Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam is a
rock band considered one of the most popular and influential artists of the
1990s.
['Lost Dogs' review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide] Their name is intimately tied to the rock scene of the early 1990s, and they are considered one of the
Big Four of the grunge movement
['Ten' review by Steve Huey, All Music Guide], alongside
Nirvana,
Alice in Chains and
Soundgarden. Although they are grouped into the grunge genre, their sound mirrors
classic rock of the
1970s, strongly showing their biggest influences, which include
Neil Young,
The Who, and
Ramones. They are also one of the few mainstream alternative rock bands that has remained active well beyond their contemporaries, remaining extremely popular 15 years into their career, still selling out stadiums and amphitheaters across the world.
1980s
Pearl Jam's history starts with the seminal grunge band
Green River, which formed in 1983 out of a number of earlier
Seattle bands, including Deranged Diction, Mr. Epp & the Calculations, March of Crimes, Spluii Numa, the
Limp Richerds, and the Ducky Boys.
Green River included
Stone Gossard (of March of Crimes and the Ducky Boys),
Jeff Ament (of Deranged Diction),
Mark Arm (of Mr. Epp, Spluii Numa, and Limp Richerds, and later
Mudhoney),
Steve Turner (of Mr. Epp, the
Limp Richerds, and the Ducky Boys, and later
Mudhoney), and drummer Alex Vincent.
Green River toured and recorded to moderate success, but disbanded in 1987. They would be remembered as one of the first significant bands of the Seattle "grunge" genre, and Arm is often credited as having coined the term.
[Pearl Jam and The Secret History of Seattle (Part 2) by Jo-Ann Greene]In 1988, Gossard and Ament had begun playing with
Malfunkshun vocalist
Andrew Wood, eventually organizing the band
Mother Love Bone. Throughout '88 and '89, Mother Love Bone would record and tour to increasing interest, and found the support of PolyGram records, who signed the band in early 1989. Their debut album,
Apple was released in 1990, but tragically, Wood would not be around to see it, as he died of a heroin overdose in March of that year.
1990
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The cover of their debut album, Ten. (1991) |
With the death of Wood and the disintegration of Mother Love Bone in 1990, Ament and Gossard set out to create their next band. They recruited former Shadow guitarist Mike McCready and began playing recreationally as a trio. During this time,
Soundgarden frontman
Chris Cornell had written two songs as a tribute to Wood, with Gossard, Ament, and McCready agreeing to help record the tracks. The project was eventually called
Temple of the Dog, after a lyric from a Mother Love Bone song entitled "Man of Golden Words".
With the help of
Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron (who would join Pearl Jam in the late 1990s), the group began recording a number of songs, many of which would eventually be re-worked into demos for the future Gossard / Ament / McCready band. One such song by Gossard actually wound up as both a Pearl Jam song, "Footsteps", and a Temple of the Dog track, "Times of Trouble".
Without a drummer or a singer the trio began actively looking for bandmates, and even looked outside the Seattle scene for people with whom they had no previous connection. One of these people was former
Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer
Jack Irons. A five song demo was given to Irons to see if he would be interested in joining the band, and to distribute to anyone he felt might fit the singing bill. Irons passed on the drumming invitation, but gave the demo to his basketball buddy and local San Diego singer
Eddie Vedder during one of their hiking trips. Vedder had been the lead vocalist for Bad Radio, a local rock group. As legend has it, Vedder listened to the tape shortly before going surfing. While he was out in the water, the music played in his head and the lyrics came to him.
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Eddie Vedder in the video for "Alive". |
He rushed back home and in one flurry of creativity recorded the vocals to three of the songs ("
Alive", "Once", and "Footsteps"). The songs were what Vedder would later describe as a mini-opera. They formed a story of incest, madness and murder that became known to fans as the "Mamasan trilogy". He sent the tape with his vocals back to the three Seattle musicians, who were so impressed that they had Vedder fly to Seattle to try out for the band. Vedder and the band hit it off, with Eddie even adding lead vocals to a Temple of the Dog song, "Hunger Strike". With the addition of
Dave Krusen on drums, Gossard, Ament, and McCready now had a complete band.
The group was known (and actually toured) for a time as
Mookie Blaylock, after the basketball player, but concerns about trademark issues necessitated a change after the group was signed to
Epic Records. The band eventually settled on Pearl Jam as their new name.
In an early promotional interview Eddie Vedder claimed that the name "Pearl Jam" was a reference to his great-grandmother, Pearl, who was married to a Native American man and had a special recipe for peyote-laced jam. However, this story seems to have been invented by Vedder as a joke. Another theory put forward Kim Neely's band history
Five Against One holds that one of the band members really wanted "pearl" in the new name, and
jamming is a common activity done by musicians. The generally-accepted explanation is that it was a phrase the band thought would sound good, so they stuck to it. In a recent cover story by Rolling Stone, Ament and McCready admitted that Ament came up with "Pearl", and "Jam" was added after the band members saw Neil Young live.
"The name is in reference to the pearl itself,... and the natural process from which a pearl comes from. Basically, taking excrement or waste and turning it into something beautiful."-Eddie Vedder
[[1]]Pearl Jam's drummer, Dave Krusen, left the band shortly before the launch of their debut album
Ten (named for
Mookie Blaylock's jersey number). He was replaced by
Matt Chamberlain, who had previously played with
Edie Brickell and New Bohemians. After playing only a handful of shows—one of which was filmed for the "Alive" video—Chamberlain left to join the
Saturday Night Live band. Chamberlain suggested a drummer named
Dave Abbruzzese as his replacement. Abbruzzese joined the group and played the rest of Pearl Jam's live shows supporting the
Ten album and continued to record with the band for the next two albums.
1991–1995
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Eddie Vedder was on the cover of the October 25, 1993 issue of Time magazine, as part of the feature article discussing the rising popularity of the grunge movement. Vedder has made it clear that he hates the photo and how Pearl Jam was represented in the article. |
Pearl Jam became a key member of the
Seattle grunge explosion, along with
Nirvana,
Alice in Chains, and
Soundgarden. Nirvana's
Kurt Cobain angrily attacked Pearl Jam in interviews because he saw them as commercial
sell outs, although some believe that Cobain was motivated by jealousy that Pearl Jam had become more successful than Nirvana on the
Billboard charts. Cobain later reconciled with Vedder and reportedly became friends. (See
Green River).
Pearl Jam's debut album
Ten contains eleven tracks dealing with dark subjects like depression, suicide, loneliness, and murder. The album, released in 1991, produced three hit singles: "Even Flow", "Alive", and "
Jeremy". The video for "Jeremy" was a huge hit on
MTV and won four
video music awards, including Video of the Year and Best Group Video.
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Album cover of Vs., their second album. (1993) |
In 1993, Pearl Jam's second album
Vs. set an all time record for copies sold in the first week of release (950,000).
Vs. included the hit songs "
Daughter", "
Dissident", "Go", and "Animal".
Vs. was originally titled
Five Against One (taken from the lyrics of "Animal"), but was changed to
Vs. shortly before release of the album. Some early pressings are labelled with the
Five Against One title, and are considered to be valuable Pearl Jam memorabilia.
Pearl Jam's third album,
Vitalogy, was released in 1994, with a vinyl version released two weeks before the CD and cassette versions. The CD became the second quickest selling in history, with more than 877,000 units sold in its first week. The song "
Spin the Black Circle", a homage to the seven-inch single, won a
Grammy Award in
1995 for
best hard rock performance.
Vitalogy also included the hits "Not For You", "Corduroy", "
Immortality", and "
Better Man", a song originally penned and performed by Vedder while in Bad Radio.
In 1994, Pearl Jam fired Dave Abbruzzese "due to artistic differences" according to the band. They announced his replacement in 1995:
Jack Irons, close friend of Vedder and the former drummer of the
Red Hot Chili Peppers who had originally introduced Vedder to the band.
In 1995, Pearl Jam backed longtime idol
Neil Young on his album
Mirror Ball. Contractual obligations prevented the use of the band's name anywhere on the album, but the members were all credited individually in the album's liner notes. Also, two songs from the sessions were left off Mirror Ball - "I Got Id" and "Long Road". These two tracks were released separately by Pearl Jam in the form of the EP "Merkin Ball". This EP is considered the official companion to Young's
Mirror Ball.
1996–2002
Pearl Jam's popularity began to decline over the next few years, partially because of their decision not to produce music videos and partially because an (ultimately unsuccessful)
anti-trust lawsuit against
Ticketmaster [Ticketmaster lawsuit] hindered live tours.
On
August 27,
1996, exactly five years after the release of
Ten, Pearl Jam released their fourth album. Although the album debuted at #1, it quickly fell down the charts.
No Code included the singles "Hail, Hail", "Who You Are", and "Off He Goes". Although it marked a sales fall-off,
No Code is a favorite of hard-core fans of the band. It also stood out with its emphasis on subtle harmony ("Off He Goes"), eastern influences ("Who You Are"), and spoken word ("I'm Open").
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Album cover from Yield. (1998) |
In
1998, Pearl Jam released its fifth album,
Yield. The album was proclaimed as a return to the band's early, straightforward rock sound, but was Pearl Jam's first album not to peak at #1 in the Billboard charts since
Ten in 1991.
Yield debuted at #2, but like
No Code soon began dropping down the charts. However, the album did go
platinum in the US, selling 1,500,000 copies. For the first time since
1993, Pearl Jam released a music video. The band hired famed comic book artist
Todd McFarlane to create an animated video for their single "
Do the Evolution".
Yield also included the singles "Given to Fly" and "Wishlist".
The same year, Pearl Jam once again changed drummers.
Jack Irons left the band due to health problems and was replaced with former
Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron, who has remained with them since. Gossard, Ament, and McCready had worked with both Cameron and former
Soundgarden (and current
Audioslave) vocalist
Chris Cornell on the
Temple of the Dog album prior to the release of
Ten.
In
1999, Pearl Jam recorded the song "
Last Kiss", a cover of a
1950s ballad by
Wayne Cochran, made famous in 1964 by
J. Frank Wilson & the Cavaliers. Recorded on a minimal budget and released first as a
fan club single, the song became a smash hit, with many requests from its fans to be released to the general public as a single. The band decided to include the song on a charity compilation album,
No Boundaries: A Benefit for the Kosovar Refugees. "
Last Kiss" peaked at #2 in the
Billboard charts and became the band's most commercially-successful single to date.
On
May 16,
2000, Pearl Jam released their sixth studio album
Binaural. This was the first studio album with Matt Cameron.
Binaural included the singles "Nothing As it Seems" and "Light Years". While touring to support
Binaural, Pearl Jam hit upon a unique idea. Noting the popularity of illegal
bootleg recordings and the desire of fans to own a copy of the shows they attended, Pearl Jam decided to professionally record each and every show on their tour in addition to allowing fans to make amateur recordings openly
[Pearl Jam's official policy on amateur taping] They originally intended to release these
"official bootlegs" only to fan club members, but their record contract prevented them from doing so. Pearl Jam released all of the albums in record stores as well as through their fan club. They released 72 live albums, most of them double CD sets, and set a record for most albums to debut in the
Billboard Top 200 at the same time. A further 72 albums were released from the
2003 tour, and Pearl Jam continued releasing more of their "bootlegs" on subsequent tours, although they pared down the number of concerts offered considerably.
Pearl Jam's 2000 European tour ended in tragedy on
June 30, with an accident at the
Roskilde Festival in
Denmark. Fans were crushed and suffocated as the crowd rushed to the front. The band stopped playing and tried to calm the crowd when they realized what was happening, but it was already too late. Nine people were killed. The two remaining dates of the tour were cancelled, and the band seriously considered retiring after this event. Pearl Jam was initially blamed for the accident, but the band was later cleared of responsibility when officials found that the safety measures employed by the festival organizers were inadequate.
A few months after the European tour, the band embarked on their two-leg 2000 North American tour. The song "Alive" was purposely omitted from all shows on this tour until the
final night in Seattle, Washington. The band performed for over three hours, playing most of their hits along with selected cover songs such as "
The Kids Are Alright" and "
Baba O'Riley" by
The Who, one of Pearl Jam's biggest musical influences.
On
April 5,
2002 Layne Staley of Alice In Chains died of a
heroin and
cocaine overdose. Upon hearing the news on
April 20, 2002, Eddie Vedder wrote a song dedicated to him titled, "April Twentieth, 2002".
 |
Album cover from Riot Act. (2002) |
On
November 12, 2002, Pearl Jam released their seventh album,
Riot Act which included the singles "I Am Mine" and "Save You". The album sold only 500,000 copies, less than
Vitalogy and
Vs. sold in their first weeks. The album featured a much more
folk-based and experimental sound, evident in the presence of keyboard player and un-official band member Boom Gaspar on songs such as "Love Boat Captain." The track entitled "Arc" was recorded as a vocal tribute to the nine people who died at the Roskilde Festival in June 2000. Eddie only performed this song nine times on Pearl Jam's 2003 tour and left the track off of all released bootlegs as an act of respect. The band's liberal
political activism also made its way into the album's lyrical content with "bu$hleaguer", a commentary on
President George W. Bush. At many shows during their 2003 North American tour, Vedder performed Bu$hleaguer with a rubber mask of Bush, wearing it at the beginning of the song and then typically hanging it on a mike stand to allow him to sing.
2003–2005
In 2003, the band began a large Australian and American tour. Of particular note was the three-day set of Boston shows in 2003, in which Pearl Jam played a completely different set list each night, covering some eighty-six songs with only one repeat between the three shows, namely the popular concert-ending
Yellow Ledbetter, and even that was merely because fans were shouting for it at the end of the third night. Another noteworthy performance during this tour was during the encore of the
Perth, Western Australia show, where the band was joined on stage by
Hunters and Collectors frontman Mark Seymour to perform "Throw Your Arms Around Me", a personal favorite of Eddie Vedder. The recording of
this show became one of the six
official bootleg albums released by the band during this tour, and the video recording of "Throw Your Arms Around Me" is featured as a bonus track on the
Live at the Garden DVD.
In June
2003, the band announced they were officially leaving their label of 12 years,
Epic Records, a
Sony imprint. Pearl Jam stated that the group has "no interest at this time" of signing with another label and was "excited about our freedom". Pearl Jam's newest studio album,
Pearl Jam, was released in May
2006, on the
J Records label which is part of the
Sony BMG music conglomerate, which is 50% owned by Sony and includes Epic Records. This gives weight to accusations that international artists at least can never really escape the "big four" record companies (
Sony BMG Music Entertainment,
Universal Music Group, and
Warner Music Group).
2003 also saw the release of a two-disc collection of rarities and b-sides,
Lost Dogs. In
2004 Sony released
Rearviewmirror, a Pearl Jam greatest hits collection spanning 1991-2003.
Director
Tim Burton approached Pearl Jam to request an original song for the soundtrack of his new film,
Big Fish. After screening an early print of the film Pearl Jam recorded the song
Man of the Hour for Burton. "Man of the Hour" can be heard in the closing credits of the 2003 film, and was nominated for a Golden Globe award that year.
Pearl Jam had supported
Ralph Nader's presidential campaign in
2000, but during the
2004 campaign Pearl Jam members appeared in
Rolling Stone to promote the candidacy of
John Kerry. Pearl Jam also performed on the
Vote for Change tour.
In
2005, the band embarked on a
Canadian cross-country tour, stopping in cities such as
Saskatoon,
Quebec City,
St. John's, and
Halifax, where they had never played before. The official "bootlegs" for these shows were made available online through Pearl Jam's website. The music downloads were accompanied by pictures from individual shows.
Pearl Jam also played a
benefit concert to raise money for
Hurricane Katrina relief. The concert, which took place
October 5, 2005, at the
House of Blues in
Chicago,
Illinois, also featured
Robert Plant of
Led Zeppelin fame.
On
November 22, 2005 Pearl Jam kicked off their first
South American tour, beginning with two shows in
Santiago,
Chile, two in
Buenos Aires,
Argentina, five in
Brazil (
Porto Alegre,
Curitiba, two shows in
São Paulo, and
Rio de Janeiro) and three in
Mexico (
Monterrey and two shows in
Mexico City).
Mudhoney, one of the few other remaining bands of the Seattle grunge era, opened for Pearl Jam throughout this tour. During the tour, Vedder emphasized how much he missed
Johnny Ramone, his friend and guitarist of
The Ramones who died in
2004. As a tribute to Johnny, the band played the Ramones' song "I Believe In Miracles" at every show on the tour, including a performance with
Marky Ramone behind the drum kit at the Porto Alegre show.
2006 and beyond
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Album cover from Pearl Jam, the band's latest album. (2006) |
Pearl Jam's eighth studio album
Pearl Jam hit the stores on
May 2,
2006. The album includes such songs as "Comatose," "Life Wasted," "Come Back," "Gone," "Army Reserve," and "World Wide Suicide." "Comatose" (originally titled "Crapshoot Rapture") was premiered live in concert in March 2005, and "Gone" was debuted in a solo performance by Eddie Vedder at a Pearl Jam concert in October 2005. European fans had a special treat April 20, as Pearl Jam played a small show at the
Astoria in
London, UK, debuting live performances of "Marker in the Sand" and "Army Reserve," along with a few others that had already made appearances. Vedder has made previous statements that he wants the fans to hear the songs on the album first. In many instances, the members of Pearl Jam have revealed that they regard this as their best work to date, as it resembles the raw energy of their first albums.
"
World Wide Suicide" is the first single from the album. In late February, the band made a 15-second clip of the song available on the Internet, which was then played on numerous North American radio stations. The snippet revealed a hard-rocking sound with a noted return to the dominant vocal styles of Vedder's earlier work. Many claim the song is reminiscent of
Vs. (several fans argue it sounds similar to "Satan's Bed", of
Vitalogy and the "I Am Mine" b-side "Undone"), as also mentioned by Mike McCready in 2005 . On
March 3, 2006, the single was played on Seattle's
107.7 The End and soon
leaked on the Internet. Pearl Jam then early-released the single online two days later.
The single hit digital music stores March 14 accompanied by the upbeat B-Side "Unemployable", also on the new album. "World Wide Suicide" reached #1 on the Billboard Modern Rock chart,#2 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart & #41 on the Billboard Hot 100.
To promote the new album, Pearl Jam has a handful of television appearances scheduled during the month prior to the official release of the album. On April 15th, "World Wide Suicide" and "Severed Hand" were premiered live, for the first time, on
Saturday Night Live; making this Pearl Jam's first appearance on SNL since 1994. They also performed on
May 4th on
The Late Show with David Letterman and July 1st for their first-ever
VH1 Storytellers appearance.
The new album was available for preorder through the band's website that included a packaging style similar to that of
Vitalogy as opposed to the digipak version released into stores. It also included the band's
1992 New York City New Year's Eve show on
CD as a free bonus.
The first leg of their
2006 World Tour opened with a two-night stand in Toronto, and focused on the major cities in the northeast part of the United States, with rock band
My Morning Jacket as the opening act. It concluded on June 3 in
East Rutherford New Jersey. The second leg began June 23 with a show in
Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania and ended with a two-night stand at the
Gorge Amphitheatre in
George, Washington. This tour included three two-night stands opening for legendary rock artist
Tom Petty.
Sonic Youth (another major influence to Pearl Jam) opened for the band during a majority of the tour's second leg. Pearl Jam is also set to tour Europe for their first time in six years, after they were announced as the surprise headliners for the
Leeds and
Reading festivals. They begin the tour with a show in
Dublin,
Ireland, before the two British festivals, and then will continue on to
The Netherlands,
Belgium,
Spain,
Portugal,
France,
Switzerland,
Italy,
Czech Republic,
Germany,
Austria, and
Croatia before concluding in
Greece. They head to
Australia in November 2006. They are also billed as the opening act for
U2's show in Hawaii at
Aloha Stadium in December 2006.
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Eddie Vedder on the cover of Rolling Stone. Photo by Nick Stevens/Retna. June 2006 - RS 1003. |
Pearl Jam was awarded an
Esky for best live act in
Esquire's 2006 Esky Music Awards. The blurb called Pearl Jam "the rare superstars who still play as though each show could be their last."
In June of 2006, Eddie Vedder appeared on the cover of
Rolling Stone magazine, with a five-page feature inside. While reminicent of earlier band interviews, this most recent Rolling Stone feature is noteworthy for its candid encounter with Vedder's personal life, including his newfound sense of fatherhood, and his relationship with other rock artists, including Bruce Springsteen and Kurt Cobain.
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Jeff Ament - bass guitar (1990—)
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Eddie Vedder - lead vocals, guitar (1990—)
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Stone Gossard - rhythm guitar (1990—)
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Matt Cameron - drums (1998—)
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Mike McCready - lead guitar (1990—)
Former Members
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Dave Krusen - drums (1990–1991)
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Matt Chamberlain - drums (1991)
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Dave Abbruzzese - drums (1991–1994)
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Jack Irons - drums (1994–1998)
Main article: Pearl Jam discography
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List of alternative rock artists*
List of songs covered by Pearl Jam*
Best selling music artists*
Official band site, aka 'The Ten Club'*
Sony Music's Pearl Jam page*
All Music Guide profile*
Two Feet Thick An exhaustive concert chronology from 1990 to present
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Detailed History on the Formation of Pearl Jam*
Pearl Jam Tabs*
Pearl Jam Live Streaming audio & video of Live Pearl Jam shows
