Pearl Jam Versus Nirvana: The Final Countdown
Simon Reynolds, Melody Maker, 25 December 1993
IF NUMBERS COUNT for anything, Pearl Jam wiped the floor with Nirvana. In its first week of release, Vs sold five times as many copies as In Utero did in its first week: nearly a million where Nirvana shifted under 200,000 units. Pearl Jam also cleaned up at the MTV Video Awards, and got to jam with legendary-survivor-from-the-era-when-music-really-meant-something Neil Young.
Total word count of piece: 1031
Best Databases: RBP is Runner-up in Best Niche category
Video: Johnny Marr talks about Rock's Backpages
RBP on Spotify: The Very Best of 40-year-old Virgin
RBP Album Club, June 13th: Miki Berenyi and Lucy O'Brien celebrate a Blondie classic
Essential Listening: Green Day grilled by Roy Trakin
RBP Album Club, July 11th: Nick Hornby and Nick Coleman celebrate Southside Johnny's debut
Essential Reading: Bud Scoppa's 1971 Byrds classic