"World Wide Suicide" is a song by the American rock band Pearl Jam, released through digital music stores on March 14, 2006 as the first single from the band's eighth studio album, Pearl Jam (2006). The single topped the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart.

Composition

The song was written by frontman Eddie Vedder. The song features a raw sound closer to the band's earlier material. On the song's intensity, Vedder said, "The times...the times kind of demand a little bit of intensity."

Lyrics

The lyrics depict anger against the war in Iraq, and criticize the US government in a subtle manner. Vedder has said that "World Wide Suicide" was written largely about Pat Tillman.

Vedder on the song:

It's about him and a bunch of the guys who didn't get as much coverage - the guys who barely got a paragraph instead of ten pages...The thing about Tillman was, he got ten pages but they were all lies. His family is being blocked by our government from finding out what happened...Where are the leaders that are going to represent a galvanized view on what to do next?...Democracy might have a chance at working if people educate themselves on these issues and make their opinions known.

Release and reception

In late February, the band made a 15-second clip of the song available on the Internet, which was then played on numerous North American radio stations. The snippet revealed a hard-rocking sound with a noted return to the dominant vocal styles of Vedder's earlier work. It was first played on US radio on March 3, 2006 on KNDD (Seattle). On March 6, 2006, "World Wide Suicide" was made available via the band's official site to download for free. It was released to general airplay on March 7. Between then and March 12, it was played over 1900 times on modern rock stations in the United States, meaning that it was one of the fastest-growing alternative rock songs of 2006 in the US. The single hit digital music stores on March 14 accompanied by the upbeat B-side "Unemployable", also on the new album. On April 19, 2006, "World Wide Suicide" was played during an episode of CSI: NY entitled "Run Silent, Run Deep".

It entered the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart at number three, making it one of the highest debuts of the last several years and becoming the band's first number one on that chart since "Who You Are" in 1996. "World Wide Suicide" was also the band's first number one single of any sort in eight years (since "Given to Fly" hit number one in 1998). The song spent a total of three weeks at number one on the Modern Rock chart. "World Wide Suicide" was the most successful song from Pearl Jam on the American rock charts. The song peaked at number 41 on the Billboard Hot 100, number two on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, and number one on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. Without selling any hard copies of the single or distributing CDs to radio programmers, consultants and industry contacts, "World Wide Suicide" became the first digitally delivered number one song in Canadian radio history. On the song's radio success, Vedder stated, "I don't think two or three years ago you could even get a song called "World Wide Suicide" with the word soldier in it played on the radio. The fact that it's getting played a lot, maybe that means that the ocean that is freedom of speech is still healthy enough for a fish to survive in."

In E! Online's review of the album the song was described as one that comes "close to recreating the hard rock thrills of the band's billion-selling debut, Ten. In its review of Pearl Jam, The Guardian pointed out "World Wide Suicide" and stated, "Despite being over 40, [Vedder] musters absolute conviction in writing and singing lyrics of male teenage angst. Jon Pareles of The New York Times called the song "a bitter, furious tirade about a soldier's death and the prospect of endless war. Brian D. Schiller of Slant Magazine called the song "another perfectly serviceable single to add to their canon" and proclaimed it as one of "the band's best pure rock cuts since 'Spin the Black Circle' Jayson Greene of Stylus said, "There is real joy in hearing [Vedder] let it rip again, howling the title of "World Wide Suicide" with relish until it breaks into a screech. The song was named number 11 in Rolling Stone's "The 100 Best Songs of the Year" for 2006 and was also named number 54 in the New York Post's "206 Best Songs to Download of 2006".

Music video

A music video was made for the song directed by Danny Clinch. The video features footage shot in 2005 of a Chilean street performer (Sebastián González, 24 years old) whom the band met while touring South America interspersed with clips shot in 2006 of the band performing the song in its studio in Seattle, Washington. The street performer portions of the video were filmed in November 2005 in the bathrooms of the band's Chile concert location San Carlos de Apoquindo Stadium. The video was released in April 2006.

Live performances

On April 15, 2006, "World Wide Suicide" was premiered live on Saturday Night Live. This marked Pearl Jam's first appearance on Saturday Night Live since 1994. The song was premiered live in concert at the band's April 20, 2006 concert in London, England. Live performances of "World Wide Suicide" can be found on the Live at the Gorge 05/06 box set. A performance of the song mixed from various dates in Italy is also included on the DVD Immagine in Cornice.

Track listing

Digital Download

1. "World Wide Suicide" (Eddie Vedder) – 3:29
2. "Unemployable" (Matt Cameron, Mike McCready, Vedder) – 3:04

Chart positions

Year	Chart	Position
2006	US Billboard Hot 100	41
	US Modern Rock Tracks	1
	US Mainstream Rock Tracks	2
	US Hot Digital Songs	29
	US Pop 100	47
	Latvian Singles Chart	45

Accolades

Publication	Country	Accolade	Year	Rank
New York Post	United States	"206 Best Songs to Download of 2006"	2006	54
Rolling Stone	United States	"The 100 Best Songs of 2006"	2006	11

References

External links

• Music video for "World Wide Suicide" on Three on the Tree Productions' homepage (QuickTime)
• Lyrics