Vs. (pronounced versus) is the second studio album by Grunge band Pearl Jam, released October 19, 1993 through Epic Records. Pearl Jam decided to scale back their promotional efforts for Vs., including refusing to produce music videos for any of the album’s singles. Upon its release, Vs. set the record for the most copies of an album sold in its first week, a record it held for five years.
Contra held the number one spot on the Billboard 200 chart for five weeks, the longest duration for a Pearl Jam album. The album has been certified seven times platinum by the RIAA in the United States.
Vs. was the first Pearl Jam album to have Brendan O’Brien handle production duties. It was also the band’s first album with drummer Dave Abbruzzese, who had joined the band in August 1991 and toured for the Ten album. Rehearsals for Vs. began in February 1993 at the Potatohead Studio in Seattle, Washington.
The band took the approach of recording one song at a time, agreeing with O’Brien to mix the songs as each one was finished. O’Brien had the band members prepare as they do live, and most of the songs developed from jam sessions, the album being finished in May 1993.
In addition to the heavier songs, the album features two acoustic ballads in Daughter and Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town. Some songs incorporate elements of funk, such as Animal, Blood, and Rats.
The songs on the album address personal as well as social and political concerns. Vedder said that “you write what comes to you… You try to reflect the mood of the songs.” The album’s themes include child abuse (Daughter), gun culture (Glorified G), police racism (W.M.A.) and the media (Blood). Daughter, Dissident and Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town are three narrative songs. Daughter tells the story of a girl who is abused by her parents because they do not understand her learning disability; Dissident tells the story of a woman who takes in a political fugitive; and Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town tells the story of an old woman who has been stuck in a small town her entire life.
Glorified G, a song that mocks gun enthusiasts, was inspired by an incident in which Abbruzzese told the band that he had just bought two guns, sparking a conversation about guns within the band. band. WMA was inspired by an incident that occurred outside of Pearl Jam’s rehearsal studio in which Vedder got into an altercation with a group of police officers who harassed a African American friend of his but ignored him.
Vedder said Rearviewmirror is about being “in a car, leaving… a bad situation.” Vedder stated that Rats is about the idea that “rats are probably a hell of a lot more admirable” than humans. Leash was written about the same girl that Ten’s song Why Go is about. Regarding Indifference, Vedder said that it is about “trying to do something to make other people’s lives better, even if it means going through hell. Three Faces of Me.”
Tracklist:
- Go
- Animal
- Daughter
- Glorified G
- Dissident
- W.M.A.
- Blood
- Rearviewmirror
- Rats
- Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town
- Leash
- Indifference
Reissue bonus tracks - Hold On (acoustic demo)
- Cready Stomp
- Crazy Mary (Victoria Williams)
The album cover, photographed by Jeff Ament, features a black and white image of an angora goat from Lifeline Farm in Victor, Montana. According to Ament, the cover art was a representation of how the band was feeling at the time, with Ament stating that “we were slaves“. The album booklet contains additional drawings and writings by Eddie Vedder, including a page apparently scribbled in a business meeting reading “I’ll never trust anyone again.” The lyrics page for W.M.A. features a portion of a news story about Malice Green, a victim of police brutality.
The album was originally titled Five Against One (The song Animal features the lyrics “One, two, three, four, five against one…”). Regarding the album’s original title, Gossard said, “To me, that title represented a lot of struggles you go through trying to make a record… Your own independence, your own soul, versus everybody else’s.” The album title was changed at the last minute, first to a self-titled album and then to Vs.
Pearl Jam
Dave Abbruzzese: drums
Jeff Ament: bass guitar; upright bass
Stone Gossard: rhythm guitar
Mike McCready: lead guitar
Eddie Vedder: vocals; rhythm guitar on Rearviewmirror and Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town
Production
Ames: artwork, black-and-white photography
Nick DiDia: recording
Adam Kasper: assistance
Kevin Scott: assistance
Lance Mercer: inside color photography
Brendan O’Brien: production
Pearl Jam: production
Bob Ludwig: mastering
Joel Zimmerman: art direction
