Song · Pearl Jam
“Immortality” by Pearl Jam
From the album Vitalogy (1994)
“Immortality” by Pearl Jam appears on 16 radio countdowns from 8 stations between 1995 and 2022. It was first released in 1994 on the album Vitalogy. Its best result is #23 on The End Top 77 Pearl Jam Songs of All-Time (September 2005). In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #98 alternative song of 1995 and #2,105 alternative song of all time.
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"Immortality" comes from Pearl Jam's third album, Vitalogy, from 1994, and it became the record's third single the following year. Eddie Vedder wrote the words, the whole band built the music, and Brendan O'Brien produced it with them, with Nick DiDia engineering. It's slow and smoky, Mike McCready's slide guitar curling around Vedder's low, weary voice.
A lot of listeners took it as a eulogy for Kurt Cobain. Vedder has denied that, saying it was written on tour in Atlanta and that nothing on the album was aimed directly at Cobain, though he allowed the lyric might shed light on the pressure felt by someone running on a parallel track, a picture he later used for Cobain and himself. It reached number 10 on Billboard's Album Rock Tracks chart and later made the band's 2004 greatest hits set, rearviewmirror.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
Hard Rock & Metal
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 74 | KROQ Los Angeles, CA | KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1995 | 107 |
| 1995 | 25 | 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana | 91X Top 91 Songs of 1995 | 91 |
| 1995 | 79 | Q101 Chicago, IL | Q101 Top 101 Songs of 1995 | 101 |
| 1995 | 92 | Radio & Records United States (national airplay chart) | Radio & Records Top 95 Songs of 1995 | 95 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 548 | Q101 | Q101 Top 1,011 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) | 1017 |
| 1999 | 770 | 107.7 The End | The End Top 1077 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) | 1077 |
| 1999 | 971 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) | 2000 |
| 2000 | 1022 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000) | 2001 |
| 2001 | 1025 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) | 2002 |
| 2002 | 1025 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002) | 2003 |
| 2002 | 361 | KISW | KISW Top 999 of All Time (2002) | 999 |
| 2003 | 1010 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003) | 2004 |
| 2004 | 1010 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) | 2005 |
| 2005 | 1010 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005) | 1994 |
| 2005 | 23 | 107.7 The End | The End Top 77 Pearl Jam Songs of All-Time (September 2005) | 77 |
| 2022 | 330 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 900 Songs of the '90s | 900 |
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