In Seattle, where the band is from, there were massive protests against globalizing the marketplace when the World Trade Organization (WTO) meetings took place there in 1999. This was an influence on the song.

In an interview with the now defunct George magazine, Eddie Vedder said: "I think technology went wrong somewhere. It just went into the wrong direction. Instead of helping us and freeing us, it seems to enslave us. That's what I talk about in 'Grievance,' about the dangers and what a lot of people don't see or don't want to see. There's the line. For every tool they lend us a loss of independence and it's true. Everything happens so fast. The technology is supposed to make everything simple, easy. It tries to make us believe that it's some sort of freedom we have. Of course, it's easy and comfortable if you can do all your shopping via the Internet, if you don't need to leave the house to do anything. But, on the other hand, what is going to happen? You lose touch with people. You don't meet new people except on the Internet and whatever you do can be traced. They know everything about you; they know what you buy; they know which papers you read, how long you stay on a page and they look at your statistics and they're going to offer you the products they think you might buy - most of them you don't really need anyway. What is going to happen to individuality?" >>