Written by lead singer Eddie Vedder, "World Wide Suicide" tells the story of a family who finds out their son, a soldier, has been killed in battle when they read about it in the morning paper. The song is a commentary on the futility of war, where killing is assured. Pearl Jam were very outspoken against the Iraq War and American foreign policy in general. They took part in many efforts to get President George W. Bush voted out of office, but Bush was re-elected. It was following that election that Vedder wrote the song.
"World Wide Suicide" was released as the first single from Pearl Jam's eighth album, which on the cover has just a photo of an avocado along with the band name. The song went to #1 on the Modern Rock chart.
The song had an unusual release. A 15-second snippet was sent to US radio stations as a teaser on February 24, 2006. The Seattle station KNDD somehow got a copy of the full song and played it about 30 times before it was embargoed. Pearl Jam then released the song as a free digital download on their website four days before it was available in other formats. They also included a bootleg from one of their 1993 concerts with the download.
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