Album: Vitalogy
Year: 1994
My favorite Pearl Jam song, bar none.
And as much as I love songs like “Leash” and “Black” and the upcoming “MFC,” it ain’t even close: “Corduroy” speaks to me deeply on both a musical and personal level, and I think it’s not just the best song that Pearl Jam has ever done, but one of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll songs ever recorded about the effects of fame on musicians.
This all seems quaint in an era where people will pretty much do anything to become famous, but a quarter-century ago there was a whole coterie of big rock stars who really hated being big rock stars. And so quite naturally, Time Magazine did a big story about this group of reluctant rock stars — pegged around the near simultaneous releases of In Utero and Vs. and the massive success of Siamese Dream — and stuck Eddie fucking Vedder on the cover.
And he hated it.
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