Pearl Jam released their debut album, "Ten." Coming out of the Seattle grunge scene that produced such classic 1990's acts as Soundgarden, Nirvana, Alice in Chains and Mudhoney, they remain the lone survivor of this musical movement. Forming when members of Mother Love Bone lost lead singer Andy Wood to a heroin overdose, they were originally called Mookie Blaylock, after the legendary Atlanta Hawks NBA star. When copyright issues forced the band to change their name before releasing their debut album, they went to things that they knew for an alternative. Lead singer Eddie Vedder's grandmother was named Pearl, and the band liked to get together and jam, hence Pearl Jam. One legend told a tale of Vedder's grandmother Pearl making hallucinogenic peyote-laced jam, which explained the name, but Vedder has since disproved the theory.
The album is a classic to say the least, and remains one of the best albums released in the 1990's. It had some of the most acclaimed songs of that time period on it, including "Jeremy," "Alive," and "Evenflow." The music video for "Jeremy," based on a school shooting of the time, was so controversial it had to be edited before airing on MTV. This would also turn out to be the last music video the band would appear in until 15 years later. Other great songs on the album include...well, pretty much every single song on the album is great in some way or another. They still play all of them in concert to this day, and it is one of the most complete rock albums you will find out there spanning from the mid 1970's to this day.
"Ten" would be the only album to include original band members Eddie Vedder (vocals), Mike McCready (guitar), Stone Gossard (guitar), Jeff Ament (bass), and Dave Krusen (drums). Krusen would be replaced before the recording of Pearl Jams second album, "Vs." which is also a classic record of the era. Besides Krusen, the other 4 original members still remain in the band to this day (Since 1998, with former Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron). They will still put on one of the best concerts you will ever see, sprinkled with songs spanning their entire catalog from this first album to their latest, as well as some well thought covers in between.I believe the biggest difference between Pearl Jam and their fellow grunge pioneers is the way they have embraced their musical sound as an evolving one, and keep their audience engaged over time. Bands like Soundgarden and Alice in Chains saw their time come and go because there is not much difference from their first records to their last. They stuck with what worked, and soon enough the public forgot about or grew tired of them. Even Nirvana would have most likely grown tired had they continued on.
Pearl Jam took on corporate giants like Ticketmaster in the process, deliberately made their music sound less commercial for a number of years, and fell off the radar. Now, their fans can see both halves of their career come together brilliantly in their live show, as it blends a perfectly eclectic mix of their ever changing sounds. Their latest self titled album from 2006, is probably their best album since "Vitalogy" in 1994, and shows a band in the second phase of their career now that they have moved out of their 20's and into their 40's.
They are still cool enough to do an impromptu show for a couple hundred people packed into a small local record store in Seattle, they're still cool enough to play better and fresher than every single band that was a part of VH1 Rock Honors The Who (they were even better than honorees The Who), they're still cool enough to open for U2 in Hawaii (I'd have given major organs to have seen that show) and they're still cool enough to tour every summer and play nearly 3 hours every night at every single stop on the map. They're also still cool enough to keep playing the songs they wrote when they were kids back in 1991, even if they may not have the same meaning or significance as they once did. But, they continue to anyway because they know the roof is blown off wherever they play any night of the week when those opening licks of "Jeremy" or "Alive" ring through.
Here are some Pearl Jam highlights you'll find interesting:
Eddie Vedder playing "Betterman" with Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band
"Release" from the "Ten" album, performed during their one week tour of Italy in 2006. The last song on their first album, and still remains one of the best they've ever written.
Eddie telling the crowd at a concert what he thinks of Rolling Stone magazine shortly after he was on the cover. (warning: explicit language)
Performing "Jeremy" on MTV Unplugged in 1992.
Their cover of The Who's "Love Reign O'er Me." The video is made up of clips from their "Immagine in Cornice" (translates to: Picture in a Frame) Live in Italy DVD. One of the best covers I've ever heard, Eddie Vedder is one of the only singers out there who could do Roger Daltrey justice.
Another day in musical history to put into perspective...One year before "Ten" was released, on August 27th, 1990, guitar legend Stevie Ray Vaughan was killed in a helicopter crash.
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