Nothing sounded the death knell for the hair metal bands of the ’80s like the one-two punch of Nirvana’s Nevermind and this powerful debut by Pearl Jam. (Just don’t mention “grunge.”) More in the lineage of Neil Young than, say, the Pixies, time would reveal that media comparisons between Pearl Jam and Nirvana were actually pretty lazy. Throaty vocals from lead singer Eddie Vedder took command of an album’s worth of rockers like “Even Flow,” “Alive,” and the ubiquitous radio smash, “Jeremy.” 

– Miles Marshall Lewis