Every Pearl Jam Album Opening Song Ranked From Worst To Best

9. Life Wasted - Pearl Jam

In 2006, Pearl Jam did that really annoying things that bands do, where they release a self-titled album that isn't their debut.

Way to make things confusing, guys...

Pearl Jam (the album) was received well upon release, with fans and critics praising the band's return to more political songwriting. The early 2000s had given them plenty of material to work with, as this album focused on issues such as the War on Terror and post-9/11 America.

Life Wasted got the honour of kicking things off, as well as being the album's second single. It was written by guitarist Stone Gossard after he attended the funeral of Johnny Ramone, who was a close friend of Gossard's and had died at the age of just 55.

Whilst this is a nice sentiment and makes the song more interesting to research, Life Wasted is still pretty basic, with Eddie Vedder's usual brand of singing being even more unintelligible than usual. The outro solo is sweet as a nut, but that's about it.

Contributor
Contributor

Jacob Simmons has a great many passions, including rock music, giving acclaimed films three-and-a-half stars, watching random clips from The Simpsons on YouTube at 3am, and writing about himself in the third person.