10 Perfect Rock Songs On Terrible Albums

9. Off He Goes - Pearl Jam

It's very rare that any major rock band would see success as a bad thing, but Pearl Jam definitely belong in that category. After intentionally trying to test their audiences with the art rock experiments on Vitalogy, the power of hits like Better Man managed to rope in the mainstream crowd all the same. If that was an experiment though, No Code sounded like Eddie Vedder was actively trying to lose fans.

Compared to the arena sized hooks on their first few records, No Code is a lot more organic, meaning that a lot of these songs either feel like first drafts or are blatantly designed to sound experimental. One thing that it doesn't manage to fumble on is the acoustic cuts, and Vedder still had one trick up his sleeve for Off He Goes.

Which is weird because there's nothing that separates this from the rest of the record, with Vedder getting less personal and talking about how he hasn't been there for his friends. Then again, the song itself feels so warm and inviting when put against songs like Lukin and Smile, making for a tune that sounds like it should be played in the background of a hiking movie. For a song that was making a deliberate attempt to sound standoffish, there's a lot behind this track that hits you right in the heart.

 
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