A strange question occurred to me as Backspacer drew to a close for the first time on my stereo; it was about halfway through what is certainly the band’s most mature song yet, the cinematic and winsome “The End,” a song both about death and the presence of life: what would Kurt Cobain be doing right now, at this very minute?
It isn’t stealing Eddie’s moment. And it isn’t a question that has occurred to me during any other Pearl Jam song to this point. Maybe it was the subject matter …

It was a bigger thrill than I honestly thought it was going to be— the reissue of Ten, remixed, repackaged.
I am aware of how drastically tastes can change over time, and I thought this was going to be nothing more than a dutiful purchase by a longtime fan. I have learned to distrust my memories. I used to think C + C Music Factory was the future of music. And so I doubted Ten was what I remembered; it has always been a touchstone album in my personal music collection …