Pearl Jam's history starts with the seminal grunge band Green River, which formed in 1984 out of a number of earlier Seattle bands. Green River included Stone Gossard (of March of Crimes and the Ducky Boys), Jeff Ament (of Deranged Diction), Mark Arm (of Mr. Epp and the Calculations, Spluii Numa, the Limp Richerds, and later Mudhoney), Steve Turner (of Mr. Epp and the Calculations, the Limp Richerds, the Ducky Boys, and later Mudhoney), and drummer Alex Vincent. Green River toured and recorded to moderate success but disbanded in 1987. Green River was one of the first significant bands of the Seattle "grunge" genre, and Arm is often credited as having coined the term.Greene, Jo-Ann. "Pearl Jam and The Secret History of Seattle (Part 2)". Goldmine. August 20, 1993.
In late 1987, Gossard and Ament had begun playing with Malfunkshun vocalist Andrew Wood, eventually organizing the band Mother Love Bone. Through 1988 and 1989, Mother Love Bone recorded and toured to increasing interest and found the support of the PolyGram record label, which signed the band in early 1989. Their debut album, Apple was released in July of 1990, six months after Wood died of a heroinoverdose.Friend, Lonn M. "Heroes...and Heroin". RIP Magazine. July 1992.
With 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. Gossard, Ament and McCready agreed to help record the tracks. The project was called Temple of the Dog, after a lyric from the Mother Love Bone song "Man of Golden Words".
With the help of Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron, 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 wound up as both a Pearl Jam song, "Footsteps", and a Temple of the Dog track, "Times of Trouble".
The trio began looking for a singer and a drummer and found former Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Jack Irons. The trio gave Irons a 5-song demo 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 invitation but gave the demo to his basketball buddy, San Diego singer Eddie Vedder, during a hiking trip. Vedder had been the lead vocalist for a San Diego band, Bad Radio. 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. 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. 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, their first official show (as "Mookie Blaylock") was performed at the Off Ramp, a now-defunct Seattle club, on October 22, 1990.
1991–1995
The group was known (and actually toured) for a time as Mookie Blaylock, but concerns about trademark issues necessitated a change after the group was signed to Epic Records. On March 10, 1991, while appearing on Seattle radio station KISW's New Music Hour, Ed and Jeff announced that the band had changed their name to "Pearl Jam." (For information on the band's name, see Etymology below).
Pearl Jam's drummer, Dave Krusen, left the band shortly before the launch of their debut album Ten. He was replaced by Matt Chamberlain, who had previously played with Edie Brickell & 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.
Released on August 27, 1991, Pearl Jam's debut album Ten (named for Mookie Blaylock's jersey number) contains 11 tracks dealing with dark subjects like depression, suicide, loneliness, and murder. The album produced four hit songs: "Even Flow", "Alive", "Jeremy", and "Black". Many interpreted "Alive" as an inspirational anthem, but Vedder has since revealed it to be a semi-biographical tale about incest and a son discovering that his father is actually his stepfather while his real father is dead.Crowe, Cameron. "Five Against the World". Rolling Stone. October 28, 1993. The song "Jeremy" and its accompanying video were inspired by a true story in which a high school student shot himself in front of his classmates.Miller, Bobbi. "Richardson Teen-ager Kills Himself in Front of Classmates". The Dallas Morning News. January 8, 1991. The video for "Jeremy" was put into heavy rotation by MTV and became a huge hit. Ten stayed on the Billboard charts for more than two years. The album has gone on to become one of the biggest-selling rock records ever, going duodecuple (12x) platinum.
With the success of Ten, Pearl Jam became a key member of the Seattlegrunge 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. Cobain later reconciled with Vedder, and they reportedly became friends.
Pearl Jam toured relentlessly in support of Ten. In 1992, they made television appearances on Saturday Night Live and MTV Unplugged and took a slot on that summer's Lollapalooza tour, joining other bands such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Soundgarden, and Ministry, among others. The band set to work making their sophomore album after touring for Ten was completed.
Stone Gossard, Jeff Ament, and Eddie Vedder appeared in the 1992 film Singles directed by Cameron Crowe. The film's events were set against the backdrop of Seattle and the grunge movement. Stone, Jeff, and Ed had small parts as members of a band called Citizen Dick which they had actually filmed when Pearl Jam was still known as Mookie Blaylock. Pearl Jam contributed two songs to the film's soundtrack, "State of Love and Trust" and "Breath."
Released on October 19, 1993, Pearl Jam's second album Vs. set a record for copies sold in the first week of release (950,000). It has since gone septuple platinum. Vs. included the hit songs "Daughter", "Dissident", "Go", and "Animal". "Daughter" reached the #1 spot on both the Billboard Modern Rock and Mainstream Rock charts, spending a total of eight weeks on the latter. 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 labelled with the Five Against One title are valuable. The band made a conscious decision beginning with the release of Vs. to scale back their commercial efforts.Ashare, Matt. "The Sweet Smell of (Moderate) Success". CMJ. July 2000. They declined to produce music videos after the massive success of "Jeremy" and opted to give fewer interviews as well as make fewer television appearances.
Eddie Vedder was on the cover of the October 25, 1993 issue of Time, as part of the feature article discussing the rising popularity of the grunge movement. Vedder had declined to participate, and was upset with the magazine about the cover.Marks, Craig. "Let's Get Lost". Spin Magazine. December 1994.
Pearl Jam was deeply affected by the death of Nirvana frontman and grunge pioneer Kurt Cobain. At the band's April 8, 1994 concert in Fairfax, Virginia, Eddie Vedder proclaimed, "I don't think any of us would be in this room tonight if it weren't for Kurt Cobain."Gunderson, Edna. "Musical artists offer commentary on the late Kurt Cobain". Gannett News Service. On April 16, 1994, just eight days after Cobain's death, Pearl Jam gave a tribute to Cobain while appearing on Saturday Night Live. The band performed an extended version of "Daughter", with Vedder adding lines from Neil Young's "Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black)", which Cobain's alleged suicide note had quoted. In the closing credits Vedder pointed out the letter K (for Kurt) on his shirt, over his heart.
Pearl Jam cancelled their 1994 summer tour as a result of a Ticketmaster boycott. The band brought a lawsuit against the ticketing company that accused them of being a monopoly whose anticompetitive practices allowed markup prices of more than 30%. The band's intention was to get ticket prices lowered for their fans. "PJ's testimony before Congress regarding Ticketmaster". June 30, 1994. Following the lawsuit, the band chose to use alternate ticketing companies and non-Ticketmaster venues for future shows.
In August of 1994, after Pearl Jam had finished the recording of their third album, drummer Dave Abbruzzese was fired "due to artistic differences", according to the band. His replacement would end up being Jack Irons, a close friend of Vedder's and the former and original drummer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers who had originally introduced Vedder to the members of Pearl Jam. Irons made his debut with Pearl Jam at Neil Young's 1994 Bridge School Benefit, but he would not be officially announced as the band's new drummer until their 1995 Self-Pollution radio broadcast.
Pearl Jam's third album, Vitalogy, was released first on November 22, 1994 on vinyl and then two weeks later on December 6, 1994 on CD and cassette. The CD became the second-fastest-selling in history, with more than 877,000 units sold in its first week. It eventually achieved quintuple-platinum status. Many of the songs on the album appear to be based around the pressures of fame.Weisel, Al. "Pearl Jam: Vitalogy". Rolling Stone. December 15, 1994. p. 91-92. The song "Spin the Black Circle", an homage to vinyl records, won a Grammy Award in 1996 for Best Hard Rock Performance. Vitalogy also included the hits "Not For You", "Corduroy", "Immortality", and "Better Man". "Better Man", a song originally penned and performed by Vedder while in Bad Radio, reached #2 on the Billboard Modern Rock chart and #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart, spending a total of eight weeks on the latter.
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.
1996–2000
Pearl Jam's popularity began to decline over the next few years. This would first be evident with the release of their fourth album, No Code. Released on August 27, 1996, exactly five years after the release of Ten, No Code represented a deliberate break from Ten's anthemic stadium sound, favoring experimental ballads and noisy garage rockers. 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". It stood out with its emphasis on subtle harmony ("Off He Goes"), eastern influences ("Who You Are"), and spoken word ("I'm Open").
As with Vitalogy, very little touring was done to promote No Code because of the band´s refusal to play in Ticketmaster´s venue areas. Nevertheless, they toured the US playing epic shows such as Randall's Island and The Meadows in Hartford. A European tour followed in the fall of 1996. Memorable shows included the worldwide broadcast of "Checkpoint Charlie" from Berlin and an Ed Vedder solo show in Rome backed by some friends on bass and drums closing the tour. During that show, Eddie premiered Yield´s "MFC" among others.
On February 3, 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. Yield included the singles "Given to Fly" and "Wishlist". The band hired famed comic book artist Todd McFarlane to create an animated video for the song "Do the Evolution" from the album. It was their first music video since 1992. The music documentary Single Video Theory, released on DVD, follows the making of Yield.
Following their 1998 tour of Australia and before their 1998 summer tour of North America, 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 soon became the permanent replacement for Irons.
Their 1998 summer tour of North America marked the band’s return to full-scale touring. For this tour and future tours, Pearl Jam once again began using Ticketmaster in order to "better accommodate concertgoers."Symonds, Jeff. "Pearl Jam Yields to Ticketmaster". eonline.com. February 14, 1998. The band 's anti-trust lawsuit against Ticketmaster had proven to be unsuccessful, and it also hindered live tours. Many fans had complained about the difficulty in obtaining tickets and the use of non-Ticketmaster venues, which were judged to be out-of-the-way and impersonal. Their 1998 summer tour was a tremendous success,Hinckley, David. "Vedder's Not Finished". New York Daily News. August 10, 1999. and after it was completed the band released Live on Two Legs, a live album which featured select performances from the tour.
In 1998, Pearl Jam recorded "Last Kiss", a cover of a 1960s ballad by Wayne Cochran, made famous in 1964 by J. Frank Wilson & the Cavaliers. Recorded during a soundcheck and released as a fan club single, the song became a smash hit with insiders. It was released to the general public as a single in 1999 after many requests by fans. The band also decided to include the song on a charity compilation album, No Boundaries: A Benefit for the Kosovar Refugees. "Last Kiss" peaked at #2 on 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. The album featured drummer Matt Cameron's recording debut with the band. The album's title is a reference to the binaural recording techniques that were utilized on several tracks. Binaural included the singles "Nothing As It Seems" and "Light Years". Binaural would end up selling just over 700,000 copies and became the first Pearl Jam studio album to fail to reach platinum status.
Pearl Jam decided to record each and every show on their 2000 tour professionally after noting the desire of fans to own a copy of the shows they attended and the popularity of illegal bootleg recordings. The band had been open in the past about allowing fans to make amateur recordings,Taping/Camera Policy Guidelines. sonymusic.com. May 27, 2006. and these "official bootlegs" were an attempt to provide a more affordable and better quality product for fans.Gundersen, Edna. "Pearl Jam's Bootlegs Give Others the Boot". USA Today. August 31, 2000. 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 throughout 2000 and 2001, most of them double CD sets and set a record for most albums to debut in the Billboard Top 200 at the same time.
Pearl Jam's 2000 European tour ended in tragedy on June 30, with an accident at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark. Nine fans were crushed underfoot and suffocated to death 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. 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. On October 22, the band played the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, celebrating the 10th anniversary of their first gig as a band. Eddie Vedder took the opportunity to thank the many people who had helped the band come together and make it to 10 years (including Kelly Curtis, Michael Goldstone, Michele Anthony, and Brendan O'Brien). He also noted that "we'd never make this sort of speech at the Grammys." The song "Alive" was purposely omitted from all shows on this tour until the final night in Seattle, Washington. The band performed that night 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. After concluding the Binaural Tour the band released Touring Band 2000 the following year. The DVD featured select performances from the North American legs of the tour.
On April 19, 2002, Layne Staley of Alice In Chains was found dead in his home of a heroin and cocaine overdose. During the recording sessions for Riot Act, Vedder wrote a song dedicated to Staley titled, "4/20/02". The song would not see release until it was included as a hidden track on the 2003 rarities and b-sides collection Lost Dogs.
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 B3 organ player and unofficial 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. "Love Boat Captain" also includes brief reference to Roskilde ("Lost 9 friends we'll never know... 2 years ago today"). When it was performed at concerts thereafter, Eddie noted the passing of time by updating the lyrics (by 2006, the lyric was "6 years ago today").
In 2003, the band began extensive Australian and North American tours. Opening acts for both tours included Johnny Marr, Sparta, Sleater-Kinney, The Buzzcocks and Idlewild. The band gave a noteworthy performance during the encore of their Perth, Western Australia show where they were joined on stage by Hunters and Collectors front man Mark Seymour to perform "Throw Your Arms Around Me", a personal favorite of Eddie Vedder. At many shows during their 2003 North American tour, Vedder performed Riot Act's "Bu$hleaguer", a commentary on PresidentGeorge W. Bush, 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. The band made news when it was reported that several fans left after Vedder had impaled the Bush mask on his mike stand at the band's Denver show."Pearl Jam Bush Stunt Angers Fans". BBC News. April 4, 2003. On the second leg of the North American tour the band performed a three-day set of Boston shows. Pearl Jam played a completely different set list each night, spanning 105 songs from their catalog 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.
Pearl Jam continued their series of official bootlegs for their 2003 tour. Every concert from the tour was available in CD form through the band's website, and a total of six bootlegs were made available in record stores: Perth, Tokyo (Budokan), State College, two shows from Madison Square Garden, and Mansfield, Massachusetts (where they played an acoustic preset before the opening act). State College, the first MSG show, and the Mansfield show were all three CD sets.
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."Olsen, Eric. "The music biz in a Pearl Jam". MSNBC.com. June 5, 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, however in 2004 they chose to support the candidacy of John Kerry. Pearl Jam performed on the Vote for Change tour and appeared in Rolling Stone along with the other performers of the 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. They also played a handful of shows in the United States throughout the year, debuting two new songs which would eventually appear on their eigth studio album. "Crapshoot Rapture" (later changed to "Comatose") 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 in Atlantic City, NJ. The official "bootlegs" for the band's 2005 shows were made available online through Pearl Jam's website in mp3 form. (The option to download flacs was added in 2006). The music downloads were accompanied by pictures from individual shows.
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