Mike McCready names the definitive Pearl Jam song: “It’s our classic”
It’s impossible for any musician to measure the exact quality of their work. Sure, there are the raw sales data that statistically tell you what is selling the most, but since every song is like your offspring, there’s no way to narrow that down to just one great tune. As far as Mike McCready is concerned, though, every single thing that made Pearl Jam one of the best bands around can be found in ‘Alive’.
But if people only know the group for the success of their album Ten, that’s not necessarily the whole picture of what they represent. For all of the great music on their debut, the record has been contentious amongst every member of the group, with Eddie Vedder thinking that it was far too produced for his taste to make it sound like it would work well in stadiums.
It may have been one thing that they had one of the biggest grunge albums this side of Nirvana, but looking at their next projects, Vedder almost tried to force everyone’s memories of the record out of existence. Outside of not doing videos and refusing to do interviews unless they were for specific people, Vs and Vitalogy were the best indicators of how much fame shook Vedder. When one of the best cuts of their post-Ten career is hearing him shriek at the top of his lungs, “Fucking circus/It’s my blood”, one would assume he’s probably not having the best time.
While Ten might be the equivalent of looking at baby pictures nowadays, all of the magic was there in ‘Alive’. Being one of the first things that Vedder wrote right after he got done surfing one day, the tune became the first demo that guitarist Stone Gossard heard that convinced him to join forces with Vedder after Mother Love Bone.
But if I’m being completely transparent here, the main reason why the song works outside of the lyrics is McCready’s guitar solo. Most of the grunge purists didn’t worry about being able to shred, but McCready was more than willing to flex his bluesy chops, culminating in one of the greatest solos of the decade.
And while ‘Even Flow’ ran a close second for the guitarist, he knew that something magical happens whenever Gossard kicks off that opening riff, saying, “It’s our classic. A song that people identify with us. It’s anthemic. I know the other guys probably wouldn’t say that, but that’s what I think of it, and that’s what I’ve heard people tell me. ‘Alive’ encapsulates the lyricism, the musicianship and the feeling of this band.”
That’s not even to say that it’s the best performance that any of the group have given. The ballads off of Vitalogy like ‘Nothingman’ are among the most heartwrenching pieces of their catalogue, and for McCready alone, the blues extravaganza on ‘Who You Are’ off of Binaural manages to put him on the David Gilmour level of guitar god.
But ‘Alive’ is still the most synonymous with what most people think of when they hear the name Pearl Jam. Sure, the first thing many people make fun of is Vedder’s voice, but in this one song, you get all of the angst, frustration, and pure rage that came with being a kid after the hair metal collapsed in on itself.
