10 Huge Rock Albums That Didn't Deserve To Flop

Towards the mid '90s, Pearl Jam were basically trying to do everything in their power to make their band seem as small as possible. Eddie Vedder had always visioned the band having a small ascent up to the top, so seeing them become one of the biggest overnight sensations in the Seattle area was enough to make him a paranoid mess most of the time. Now that they were at the top, Eddie figured it was time to reel it back a little bit on No Code.

Before the record was even a year old, Vedder had talked about getting a bit more impersonal with this one, not letting his more introspective side shine through like it did in the early days. Even if it's a much more distant version of the frontman, these songs are still a good helping of what Pearl Jam were known for, taking a handful of rock cuts like the song Hail Hail and putting them against the more eclectic sides of their catalog like In My Tree or Present Tense.

This also might be the most laid back Pearl Jam record that they had made up to this point, from every member contributing to the songwriting this time around to more acoustic cuts like Off He Goes and Around the Bend. Pearl Jam were still deciding what kind of band they wanted to be in the next few years, and this album feels like the start of them actually figuring it out.