Vs. (Pearl Jam Album) - Release and Reception

Release and Reception

Vs. debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 album chart and stayed there for five weeks. Vs. sold 950,378 copies in its first week and outperformed all other entries in the Billboard top ten that week combined. This set the record for most copies of an album sold in its first week of release. Vs. held this record for five years before it was broken by Garth Brooks' 1998 album, Double Live. Vs. has been certified seven times platinum by the RIAA, and, as of 2003, has sold 5.9 million copies in the United States according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Rolling Stone staff writer Paul Evans gave Vs. a favorable review, saying, "Few American bands have arrived more clearly talented than this one did with Ten; and Vs. tops even that debut." He added, "Like Jim Morrison and Pete Townshend, Vedder makes a forte of his psychological-mythic explorations...As guitarists Stone Gossard and Mike McCready paint dense and slashing backdrops, he invites us into a drama of experiment and strife." Jon Pareles of The New York Times stated that "Pearl Jam uses its new album...to broaden its music," and added that "most of the album...projects individual misery as public catharsis." Allmusic staff writer Steve Huey gave the album four out of five stars, saying "Vs. may not reach the majestic heights of Ten, but at least half the record stands with Pearl Jam's best work."

David Browne of Entertainment Weekly gave the album a B–. He said, "Vs. is not a carbon copy of Ten; for that alone, get points." However, he countered by saying that "Vs. confirms once and for all that there's nothing underground or alternative about ." Critic Robert Christgau gave the album a "dud" rating.

Pearl Jam made a conscious decision beginning with the release of Vs. to scale back its commercial efforts. "We pulled back after the second record pretty hard," Ament stated. "A lot of it had to do with being in the eye of the storm and not being able to think straight." The band declined to produce music videos after the very successful "Jeremy", and opted to give fewer interviews as well as make fewer television appearances. "Ten years from now," Ament said, "I don't want people to remember our songs as videos."

Vs. included the hit singles "Go", "Daughter", "Animal", and "Dissident". All four singles placed on the Mainstream Rock and Modern Rock charts. "Daughter" was the most successful song from Vs. on the rock charts, reaching the number one spot on both the Mainstream Rock and Modern Rock charts, spending a total of eight weeks at number one on the former. Album tracks "Glorified G" and "Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town" also charted. At the 1995 Grammy Awards, "Daughter" received a nomination for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and "Go" received a nomination for Best Hard Rock Performance. Vs. received a nomination for Best Rock Album.

In 2011, Pearl Jam released a remastered Vs., along with Vitalogy, in three formats: an Expanded Version, a three-CD Deluxe Edition and a Limited Edition Collector's Boxed Set. The Expanded Version will feature three bonus tracks recorded by Brendan O'Brien at The Site studio during the Vs. sessions: a previously unreleased acoustic version of "Hold On", "Cready Stomp" - a previously unreleased studio outtake, and the band's cover of Victoria Williams' "Crazy Mary" featuring Williams on backing vocals and guitar, which had previously been issued on the 1993 tribute album, Sweet Relief: A Benefit for Victoria Williams. The three-CD Deluxe Edition will feature both the Legacy Versions of Vs. and Vitalogy with their bonus tracks and a copy of Live at the Orpheum Theater, Boston, April 12, 1994.