I was browsing the shelves of Virgin Megastore in Union Square recently, and pretty much everything was on sale, as the store is closing up for good any day now. However, some items seem to be more featured on sale - they're not just in their alphabetically designated rows, but rather there in a display case closer to the front - sometimes with little labels telling why we should take that particular album. Now, since it was closing there were a lot more of these albums than usual at stores, but amongst them I noticed what always seems to be a strange inclusion - Pearl Jam's Binaural.

I myself bought Binaural a couple of years back at a Circuit City (when it still existed, and before it was going out of business) for three dollars. It was where it usually is when there's a sale - sitting aside the legions of greatest hits collections and copies of whatever relatively new artist the store thought would sell three months ago.

What's so special about Binaural that seems (at least in my experience) to earn it this strange distinction? I'm not quite sure. Binaural was released in 2000, Pearl Jam's sixth album, and its first not to go platinum. Still, reviews were generally favorable, and Pearl Jam has a fairly devoted fan base. But that begs the question regardless - why the hell are record stores and electronics stores overstocked with Binaural copies?

Maybe this is just something I see - I have a weird condition that makes me see Binaural on sale everywhere, but I think something's up. Just haven't figured it out yet.