Although they didn't create the wave of grunge that swelled out of Seattle in 1991 and crashed over the mainstream, it was Pearl Jam who became the biggest band on the planet. While Nirvana came from an abrasive punk aesthetic, Pearl Jam drew from more accessible '70s arena rock and built their foundation on gargantuan crowd-pleasing hooks mixed with '80s post-punk angst. It was a formula custom built for Generation X and one that transcended the rigid parameters of grunge.

It allowed Pearl Jam to quickly evolve in the wake of the genre with a collection of diverse and purposefully challenging albums that would allow them to continue their career however they chose. That meant delving deep and darker in the early part of the 21st century only to emerge more recently as classicist traveling rock band in the vein of the Grateful Dead.

In this installment of Albums Ranked in Order of Awesomeness, we rank each of the 10 studio albums Pearl Jam have released during the course of their storied and eclectic two-decade career.

More From Diffuser.fm