Quick Escape

Album: Gigaton (2020)
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Songfacts®:

  • "Quick Escape" is a political sci-fi story about a devastated Earth, with the climate change-denying President Trump being held responsible for our planet's demise. The hard-rocking track ends with humanity fleeing to Mars to start life again on another world.
  • The concept of "Quick Escape" highlights the overall climate change theme that runs throughout Gigaton. The album title refers to the measurement for the melting of polar ice caps and the CD cover features Canadian photographer, filmmaker, and marine biologist Paul Nicklen's photo "Ice Waterfall." Taken in Svalbard, Norway, the image shows the Nordaustlandet ice cap gushing huge amounts of melted water.
  • Pearl Jam dropped the song on March 25, 2020. To tie in with its release, the band offered the "Quick Escape" arcade game where fans can select a member of the group to play an intergalactic Space Invader battle.
  • A sleep sack in a bivouac, and a Kerouac sense of time

    Pearl Jam's connection with Jack Kerouac dates back to 1997 when Eddie Vedder was recruited to read the Beat Generation writer's poem Hymn for the audio collection Kerouac: Kicks Joy Darkness.

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