The rugged, world-weary tones of Vitalogy were a head check for Pearl Jam, as Nice Guy Eddie Vedder and his stadium-grunge all-stars grappled with their strange new role as the world's biggest rock band. With their profile unexpectedly high — who can forget Sharon Stone proclaiming, "Forget Pavarotti, I wanna see Pearl Jam!" in Sliver? — Pearl Jam turned their confusion into the unapologetically anthemic guitar noise of "Not for You." Vedder caught his breath with the show-stealing ballads "Better Man" and "Nothingman," brooding over the fate of cowardly men letting good women slip away and struggling not to turn into one of those cowardly men himself.

• Rolling Stone's Original 1994 Review

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