The years 2000 and 2001 weren't the greatest in Pearl Jam's career. Their 2000 album, Binaural, didn't sell as well as previous efforts and didn't get the sort of critical acclaim they were used to. Then, as Ultimate Classic Rock reminds us, while touring in support of that album the band witnessed a horrifying tragedy when nine fans were crushed to death during a concert in Denmark, an event that haunted them. Then, like everyone else in the country, they got to live through Sept. 11, 2001, and watch how the world and the country transformed in its wake.
After a year-long break, the band returned with Riot Act in 2002. The songwriting is introspective, sad, and peppered with a sense of mortality, but few of the new songs have achieved classic status. One stand out, though — the gentle, elegiac "Thumbing My Way." As Rolling Stone notes, this is a song about "loss and regret," made all the more powerful because of its shimmering, understated arrangement. The emotional power stems from its simplicity and Eddie Vedder's deceptively casual, intimate approach to his vocals. Yet the melody is hopeful, going up in the chorus as if to imply subliminally a belief that everyone was going to come through those dark times together. If the band's sound hadn't been in such flux, and the country in better psychological shape, the song might have received the attention it deserved.
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