“Not For You” by Pearl Jam

"Not for You" was the second single from Vitalogy, Pearl Jam's third studio album, released in 1995, and it's a slow-burning snarl aimed straight at the machine. Eddie Vedder said the song is about youth being sold and exploited, and about feeling he'd become part of that himself. The whole band shares the writing credit, but it's mostly Vedder's song.

Mike McCready played it on a 12-string Rickenbacker that Tom Petty had sent him out of the blue, the first time he used the guitar, and he adds slide on top. Stone Gossard throws in Mellotron, Jeff Ament plays bass and double bass, Dave Abbruzzese holds the stomp together, and Vedder even works an accordion. Brendan O'Brien produced with the band and recorded it, with Nick DiDia engineering. It reached number 12 on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.