Ten has Pearl Jam’s signature song (“Alive”), its most affecting song (“Release”), its most popular deep cut (“Black”), its best song to hear live (“Porch”), its most iconic/caricatured song (“Jeremy”), its dumbest fun song (“Even Flow”), and its funnest dumb song (“Once”).

Ten (1991) It’s Pearl Jam’s best-selling record, it’s the one that even people who don’t care about Pearl Jam know fairly well, and it’s generally regarded as the most essential entry in its catalogue. We must break down Pearl Jam’s career into a series of key components. But how does this band rate? Is Pearl Jam overrated, underrated, or properly rated? Because the business of rating things is serious and requires close attention, this question cannot be answered simply. How did we get here? Pearl Jam has a long, rich history consisting of grand triumphs and crushing disappointments that has been guided by a steady survivalist instinct.

Today, Pearl Jam is still in the running for that distinction, if only because the competition has been significantly depleted. Twenty years ago, Pearl Jam was the world’s biggest rock band back when “the world’s biggest rock band” meant something. So, while Pearl Jam is obviously still a huge band, it has been marginalized. It’s been at least 15 years since any Pearl Jam album had a seismic impact on the pop culture mainstream. On the other hand, it’s unlikely that Lightning Bolt will matter to anyone who doesn’t already like Pearl Jam. So, Pearl Jam is obviously still a huge band. And Pearl Jam is currently supporting the record with a run of concerts in arenas, several of which are already sold out. On one hand, Lightning Bolt will probably debut at no. Like rock music in general, a new Pearl Jam album doesn’t have a clear cultural value in 2013. This week Pearl Jam releases its 10th album, Lightning Bolt.

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