10 Rock Albums That Were A Nightmare To Make

5. Vitalogy - Pearl Jam

Out of the all the grunge bands that were exploding around the mid '90s, Pearl Jam were one of the few that were trying their best to minimize their popularity. Eddie Vedder was already critical about the mix of their debut sounding too commercial, and their refusal to make music videos was in direct response to how crazy their rise to fame had become. Eddie couldn't control the fans that saw him every night, but he could have control over the music he played for them.

Released originally only on vinyl, Vitalogy might be one of the strangest albums that any grunge band have ever put out, putting some of the band's most accessible material next to...let's call them 'moments' on the record. As much as some songs like Last Exit and Whipping might have the same driving energy of Vs., there are also tracks like Pry To and Bugs that go in some odd directions, acting as either subtle interludes or excuses for the band to vent their frustration through music.

When the album gets back on track though, the band actually come through with some of their most heartfelt material, like the organic sounds of the song Nothing Man or Eddie dusting off the pop gem Better Man, which he kept in his pocket from his days in his teenage band thinking it would be too commercial. There's a lot of spotty sections of Vitalogy, but this might be the album that does the best job of showing the members of Pearl Jam more as humans than musicians.