Songfacts®:

• In this song, Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder grapples with his standing as the voice of a generation, as he was anointed in the media. "I'm no guide, but I'm by your side," he sings, abdicating the throne but standing with his fans. The pressure was clearly getting to him, as he makes clear in the chorus:
  
  Drop the leash
  Get outta' my f--kin' face
• Pearl Jam wrote this song in late 1991 as they were rocketing to fame following the release of their debut album, Ten. They started performing it live that November and recorded it for their second album, Vs., in 1993.
  
  Vedder, in particular, was alarmed by all the attention, but his reticence only made him more mysterious and marketable while endowing him with credibility. This was part of a musical and cultural shift away from the fabricated and toward the real and unpolished. It took the band a while to feel comfortable with their place in the new paradigm, but they were so cohesive as a unit and understanding of each other that they survived this bout with extreme fame and grew stronger, remaining relevant decades later, just with a pared-down fanbase.