30 Years Since Vs.

It must have been October 20, 1993. I was walking down the hall between classes at my high school. I was a freshman, barely a month into my high school experience. I was 14 and as yet unaware of all that would unfold in coming months (dating in fits and starts, the tragic death of a HS classmates' father...) much less the years ahead. I don't recall what classes I was transiting between. I don't know what I was wearing. I don't know much other than there was one thing that mattered that day, best illustrated by the conversation by two students (sophomores) walking in front of me:

Soph 1: "You know all the words yet?"

Soph 2: "Hell yeah, man."

Soph 1: "Alright, what about 'Rats?'"

Soph 2 (singing): "They don't eat, don't sleep..."

Pearl Jam's second album, Vs., had been out approximately 24 hours, functionally less if you consider that we'd all shown up to school the prior day (Oct. 19, the date known to me because I can look it up and, thus, the events I'm describing had to be Oct. 20), had a full day of school, left school and then had to go to a store and purchase this album. 

I don't recall exactly how I had pulled that feat off on Oct. 20, but it was likely coming home from school and one of my parents driving me to The Wiz and buying the CD. I was far from the only one who did this.

Thirty years on, it's hard to capture the fervor around this album release. The internet was not "the internet" yet and what we had was certainly not the first stop for news. Wildly, this album wasn't even truly promoted in the full MTV sense. While Pearl Jam was certainly on MTV, they released no videos in support of any of the album singles. "Go," the album's first single had made it to some radio, but promotion of the album mainly came from the pages of Rolling Stone and other news outlets that, on the heels of the emergence of "grunge" were covering the record release as to be on the front foot they weren't on when Nirvana had broken a few years earlier. 

Today, Taylor Swift can hop on Instagram and note she's dropping an album at midnight and the world knows moments later. At midnight Eastern, the album appears on your streaming service of choice and you hit play. This isn't hypothetical; it's how she released Evermore. Pearl Jam didn't have that in 1993.

More than 950,000 people bought Vs. its first week of release, to say nothing of how many copies were dubbed on tape decks as it played and given to friends in school the next morning. As far as I can tell, it was the last time an album was this huge in the "old" system of music promotion.

That's not to say it was better. In fact, while there are new struggles for bands today (primarily: getting paid for music), pretty much everything is better today for consumers of music. You can find anything, instantly, anywhere. 

But imagine if Taylor's Midnights had only been available in stores and you had spent two years waiting for it, with nary a new song or tour in the meantime. It was that level of a sensation.

Vs. roared out of your speakers. Brendan O'Brien's production took Pearl Jam's already edgy rock and focused it on a blade. Where guitars had led the way on Ten, now they screamed. Drums hit harder. And the lyrics were far more pointed that we'd heard from the band. The sophomore slump? Never happened. 

I listened to it at least three times that first night. It was great music and it felt important. It was all I wanted to talk about at school the next day and, judging by hallway conversation, it was that for quite a few other kids, too. In the coming weeks, it would be a constant companion, different songs playing the role of "current favorite" as the weeks went on.

Realizing it was about to be the 30th anniversary of the album, I listened again the other day. Few albums "sound like the 90s" quite as well. Still, I'm struck by some of the songs even today. "Glorified G" mocking the uniquely American obsession with guns, years before Columbine and the day-to-day quiet terror of America's oversaturation of weapons. "W.M.A." calling out the pattern of police violence against Black people. "Daughter" getting into child abuse (and giving me an early example of how men can credibly empathize with women without "othering"). It holds up... maybe more than I wish it did. 

We're in an era where there are bound to be a lot of notable music anniversaries related to major 90s releases. I'm not even sure Vs. is my favorite overall album from that era (or that I even need to have a favorite... it was such a rich moment in music history). But I do know that Vs. was the biggest single rock album release of that era, both from a physical sales standpoint and from a "moment" standpoint. 

What's crazy is, as Vs. turns 30, it is four years older than Sgt. Pepper was when Vs. came out. Since then, so much amazing music has come out. Just this year, there have been albums that have been incredible. Maybe staying in step with newer music helps keep me young, though I also like to think a good song is timeless. But, there's also no harm in recalling that moment in time and how special it was. And I guarantee if someone in your life is a 90s kid (as in was in high school or college in the early 90s) or a Pearl Jam fan, they've also got a story about the week Vs. came out.

Give it a spin if you haven't in a while and let the chords take you back. If it's all new to you, try it on for size. Either way, you'll be taking part in something that was a true rock music moment of a kind that isn't likely to happen quite that way again. And lucky you, you don't even have to get your folks to drive you to the store. Now, you can just ask Alexa and off you go.