Pearl Jam Debut “River Cross” In Harrison Ford-Narrated Fake-Profound Verizon Super Bowl Commercial

Between Fox’s over-the-top patriotic content and at least a few the non-snarky commercials, last night’s Super Bowl broadcast was awfully heavy on attempted prundity. Consider, for instance, the Verizon commercial about how 5G service would not, thank goodness, change the heart America’s bravest heroes. That ad, it turns, out, was soundtracked by “River Cross,” an as-yet-unheard song from mainstream-rock credibility avatars Pearl Jam.

Last month, Pearl Jam announced their forthcoming album Gigaton and shared first single “Dance Of The Clairvoyants (Mach 1).” Last night, we got to hear about one minute “River Cross,” the final song from the LP. It’s slow and contemplative, and it played underneath the sound Harrison Ford extolling the virtues everyday heroism and 5G service, while images firefighters flashed onscreen. At the very end the ad, Eddie Vedder’s voice comes booming in, though you may have missed it over the sound your own eyes rolling into the back your head.

Everybody has a price! You can experience the ad again below.

Gigaton is out 3/27 on UMG, and we can at least be thankful that Pearl Jam did not choose to soundtrack the Budweiser ad about typical Americans.