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No Code |
| No Code | |||||
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| Studio album by Pearl Jam | |||||
| Released | August 27, 1996 | ||||
| Recorded | July 12, 1995 – May 1996 at Chicago Recording Company, Chicago, Illinois; Southern Tracks Recording and Doppler, Atlanta, Georgia; and Studio Litho, Seattle, Washington | ||||
| Genre | Alternative rock | ||||
| Length | 49:37 | ||||
| Label | Epic | ||||
| Producer | Brendan O'Brien, Pearl Jam | ||||
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| Pearl Jam chronology | |||||
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| Singles from No Code | |||||
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No Code is the fourth studio album by the American alternative rock band Pearl Jam, released on August 27, 1996 through Epic Records. Following a troubled tour for its previous album, Vitalogy, released in 1994, in which the band engaged in a much-publicized boycott of Ticketmaster, the band went into the studio to record its follow-up. The music on the record was even more diverse than what the band had done on previous releases, incorporating elements of garage rock, worldbeat, and experimentalism.
Although No Code debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, it left a large section of the band’s fanbase unsatisfied and quickly fell down the charts. The album became the first Pearl Jam album to not reach multi-platinum status. The album has been certified platinum by the RIAA in the United States.
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For its fourth album, Pearl Jam again worked with producer Brendan O'Brien. No Code was the band's first album with drummer Jack Irons, who had joined the band following the release of Vitalogy. Following the summer U.S. leg of the band's Vitalogy Tour, the band began work on No Code in Chicago, Illinois in July 1995 during the infamous Chicago heat wave. The Chicago session lasted a week. During a break in a string of make-up dates for the 1995 tour the band went into the studio for a week-long session in New Orleans, Louisiana, where the band recorded "Off He Goes".12 The rest of the recording took place in the first half of 1996 in Seattle, Washington at guitarist Stone Gossard's Studio Litho. The album was then mixed by O'Brien at his mixing facility at Southern Tracks in Atlanta, Georgia.
The sessions for the album began with strife and tension. Bassist Jeff Ament wasn't made aware that the band was recording until three days into the sessions, and said that he "wasn't super involved with that record on any level."3 Guitarist Mike McCready said, "I'm sure Jeff was pissed, but it was more about separating, because if we played all together nothing would get done. We'd all just get pissed off at each other."3 At one point Ament even walked out of the recording sessions,4 and considered quitting the band due to lead vocalist Eddie Vedder's control of the creation process.5 McCready said that a lot of the songs came from the band jamming, and said "I think we kind of rushed it a little bit."6 Ament said that the band members would bring in fragments of songs, and it would take hours before Vedder could have music to which he could add vocals.4 He added that "Ed's typically the guy who finishes off the songs...But by the end of No Code, he was so burnt, it was so much work for him."7
By the time the album was done the band seemed to have found a calmer place in which to exist, and gave credit for this to Irons. O'Brien stated that "everybody was on their best musical behavior around him."3 McCready said that Irons urged the band members to discuss their problems, and called him "a big spiritual influence, if not the biggest."4 Commenting upon the sessions as a whole, O'Brien said, "It was really a transitional record. We had a good time making it."3
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"Who You Are" |
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| Sample of "Who You Are", the first single released from No Code. The song blends an Eastern-influenced guitar sound with a polyrhythmic drum pattern created by Jack Irons. | |
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| "Hail, Hail" | |
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| Sample of "Hail, Hail", the second single released from No Code. The song features a garage rock sound. | |
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While Vitalogy had shifted away from the earlier albums' accessible compositions and polished production, No Code represented a deliberate break from Ten's anthemic stadium sound, favoring experimental ballads and noisy garage rockers. It stood out with its emphasis on subtle harmony ("Off He Goes"), Eastern influences ("Who You Are"), and spoken word ("I'm Open"). Irons lends a tribal drum sound on the songs "Who You Are" and "In My Tree". Vedder said, "We realized that we had an opportunity to experiment."8 David Browne of Entertainment Weekly stated that "No Code displays a wider range of moods and instrumentation than on any previous Pearl Jam album."9
The lyrical themes on the album deal with issues of spirituality, morality, and self-examination.1011 Vedder said, "I think there's a little self-examination in those songs, something that a lot of my friends are going through too, as they approach 30."11 Vedder has said that he wrote the song "Off He Goes" about himself and how he is a "shit friend."3 During the mid-1990s, Vedder faced what he called a "pretty intense stalker problem,"3 and the issue is referred to in the song "Lukin".12 "Around the Bend" was written by Vedder as a lullaby that Irons could sing to his son.3
The lyrics to "Smile" are taken from a note that Dennis Flemion of The Frogs hid inside Vedder's notebook while he was onstage performing.13 The words used in the note are taken from the Frogs songs "This Is How I Feel" and "Now I Wanna Be Dead". Flemion is given credit in the "No Code" vinyl, but the credit is inexplicably absent from the CD version. The lyrics to "Red Mosquito" were inspired by the events surrounding Pearl Jam's June 24, 1995 concert at San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, which included Vedder's stay at a hospital due to food poisoning and his attempt to perform at the band's concert the same day at Golden Gate Park in front of 50,000 people.1415 Vedder only made it through seven songs and the band was forced to cancel the remaining dates of the short tour that it was on.11 For the first time on a Pearl Jam album a band member other than Vedder contributed lyrics, with Gossard penning the lyrics to "Mankind". Gossard also sang lead vocals on the track.
No Code is often regarded as the beginning of the end for Pearl Jam's wide-scale commercial success, with the album being the band's first to not reach multi-platinum status. This was Pearl Jam's last album to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 album chart. It stayed at number one for two weeks. No Code sold 366,000 copies in its first week of release.16 This was significantly less than what the band's previous two albums sold in their respective first weeks of release. It was, however, the biggest-selling debut of what was a slow year for the industry. The album achieved platinum status.17
Rolling Stone magazine gave No Code four out of five stars. Reviewer David Fricke said that the album "is abrupt in its mood swings almost to the point of vertigo." He praised the album as "the kind of impulsive, quixotic, provocative ruckus that has become rare in a modern-rock mainstream" and added that "No Code basically means no rule books, no limits and, above all, no fear."18 Referring to the songs on the album, Jon Pareles of The New York Times said "about half are worth the effort." He observed that "too often, [Vedder] falls into American culture's Disney syndrome, idealizing childhood innocence above all."19 David Browne of Entertainment Weekly gave the album a C, saying that while No Code "cracks open their sound" it "becomes a collection of fragments that don't add up to much of anything, except a portrait of a musically disjointed band." On the change in mood compared with the band’s previous releases, he said that "the album leaves you with the vaguely unsettling feeling that Pearl Jam without pain are like a pretzel without salt, or Seattle without rain."9
Three singles were released from No Code. The lead single "Who You Are" entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 31. Neither of the album's other singles, "Hail, Hail" and "Off He Goes", charted on the Hot 100, but both placed on the Mainstream Rock and Modern Rock charts. Album track "Red Mosquito" also charted. "Who You Are" was the most successful song from No Code on the rock charts, reaching number one on the Modern Rock charts and number five on the Mainstream Rock charts.
The album package consists of 144 Polaroid photos that unfold into a 2x2 square. The Polaroid photos are seemingly random. One of the photos featured on the front cover is the eyeball of former Chicago Bulls player Dennis Rodman,1 while another photo is of Vedder's foot after he had been stung by a stingray.20 The pictures, when viewed from afar, blend to form the No Code triangle/eyeball logo that is the theme throughout the album. Later pressings of the album fold into a 1x4 strip, thus losing the 'hidden message' effect. These later pressings also include the band name and album title printed directly onto the album cover—the original release contained this information on a removable sticker. Hidden allusions to the central packaging concept are a common trait among many Pearl Jam albums. There were nine different covers for the cassette, each one a different Polaroid found on the CD and vinyl.
The CD and vinyl came with lyrics printed on the back of replica Polaroids. Only nine Polaroids came in a set, leaving one to have to obtain another set to accumulate all thirteen songs. Even for the same songs, there were different pictures on some of the Polaroids between the different sets. The sets are divided into four groups: set C, set O, set D and set E.
In medical terminology, a "no code" order is a medical order to withhold CPR on a patient. It is also known as a "do not resuscitate" order. When discussing the album's title, Vedder said "it's called No Code because it's full of code. It's misinformation."21
Pearl Jam promoted the album with tours in North America and Europe in the fall of 1996.22 The short tour of North America focused on the East Coast of the United States. As with Vitalogy, very little touring was done in the United States to promote No Code because of the band's refusal to play in Ticketmaster's venues.23 A European tour followed in the fall of 1996, of which the band's November 3, 1996 show in Berlin, Germany at Deutschlandhalle was broadcast on many radio stations worldwide.24
During the North American tour fans complained about the difficulty in obtaining tickets and the use of non-Ticketmaster venues, which were judged to be out-of-the-way and impersonal.25 Gossard stated that there was "a lot of stress associated with trying to tour at that time" and that "it was growing more and more difficult to be excited about being part of the band." He added, "Ticketmaster, as monopolistic as it may be, is very efficient so we weren't playing the venues we wanted to play."3
The album's singles featured two B-sides from the No Code sessions that weren't included on the album, "Black, Red, Yellow" and "Dead Man", the latter of which was originally intended for the 1996 Dead Man Walking soundtrack. "Black, Red, Yellow" was a B-side on the "Hail, Hail" single and "Dead Man" featured on the "Off He Goes" single. Both songs were included on the 2003 Lost Dogs collection of rarities, although "Black, Red, Yellow" appears as an extended version. Both "Leaving Here", which appeared on the 1996 Home Alive compilation, and "Gremmie Out of Control", which appeared on the 1996 Music for Our Mother Ocean Vol. 1 compilation, were also recorded during the No Code sessions. Both songs were included on Lost Dogs as well. Other songs rejected from the album but included on Lost Dogs are "All Night" and "Don't Gimme No Lip".1 "Olympic Platinum", written by the album's mixer Nick DiDia around the time of the 1996 Summer Olympics, was recorded by the band and released on its 1996 fan club Christmas single.
| Preceded by Forgiven, Not Forgotten by The Corrs |
Australian ARIA Albums Chart number-one album September 1, 1996 - September 14, 1996 |
Succeeded by New Adventures in Hi-Fi by R.E.M. |
| Preceded by Recurring Dream by Crowded House |
RIANZ number-one album September 8, 1996 - September 21, 1996 |
Succeeded by New Adventures in Hi-Fi by R.E.M. |
| Preceded by Beats, Rhymes and Life by A Tribe Called Quest |
Billboard 200 number-one album September 14, 1996 - September 27, 1996 |
Succeeded by Home Again by New Edition |
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