No Code is the fourth studio album by the American rock band Pearl Jam, released on August 27, 1996, through Epic Records.

Following a troubled tour for its previous album, Vitalogy (1994), in which Pearl Jam engaged in a much-publicized boycott of Ticketmaster, the band went into the studio to record its follow-up.

"[7] At one point Ament even walked out of the recording sessions,[8] and considered quitting the band due to lead vocalist Eddie Vedder's control of the creation process.

[9] Due to Pearl Jam balancing recording and touring, Irons commented that the band was "more on-the-fly during the making of No Code, and some good things happened out of that, but we were also really tired.

"[7] McCready said that Irons urged the band members to discuss their problems, and called him "a big spiritual influence, if not the biggest.

[14] Both songs were included on the 2003 Lost Dogs collection of rarities, along with four other tracks from the No Code sessions, two of which ended up on compilations – "Leaving Here", which appeared on Home Alive, and "Gremmie Out of Control", featured on Music for Our Mother Ocean Vol.

[15] While Vitalogy had shifted away from the earlier albums' accessible compositions and polished production, No Code represented a deliberate break from Ten's stadium sound, favoring experimental ballads and noisy garage rock songs.

"[13] David Browne of Entertainment Weekly stated that "No Code displays a wider range of moods and instrumentation than on any previous Pearl Jam album.

[7] The lyrics to "Smile" are taken from a note that Dennis Flemion of The Frogs hid inside Vedder's notebook while he was onstage performing.

The lyrics to "Red Mosquito" were inspired by the events surrounding Pearl Jam's June 24, 1995, concert at San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, which happened on the same day Vedder was hospitalized due to food poisoning.

A European tour followed in the fall of 1996, of which the band's November 3, 1996, show in Berlin, Germany at Deutschlandhalle was broadcast on many radio stations worldwide.

[32] During the North American tour fans complained about the difficulty in obtaining tickets and the use of non-Ticketmaster venues, which were judged to be remote and impersonal.

[33] Gossard stated that there was "a lot of stress associated with trying to tour at that time" and that "it was growing more and more difficult to be excited about being part of the band."

"[7] On October 17, 2014, at the iWireless Center in Moline, Illinois, during the Lightning Bolt Tour, Pearl Jam played the entire album in order as part of their set.

Rolling Stone staff writer David Fricke gave No Code four out of five stars, saying that the album "is abrupt in its mood swings almost to the point of vertigo."

He praised the album as "the kind of impulsive, quixotic, provocative ruckus that has become rare in a modern-rock mainstream" and added that "No Code basically means no rule books, no limits and, above all, no fear.

The review said that the album "constantly adds unexpected and fascinating details....A solid attraction amid intriguing oddities is the powerful array of guitar sounds.

In the review, it is stated that "Vedder is still preoccupied with his own mortality, but now he appears more quasi-mystical than miserable....for all its relative placidity, No Code is still a difficult beast.

"[19] David Browne of Entertainment Weekly gave the album a C, saying that while No Code "cracks open their sound", it "becomes a collection of fragments that don't add up to much of anything, except a portrait of a musically disjointed band."

On the change in mood compared with the band's previous releases, he said that "the album leaves you with the vaguely unsettling feeling that Pearl Jam without pain are like a pretzel without salt, or Seattle without rain.

Farley added that "too few of the songs on the Pearl Jam CD explore the musical possibilities they suggest in any kind of definitive or provocative manner.