Every Pearl Jam Album Opening Song Ranked From Worst To Best
1. Getaway - Lightning Bolt
In terms of a complete album with flow, variety, and character, you could make a case that 2013's Lightning Bolt is Pearl Jam's best ever.
Tracks like Sirens, Let the Records Play, and My Father's Son are as different as they are entertaining, showing that these old dogs still had the capacity to learn new tricks. Another song that should be added to that list is Getaway, which opens the album with a flurry of classic rock joy.
Getaway's opening lines of "Everyone's a critic looking back up the river/Every boat is leaking in this town" are just a small example of this song's witty wordplay, as Vedder delivers some of his most playful lyrics ever about feeling alone in the modern world.
Throw in a highly-infectious backing track and you've got yourself a recipe for a modern classic. Getaway (and the rest of Lightning Bolt) is nothing like the band's grungey heyday, but instead emblematic of a unit that is constantly changing and outright refuses to stay down.