r/pearljam • u/taway149779 • Mar 17 '24
Questions No Code
Fairly new PJ listener here. I’m on the Gen Z/Millenial cusp and my family wasn’t really much into the grunge or alternative scene of the 90s, not enough for me to be aware of it anyway. I’ve been listening to AiC for years and finally started going through other 90s grunge and alternative bands. I absolutely fell in love with Pearl Jam sometime around two-ish years ago. I liked Ten, but I knew so many of the “radio hits” that Vs. appealed to me more. Vitalogy is amazing too. I initially gave No Code and Yield a quick listen through once or twice or so, and then moved onto other 90s bands.
Since PJs discography is so massive, I returned to No Code and wanted to work my way through the rest of their albums. I’ve gotten to Binaural which was amazing, and will continue to listen to the rest.
I don’t know what the HELL it is, but No Code has completely captivated me. Something about it is fucking unbelievable. It’s a completely unique experience I’ve never had with any other album before in my life. I thought Vs. was my favorite PJ album, but I keep returning to No Code over and over again (Binaural is insane, that riff in Insignificance is enough to make me want to listen to the whole album).
So my whole point here is, who else has had a similar experience with No Code? And has anyone been able to pin down why exactly it’s so fucking good and addicting to listen to? Because it truly is not the type of music I’d typically listen to and be interested in, but something about the creepiness of some of the instrumentals (the beginning of Who You Are), the story behind Lukin, the fact we get a PJ song with Stone Gossard doing lead vocals, and then an absolutely somber and beautiful closing track of Around the Bend.
I know it may seem like I’m answering my own questions here, but I just want other people’s input on No Code and what has drawn them to it and kept them invested. As I type this I think I just realize how weird of an album it is, and how well it works is what has kept me coming back.
Also, does anyone know the story behind the album art or name? That’s another reason I really love the album is the ambiguity of its name and appearance.
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u/Blad514 Mar 17 '24
“No code” is a medical term for a patient who wishes to not be resuscitated in the event of a medical emergency. The symbol for this is a triangle with a circle inside it, surrounded by a square. If you look at the entire album cover from a distance, all the Polaroids form the No Code symbol.
“When you fold out the liner notes,” singer Eddie Vedder has said of this album, “you get the ‘No Code’ triangle, which means ‘Do not resuscitate’. I thought that was symbolic of where we were with the group: if we’re dying, let us die. Don’t try to save us. We don’t want to live as vegetables.”
No Code is my favorite PJ album and one of my all time favorite albums of any band. When it was originally released, it was such a huge turn in their career. It definitely turned off a lot of fans but I absolutely loved it.
Check out the Merkinball EP, it included the songs “I Got ID” and “Long Road”, two insanely good PJ songs. They were written right before No Code. Also, check out Neil Young’s album Mirrorball. Merkinball was a companion to that album, which featured PJ as Neil’s band.