For their ninth studio album, the lasting grunge rockers in Pearl Jam decided to do it big. They left J Records and decided to release to album themselves stateside (they certainly have enough money to do that). They also hooked up with '90s alternative-rock-producer-du-jour Brendan O'Brien (Korn, Bruce Springsteen) for the first time since 1998's Yield.

The band has taken a less contentious direction, as well. Guitarist Stone Gossard said of Backspacer, "We've made a couple of political and pointed records, the last two in particular, and just to move away from that is great, because it allows you to go back to that when you need to and it refreshes everybody, and it comes down to a beat and a melody and your friends and a lyric and a poem and something that's important to you." Good thing to know, then, that Backspacer isn't some warning against the dangers of the digital age.