree
3. Yellow Ledbetter
4. Immortality
5. All Those Yesterdays
6. Given To Fly
7. Alive
8. I Got ID
9. Do The Evolution
10. Corduroy
11. Leash
12. Rearview Mirror
13. Blood
14. Hail, Hail
15. In Hiding
16. Off He Goes
17. Marker In The Sand
18. Black
19. Why Go
20. Garden
21. Satan's Bed
22. Porch
23. Not For You
24. Animal
25. Sleight Of Hand
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One of the first GOOD Pearl Jam lists I've seen! Cheers, Paste! I'm glad to see In My Tree so high!
Great list! In My Tree, Immortality, Off He Goes, GTF, RVM, Black, Sleight of Hand. Excellent!
This is a great list compiled by truly loyal fans. Thanks for the PJ Takeover, Paste - I love it!
Really great list!
This is definitely one of the best lists of Pearl Jam songs I've ever seen. Thank you for not going the route of a casual Pearl Jam "fan" and putting Jeremy, Alive, Even Flow as the top 3.
Nice work. Respectable list. But where is "Wishlist"??
where is Long Road?
Great list! What would make it perfect? Including State of Love and Trust.
Great list, obviously by fans. Although Release has always been one of my least favourite Pearl Jam songs!
Great list but where is FOOTSTEPS!!
Marker in the sand, alive, blood, sleight of hand? Are you friggin' kidding me?? I would have included brain of j, gone, hard to imagine, faithfull, grievance, love boat capt, go, crazy mary, nothingman, breath, and don't forget present tense!
Respectable list, thanks Paste! Have to agree w/ Amy though - no State of Love & Trust? How about Breath?
What about...
SMILE...OFF NO CODE...
SMILE!!! Best PJ Ever!
Wheres Jeremy? and Release is an ok song but in my opinion not the best, other than that, pretty good list
Faithful and SoLaT hav to be on the list. We all believe, we all believe.
Great list, obviously you can't include everything. Loving the Pearl Jam coverage, thanks so much Paste!
No TREMOR FUCKING CHRIST??? WHAT ARE YOU, STUPID?
As it says, the song order is not ranked.
Bur where is Indifference? And where, where, where is State Of Love And Trust? That is probably the best PJ song I've ever heard :O
Good list, BTW!
not my cup of list, ehm tea. but anyways, cant be complete without state of love and trust. cant be :)
Guys, these aren't ranked... Sweet list Paste. Sweeter coverage of PJ. How about Save You, Parting Ways, and Black, Red, Yellow? Three of my favorites.
I like a lot of these...lots from Vs. and Yield and Vitalogy. I really liked the song "Man of the Hour" for a soundtrack to Big Fish the movie. And No Riot's tunes has most of the old ones beat. Just my opinion. And "Bugs."
As expected, a strong list. Personally I've always felt that "Jeremy" deserved its iconic status, so I would have included that track.
As others have mentioned "State of Love and Trust" should have made the cut.
Finally, I'd vote for some more representation for PJ's self-titled album--their best since "Vitalogy" IMHO. ("Marker in the Sand," your one pick off that CD, is an excellent selection, though.) Including closing tracks "Come Back" and "Inside Job" would have done the job.
I agree with most of the list. Marker in The Sand is there, and so is All Those Yesterdays. I would switch Blood for Brain of J and Satan's Bed for for either Wishlist of Light Years....
I know, loads of Yield in there but it's an Epic album as someone previously stated.
Ummmmmmm? Brain of J. ? Light Years? Insignificance? Whipping? Black Red and Yellow? Most of the list is great, but how are these not on? And I would add (now that its out) Unthought Known. Peace!
Jeremy is the one of the greatest rock songs of all time...just because it was so popular and won awards should not overshadow its amazingness...We all know its a great song....that helped alot of people to recognize Pearl Jam...Jeremy is a crown.
i listen to PJ ALOT and never have i EVER once said the words "man, i'd really love to hear Sleight of Hand." Im sorry, thats a waste of 5 minutes.
Nothing from Riot Act?
So not "Green Disease," "You Are," "I Am Mine," or "Ghost"?
dissident!
two really questionable songs, marker in the sand and sleight of hand, made the list? really...?
you couldnt pick any one of the following to make a better choice:
red mosquito
breathe
alone
state of love and trust
brain of j
faithful
save you
half full
nothing as it seems....
Even Flow c'mon...
Any PJ list without Present Tense isn't complete.
spin the black circle and even flow would make my list. i'd remove i got id and immortality. hard to leave out crazy mary too but, adding one means taking one away. tough to do with pj's extensive catalogue. nice work paste.
1st of all, ya cant make a "25 Best PJ List" b/c they have too many great songs!! We'd all never agree. Still, Paste did a pretty good job. Thanks.
How about:
*Better Man
*Insignificance
*LBC
*Save You
*Untitled
*Yellow Ledb.
*Gone
*Life Wasted
gr8 list,tho personally i would have added love boat captain from riot act & mankind from no code,but at the end of the day its just an opinion
Pretty good list, but any list would be pretty good by default. Personal faves are "Red Mosquito," "Faithful" and "Amongst the Waves" from Backspacer.