Glorified G - Remastered

This song came out of a comment made by Dave Abbruzzese, Pearl Jam's drummer from 1991-1994. During a jam session while they were working on songs for the Vs. album, Abbruzzese mentioned that he had recently bought some guns. Eddie Vedder said, "You bought a gun?" And Abbruzzese replied, "In fact, I bought two." This became the first line in the song, and another Abbruzzese comment became the title. He described the guns he owned as "glorified versions of pellet guns," which Vedder turned into the title "Glorified G" and the refrain, "Glorified version of a pellet gun." The song is about gun culture in America, which Vedder, who grew up in San Diego, finds absurd but is a way of life for Abbruzzese, who is from Texas where guns are common. Pearl Jam bass player Jeff Ament is from Montana and was also familiar with gun culture.

"G" is short for "gangsta," a term used in the rap community to describe someone who doesn't play by the rules. Vedder was making the point that people carry guns to feel like they're important.

Dave Abbruzzese shared his thoughts on this song in a 2023 Songfacts interview. "I never felt offended or took any offense to the words because I thought it was cool that Eddie was able to take that conversation, and I admired the fact that it was a real creative way to pen a lyric, to take notes of a conversation we were all having about something," he said. "And then he turned it into an anthem to the anti-gun, in a weird way. It was tongue-in-cheek, kind of making fun of gun ownership: 'Always keep it loaded' and 'Feel so manly when armed' and all that sort of s--t. 'Cause I love God' and 'Feel so manly when armed' – those were things he put in to make it that pointed poke at the whole gun thing, but that wasn't part of our conversation at all. I remember I was pretty offended by being attacked about it, because I really thought it was pretty candyass. I went camping and bought a couple of .22s. To me, a .22 rifle wasn't a dangerous thing – it's something that everyone gets when they're a kid. It was to Jeff, too. But over the years, it's turned into that Eddie wrote the lyrics because he was offended, or based on me. But it's not. It's just a loose conversation."