Vitalogy Inspired
by Bennett Holzworth, (1 comments)
As I walked into a friends apartment a couple of months ago, I was totally surprised by the book he had sitting on his table. I was very familiar with Pearl Jam’s Vitalogy cover, but I had no idea that they had taken the design from a vintage medical book from the twenties. I’m not sure if I should be appalled or impressed with the Pearl Jam cover design. Obviously, the designer simplified the design to make it more album cover friendly, but they pretty much just lifted the design from this book cover. With a quick google search I read that Eddie found the book in a bookstore and then named the album after it. I guess this decision would make the choice in album cover art fairly obvious.
A big thank you to Jason Simanek for bringing this book to my attention and sharing his photos. On a side note, he has painstakingly restored the binding to a usable condition.
Comments (1)
Rusty said:
Hey, I know this was written roughly four years ago, and that this blog is now dead, but I’ve just come upon this post and since I am a Pearl Jam fan, I am amazed to learn that the actual Vitalogy book is real.
If you own this book, or if you know someone who owns it, I think you should find a way to scan the book and put it on some website for all Pearl Jam fans to see. I would be extremely interested in viewing this book and I know that it must be quite rare ( plus given the fact that I do not live in the USA, which I guess is where it can be found now ), so the only way possible would be through the internet.
I’ve been a PJ fan since No Code. When I was 11, I was very sick and I spent two weeks in a hospital bed. My mother received No Code unwillingly because of Columbia Records, heh. They sent the album because it was ” The album of the month “. My mom gave the album to me, and since I couldn’t do anything else, I listened to it. At first, I hated it, and then I began listening to it again, and again, and again. A couple of years later, Yield came out and I became a Pearl Jam fan. To this day, No Code is still my favorite PJ album. It must sound foolish for someone who does not know the quality of the lyrics found in No Code, but trust me, this album made me see so many things differently in life… you cannot even imagine. I believe the first step towards my interest for art in general comes from No Code.
Pearl Jam had a very positive influence on my teenage years - when I think of those years, Pearl Jam quickly comes to mind. They were my teenage band.
I must say Vitalogy’s booklet is my favorite by far. What is written in it is captivating. I would like to see if what is found in the booklet can be found in the actual book and if there are other fascinating subjects found in it.
I am risking getting a lot of spam by doing this, but if you ever make this book public please tell me: absurdum@hotmail.com
Posted on May 8, 2008