Do the Evolution

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"Do the Evolution"
Brendan O'Brien
, Pearl Jam

"Do the Evolution" is a song by American

Modern Rock Tracks chart. The song was included on Pearl Jam's 2004 greatest hits album, rearviewmirror (Greatest Hits 1991–2003). It was the first of the band's songs to receive a music video since "Oceans", the final single from the group's 1991 debut Ten
.

Origin and recording

"Do the Evolution" features lyrics written by vocalist Eddie Vedder and music written by guitarist Stone Gossard. Bassist Jeff Ament does not appear on the track. Gossard recorded the bass line for the track.[2] Vedder said that it is his favorite song from Yield.[3] He stated, "I can listen to it like it's some band that just came out of nowhere. I just like the song. I was able to listen to it as an outside observer and just really play it over and over. Maybe because I was singing it from a third person so it didn't really feel like me singing."[3]

Lyrics

When speaking about "Do the Evolution", Vedder stated, "That song is all about someone who's drunk with technology, who thinks they're the controlling living being on this planet. It's another one I'm not singing as myself."[4] Pearl Jam has stated that the novel Ishmael influenced the writing of Yield,[5] and according to the novel's writer, Daniel Quinn, this song comes the closest to expressing the ideas of the book.[6] Vedder stated:

This Daniel Quinn book, Ishmael...I've never recommended a book before, but I would actually, in an interview, recommend it to everyone....But this book, it's kind of the book of my ... My whole year has been kind of with these thoughts in mind. And on an evolutionary level, that man has been on this planet for 3 million years, so that you have this number line that goes like this [hands wide apart]. And that we're about to celebrate the year 2000, which is this [holds hands less than one inch apart]. So here's this number line; here's what we know and celebrate. This book is a conversation with a man and an ape. And the ape really has it all together. He kinda knows the differences between him and the man, and points out how slight they are, and it creates an easy analogy for what man has done, thinking that they were the end-all. That man is the end-all thing on this earth. That the earth was around even so much longer before the 3 million years. Fifty million years of sharks and all these living things. Then man comes out of the muck, and 3 million years later he's standing, and now he's controlling everything and killing it. Just in the last hundred! Which is just a speck on this line. So what are we doin' here? This is just a good reminder...And I'm anxious to see what happens. You know, I've got a good seat for whatever happens next. It'll be interesting.[7]

Reception

Without being released as a single, "Do the Evolution" peaked at number 40 on the Billboard

1999 Grammy Awards, "Do the Evolution" received a nomination for Best Hard Rock Performance.[11]

In E! Online's review of Yield, "Do the Evolution" was described as having a "Neil Young-Beck hybrid feel."[12] Tom Sinclair of Entertainment Weekly stated, "On the album's most gleeful hip shaker, "Do the Evolution", Vedder howls throwaway lyrics...while the guitars gnash and grind at the primitive melody, briefly evoking the gnarly cacophony of the Stooges' monumental Fun House."[13]

Music video

The

Spawn and Korn's 1999 "Freak on a Leash" video.[14] The video was produced by Joe Pearson, the president of Epoch Ink animation, and Terry Fitzgerald at TME. It was written and developed by Pearson and Altieri with input from McFarlane and Vedder.[14] The total production time on the music video was 16 weeks.[14] The animation pre-production was produced by Epoch Ink Animation at their studio in Santa Monica. Under Altieri and Pearson’s supervision the Epoch team boarded and designed the short in less than six weeks.[14] Once McFarlane, Vedder, and Sony gave their final approvals, the designs were outsourced at Seoul to be animated at Sunmin Image Pictures and Jireh Animation. Over a four-week period, a team of over one hundred artists worked to deliver the finished animation.[14]

Once the final animation was back in

Best Music Video, Short Form.[11] The video clip for "Do the Evolution" can be found on the Touring Band 2000
DVD as one of the Special Features.

Video summary

Collage of scenes from the "Do the Evolution" video.

Throughout the video, a animated seductive woman (similar in appearance to the character

Black Thursday during the Wall Street Crash of 1929.[17]

Other social and environmental issues such as

Manifest Destiny, uncontrolled urbanization, vivisection, pollution, genetic modification and techno-progressivism are included. The music video blames humankind's brutality on leadership; with various scenes depicting a judge, a bishop or pope, a military dictator and an American president candidate, who is being portrayed as a puppet, controlled by someone unseen, from behind the scene. The video concludes in what seems to be future scenarios of the self-destruction of the human race, including the carpet bombing of a city of clones by futuristic aircraft, computers hijacking the human mind, and finally a nuclear explosion which leaves not only a city in ruins, but the planet damaged beyond recognition. However, near the end of the animation, the earth is briefly seen as an ovum, suggesting a rebirth and the perpetuation of the human condition. During the sequence of flashing images near the end of the video an image of a yield sign
being smashed at the corner can be seen, which references the album title and cover art.

Live performances

"Do the Evolution" was first performed live at the band's November 12, 1997, concert in

West Memphis 3
!" to the song.

Credits

Pearl Jam

Additional musicians

  • Brendan O'Brien
    , Alana Baxter, Mary Olsen, Mark Raver – backing vocals

Charts

Chart (1998) Peak
position
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[10] 50
US Alternative Airplay (Billboard)[9] 33
US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)[8] 40

References

  1. ISBN 978-1-4391-6937-7
    .
  2. ^ Marsh, Dave. "Pearl Jam: Art and Economy". Musician. April 1998.
  3. ^ a b "Pearl Jam Talks About New Approach To Yield". MTV.com. February 4, 1998.
  4. ^ Moon, Tom. "Calling Off the Crusades" Archived January 8, 2008, at the Wayback Machine. The Philadelphia Inquirer. February 8, 1998.
  5. ^ Papineau, Lou. "20 Things You Should Know About Pearl Jam" Archived June 29, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. VH1.com. June 30, 2006.
  6. ^ Quinn, Daniel. "Questions and Answers..." Archived September 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. Ishmael.com.
  7. ^ Marsh, Dave. "Pearl Jam's New Day Rising". Addicted to Noise. February 1998.
  8. ^ a b "Pearl Jam Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard.
  9. ^ a b "Pearl Jam Chart History (Alternative Airplay)". Billboard.
  10. ^ a b "Top RPM Singles: Issue 6996." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved January 16, 2020.
  11. ^ a b "41st Grammy Awards". Rockonthenet. Retrieved September 5, 2007.
  12. ^ "Pearl Jam: Yield". E! Online. 1998.
  13. ^ Sinclair, Tom (February 6, 1998). "Last Band Standing". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on December 25, 2007. Retrieved May 28, 2008.
  14. ^ a b c d e "Music Videos & Shorts". Epoch Ink Animation. Archived from the original on September 3, 2013. Retrieved September 6, 2007.
  15. ^ "Do the Evolution" Archived September 14, 2008, at the Wayback Machine. sonymusic.com.
  16. ^ "DTE Scheduled to Air August 24". fivehorizons.com. August 21, 1998.
  17. ^ Adams, Cecil (August 30, 2002). "Did investors jump from the windows?". The Strait Dope. Retrieved July 10, 2012.
  18. ^ "Pearl Jam Songs: "Do the Evolution"" Archived May 23, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. pearljam.com.

External links

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