15 Best Pearl Jam Tracks

15. Present Tense

The first song on the list comes from 1996's No Code. Starting off a list about a 'heavy rock' band like Pearl Jam with a song like "Present Tense" seems odd. But, it's for this reason why it's such a great song from the band. Delicate, understated and minimal, it shows a different side to the group.

For three minutes, very few distorted notes are played. It is mostly two clean guitars, sparingly playing a few key pieces. But, the song begins to build and build and it's not until the four minute mark that the whole band comes in. 

Even when it sounds like the song will explode into the grunge outro you expect, the band holds back before returning to the slow, methodical style it was before - it's that subtlety throughout that gives it so much power.