The one album that Eddie Vedder was in “hell” making: “I’d never be able to finish it”
Nothing that Eddie Vedder ever wrote was made without a little bit of hardship.
It’s not like Pearl Jam were dealing with Rumour-levels of drama or anything, but judging by the amount of personal topics that Vedder put into his lyrics, it’s not like he was ever afraid to put his innermost feelings out into the world. And while he may have had to rethink a few things when the crowds got bigger, it doesn’t get any worse than those moments where you feel like you’ve lost the musical plot.
But before Pearl Jam even became the biggest band in the world, Vedder was already having a bit of trouble sorting himself out. Ten proved that he was one of the most electrifying frontmen in Seattle, but there was also a lot of pent-up anger there about his family dynamic and quite a bit of sadness over never knowing his true father. Music might be the best medicine for that, but given how quickly they became huge, their next few albums felt like they were going through a lyrical transformation.
Vedder didn’t want to put too much of himself out there anymore, and when listening to a lot of the biggest tracks on Vs. and Vitalogy, it felt like he was trying to get as impersonal as possible. He wasn’t the same grunge heartthrob that most people thought he was, and the next few years would see him taking bold new risks instead of trying to carry on his status as the almighty king of grunge.
After all, the grunge revolution was dead by 1994, and while Yield did give them another hit album in the late 1990s, it’s not like Vedder wanted to keep that going. He had an art-rock slant inside him for the longest time, and while albums like Binaural and Riot Act aren’t everyone’s favourite versions of the band, it was better for the frontman to follow his muse than focus on whatever was popular at the time.
When it came to Binaural, though, a lot of the lyrics were far from the easiest for him to write, saying, “I ended up with several versions and then used the best and put them together and that worked surprisingly well. But before I did that, I thought it would never happen, I’d never be able to finish it… It was my own personal hell. I had a great time, but at the same time the lyrics just didn’t come together and I was wrecking my head.”
It’s easy to tell the lyrics that were more heartfelt, like ‘Light Years’, but the music itself isn’t exactly the most engaging listening experience, either. There are many songs on the record that work much better in a live setting, but for anyone who comes to the band for the riffs like on ‘Jeremy’, they weren’t going to be happy when they got to the middle chunk of the record and see the energy take a bit of a nosedive.
And given how collaborative the record was, it does feel like the band were united a little bit more. Bringing in Matt Cameron on drums was going to shake things up a little bit, but he fits into the group surprisingly well on the first go-around, especially when throwing the beat off every so often to keep everyone on their toes.
Even if it’s not that forceful, Binaural is actually one of the more interesting albums that the band made during the 2000s. Whereas Riot Act was a bit confused about where it wanted to go half the time, a lot of what makes Binaural is the tone that it sets throughout its runtime. Most would call it insanely boring if they aren’t paying attention, there’s nothing wrong with a band that’s able to write a good slow burn.
