Vs. (Pearl Jam album)

For other meanings, see VS.

Vs.
Studio album by Pearl Jam
Released	October 19, 1993
Recorded	March 1993 – May 1993 at The Site, Nicasio, California and Potatohead Studio, Seattle, Washington
Genre	Grunge
Length	46:17
Label	Epic
Producer	Brendan O'Brien, Pearl Jam
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Entertainment Weekly (B-) 10/22/93 Robert Christgau link Rolling Stone 7/17/97 Sputnikmusic link
Pearl Jam chronology
Ten (1991) Vs. (1993) Vitalogy (1994)
Alternate cover
Artwork on 1993 vinyl edition
Singles from Vs.
"Go" Released: 1993 "Daughter" Released: 1993 "Animal" Released: 1994 "Dissident" Released: 1994

Vs. is Pearl Jam's second album, released on October 19, 1993 through Epic Records. Upon its release, Vs. set the record for most copies sold in a week, a record that has since been broken. Vs. occupied the number 1 spot on the Billboard 200 for five weeks, the longest span for any Pearl Jam or grunge album. As of 2007, Vs. has been certified 7 times platinum in the United States.

Recording

The band started the recording sessions for the album at The Site in Nicasio, California in March 1993. This was their first album with drummer Dave Abbruzzese. Vs. was also the first Pearl Jam album to have production duties handled by producer Brendan O'Brien.

Music and lyrics

The album featured a much looser and rawer sound compared with their debut album Ten. The songs on the album tackle personal as well as social and political concerns. Topics on the album include child abuse ("Daughter"), gun control ("Glorified G"), racism ("W.M.A."), and the media ("Blood").

Imagery and design

The picture on the front cover is of a sheep from a farm in Hamilton, Montana. According to bassist Jeff Ament, the cover was a representation of how the band felt at the time, with Ament stating "we were slaves."^[1]

Album title

The title Vs. is a nod to Mission of Burma, whose 1983 LP Vs. was greatly admired by Vedder. Originally, the album was titled Five Against One (In the song "Animal", Vedder sings "One, two, three, four, five against one..."), but was later changed at the last minute, first as a self-titled album and later as Vs., a nod to the album's general theme of conflict present in most of the songs.

Alternate versions

The decision to change the album's name at the last minute resulted in a few different versions of the record:

1. Some of the first pressings of the cassette still contained Five Against One printed on the cassette itself.
2. The first couple of pressings of the CD and cassette do not contain the title printed on the artwork at all.
3. The vinyl version has never had the title printed on it.

There are also different versions that are unrelated to the title:

1. The initial versions of the CD came in an Ecopak. While not rare, they went out of print quickly and are now hard to find. The song titles aren't printed on the back cover of this version, but the artwork remains the same.
2. The picture of the "elderly woman" changed at some point after the first pressings. Allegedly, the original woman never gave permission for her picture to be used, so Pearl Jam changed the picture to another woman. The difference is easy to spot, as "the new and improved woman behind the counter" is printed below the picture.
3. The cover art on the vinyl copies is different from the CD and cassette.
4. The lyrics to "Indifference" are only printed in the cassette version.

Reception

Vs. stayed at number 1 on the Billboard 200 for five weeks. Vs. sold 950,378 copies in its first week on sale and outperformed all other entries in the Billboard top ten that week combined.^[2] This set the record for most copies of an album sold in its first week of release.^[3] This record has since been broken by the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync, but by then, the method of counting first-week sales had changed. When Pearl Jam set the record, first-week sales only counted the first five days the album was on sale. Soundscan changed from this method to counting all seven days that an album was first released some time in the late 1990s. While others have sold more than Pearl Jam have in the first week of release, Pearl Jam still holds the title for most albums sold in the first five days. Had Soundscan counted all seven days, the album would have sold more than 1,000,000 copies in its first week. The band made a conscious decision beginning with the release of Vs. to scale back their commercial efforts.^[4] They declined to produce music videos after the massive success of "Jeremy" and opted to give fewer interviews as well as make fewer television appearances. Vs. included the hit songs "Daughter", "Dissident", "Go", and "Animal". "Daughter" reached the #1 spot on both the Billboard Modern Rock and Mainstream Rock charts, spending a total of eight weeks at #1 on the latter. In 1995, the album received Grammy nominations for Best Rock Album, Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for "Daughter", and Best Hard Rock Performance for "Go".^[5] Several tracks from Vs. are still played on popular rock radio, a tribute to the record's significance in solidifying the band's artistic and commercial success. Vs. has since gone septuple (7x) platinum.^[6]

Track listing

All information taken from All Music Guide.^[7] All tracks by Dave Abbruzzese, Jeff Ament, Stone Gossard, Mike McCready, and Eddie Vedder.

1. "Go" – 3:12
2. "Animal" – 2:49
3. "Daughter" – 3:55
4. "Glorified G" – 3:26
5. "Dissident" – 3:35
6. "W.M.A." – 5:59
7. "Blood" – 2:50
8. "Rearviewmirror" – 4:44
9. "Rats" – 4:15
10. "Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town" – 3:15
11. "Leash" – 3:09
12. "Indifference" – 5:02

Chart positions

All information taken from various sources.^{[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]}

Albums

Singles

Personnel

All information taken from All Music Guide.^[24]

• Dave Abbruzzese – drums
• Jeff Ament – bass
• Stone Gossard – guitar
• Mike McCready – lead guitar
• Eddie Vedder – vocal
• Brendan O'Brien, Pearl Jam – production
• Nick DiDia – recording
• Kevin Scott, Adam Kasper – assistance
• Lance Mercer – inside color photography
• Ames – artwork, black and white photography
• Joel Zimmerman – art direction

References

External links

• Vs. information and lyrics