Nirvana V/s Pearl Jam

This post is about Nirvana, a band with a huge fan following and Pearl Jam, who have been given great positions in various rock polls.
Both the bands have given a huge contribution to rock music and these two bands have defined the grunge genre during the 90's. But when it comes to the overall judgement of a song and these bands, then this comparison becomes quite tough.


If I start with the vocals then I would say there ain't any comparison between them. Obviously Eddie Vedder is notable and acclaimed for his baritone and many of his
songs are in the list of greatest rock vocal performances.Kurt Cobain's voice is acclaimed by the fans and people but he didn't have the actual vocal ability like Vedder had. Songs of Vedder that have been listed in greatest male vocal performances are Jeremy, Release, yellow ledbetter, black, Grievance, love boat captain etc. while Cobain had not been able to reach such a feat.



Both the bands gave awesome guitar solos but still in this also I would consider Pearl Jam better. The notable solos of Pearl Jam which have been acclaimed are Alive and Yellow Ledbetter. Nirvana's guitar solos are good but the solo pieces are judged on the basis of their originality(no doubt, both were original) and skills and that's why pearl jam's solos are notable.

Coming to compositions, I can only say that Pearl Jam rocks. They had everything in a song from lyrical, musical and vocal point of view. Arguably, The most famous song of Nirvana, "Smells like teen spirit" has received much fame after Cobain's death. But the album Nevermind is ranked 12th in greatest rock albums whereas ten of pearl jam is ranked 43rd. Its tough to hold this kind of position for bands who had given their debut in the 90's but changed the grunge scenario. And in the list of greatest rock albums of the 90's "Nevermind" is ranked 1 followed by "Ten", ranked 2. Pearl Jam gave a kickass debut with their album "Ten".

Both these bands have rocked the charts of the 90's but who is better? Well...

If I have to say then my vote will go for Pearl jam. I find their work better than Nirvana.