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Pearl Jam | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Pearl Jam performing in Amsterdam in 2012. From left to right: Mike McCready, Jeff Ament, Matt Cameron, Eddie Vedder, and Stone Gossard. | |
| Background information | |
| Also known as | Mookie Blaylock (1990) |
| Origin | Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Discography | Pearl Jam discography |
| Years active | 1990–present |
| Labels | |
| Spinoffs | Hovercraft |
| Spinoff of | |
| Members | |
| Past members | |
| Website | pearljam |
Pearl Jam is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. The band's lineup consists of founding members Jeff Ament (bass guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar), and Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, guitar), as well as Matt Cameron (drums), who joined in 1998. Keyboardist Boom Gaspar has also been a touring/session member with the band since 2002. Former members include Dave Krusen (an original member), Matt Chamberlain, Dave Abbruzzese, and Jack Irons, all of whom were the band's drummers from 1990 to 1998. Pearl Jam has outsold and outlasted many of its contemporaries from the early 1990s, and is considered one of the most influential bands from that decade,[1] dubbed "the most popular American rock and roll band of the '90s".[2]
Formed after the demise of Gossard and Ament's previous bands, Green River and Mother Love Bone, Pearl Jam broke into the mainstream with their debut album, Ten, in 1991. Ten stayed on the Billboard 200 chart for nearly five years, and has gone on to become one of the highest-selling rock records ever, going 13× Platinum in the United States. Released in 1993, Pearl Jam's second album, Vs., sold over 950,000 copies in its first week of release, setting the record for most copies of an album sold in its first week of release at the time. Their third album, Vitalogy (1994), became the second-fastest-selling CD in history at the time, with more than 877,000 units sold in its first week.
One of the key bands in the grunge movement of the early 1990s, Pearl Jam's members often shunned popular music industry practices such as making music videos or participating in interviews. The band had also sued Ticketmaster, claiming it had monopolized the concert-ticket market. In 2006, Rolling Stone described the band as having "spent much of the past decade deliberately tearing apart their own fame".[3]
Pearl Jam had sold more than 85 million albums worldwide by 2018, including nearly 32 million albums in the United States by 2012,[4] making them one of the best-selling bands of all time. Pearl Jam was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017 in its first year of eligibility.[5] They were ranked eighth in a readers' poll by Rolling Stone magazine in its "Top Ten Live Acts of All Time" issue.[6] Throughout its career, the band has also promoted wider social and political issues, such as abortion rights sentiments and opposition to George W. Bush's presidency. Vedder acts as the band's spokesman on these issues.
History[edit]
Background (1984–1990)[edit]
Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament were members of Seattle-based grunge band Green River during the mid-1980s. Green River toured and recorded to moderate success, but disbanded in 1987 due to a stylistic division between the pair and bandmates Mark Arm and Steve Turner.[7]
In late 1987, Gossard and Ament began playing with Malfunkshun vocalist Andrew Wood, eventually organizing the band Mother Love Bone. In 1988 and 1989, the band recorded and toured to increasing interest. PolyGram signed the band in early 1989. Mother Love Bone's debut album, Apple, was released in July 1990, four months after Wood died of a heroin overdose.[8]
Formation (1990)[edit]
Ament and Gossard were devastated by the death of Wood and the resulting demise of Mother Love Bone. Gossard spent his time afterwards writing material that was harder-edged than what he had been doing previously.[9] After a few months, Gossard started practicing with fellow Seattle guitarist Mike McCready, whose band, Shadow, had broken up; McCready in turn encouraged Gossard to reconnect with Ament.[3] After practicing for a while, the trio sent out a five-song demo tape in order to find a singer and a drummer. They gave former Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Jack Irons the demo to see if he would be interested in joining the band and to distribute the demo to anyone he felt might fit the lead vocal position.[9]
Irons passed on the invitation but gave the demo to his friend Eddie Vedder.[10] Vedder was the lead vocalist for the San Diego band Bad Radio and worked part-time at a gas station. He listened to the tape shortly before going surfing, where lyrics came to him.[9] He then recorded the vocals to three of the songs ("Alive", "Once", and "Footsteps") in what he later described as a "mini-opera" titled Mamasan.[11] Vedder sent the tape with his vocals back to the three Seattle musicians, who were impressed enough to fly Vedder up to Seattle for an audition. Within a week, Vedder had joined the band.[9]
With the addition of Dave Krusen on drums, the band took the name Mookie Blaylock, in reference to the then-active basketball player.[12] The band played its first official show at the Off Ramp Café in Seattle on October 22, 1990.[13] They opened for Alice in Chains at the Moore Theatre in Seattle on December 22, 1990,[14] and served as the opening act for the band's Facelift tour in 1991.[15][16] Mookie Blaylock soon signed to Epic Records and renamed themselves Pearl Jam.[2] In an early promotional interview, Vedder said that the name "Pearl Jam" was a reference to his great-grandmother Pearl, who was married to a Native American and had a special recipe for peyote-laced jam.[17] In a 2006 cover story for Rolling Stone, Vedder admitted that this story was "total bullshit", but added that he did have a great-grandmother named Pearl. Ament and McCready explained that Ament came up with "pearl", and that the band later settled on Pearl Jam after attending a Neil Young concert in which he extended his songs as improvisations (i.e. "jams") of 15–20 minutes in length.[3]
Ten and the grunge explosion (1991–1992)[edit]
Pearl Jam entered Seattle's London Bridge Studios in March 1991 to record its debut album Ten.[18] McCready said that "Ten was mostly Stone and Jeff; Eddie and I were along for the ride at that time."[19] Krusen left the band in May 1991 after checking himself into rehabilitation for alcoholism;[20] he was replaced by Matt Chamberlain, who 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 band for Saturday Night Live.[12] Chamberlain suggested Dave Abbruzzese as his replacement. Abbruzzese joined the group and played the rest of Pearl Jam's live shows supporting Ten.[12]
Released on August 27, 1991, Ten (named after Mookie Blaylock's jersey number)[17] contained 11 tracks dealing with dark subjects like depression, suicide, loneliness, and murder. Ten's musical style, influenced by classic rock, combined an "expansive harmonic vocabulary" with an anthemic sound.[21] The album was slow to sell, but by the second half of 1992 it became a breakthrough success, being certified gold and reaching number two on the Billboard charts.[18] Ten produced the hit singles "Alive", "Even Flow", and "Jeremy". Originally interpreted as an anthem by many,[9] Vedder later revealed that "Alive" tells the semi-autobiographical tale of a son discovering that his father is actually his stepfather, and his mother's grief turns her to sexually embrace her son, who strongly resembles the biological father. In this lyric, even though Vedder originally looked at "being alive as a curse", as the sadness the speaker in the song suggests, "But as fans quickly turned the title phrase into a self-empowering anthem", particularly at Pearl Jam concerts, Vedder said: "they lifted the curse. The audience changed the meaning for me", he told VH1 Storytellers in 2006.[22]
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.[23] Ten stayed on the Billboard charts for nearly five years, going 13× platinum.[24]
With the success of Ten, Pearl Jam became a key member of the Seattle grunge explosion, along with Alice in Chains, Nirvana, and Soundgarden. The band was criticized in the music press; British music magazine NME wrote that Pearl Jam was "trying to steal money from young alternative kids' pockets".[25]
Pearl Jam toured relentlessly in support of Ten. Ament stated that "essentially Ten was just an excuse to tour", adding: "We told the record company, 'We know we can be a great band, so let's just get the opportunity to get out and play.'"[26] The band's manager Kelly Curtis stated: "Once people came and saw them live, this lightbulb would go on. Doing their first tour, you kind of knew it was happening and there was no stopping it."[19] Early on in Pearl Jam's career, the band became known for its intense live performances. Looking back at this time, Vedder said that "playing music and then getting a shot at making a record and at having an audience and stuff, it's just like an untamed force... But it didn't come from jock mentality. It came from just being let out of the gates."[27]
In 1992, Pearl Jam made television appearances on Saturday Night Live and MTV Unplugged and took a slot on that summer's Lollapalooza tour with Ministry, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Soundgarden, among others.[28][29][30] The band contributed two songs to the soundtrack of the 1992 Cameron Crowe film Singles: "State of Love and Trust" and "Breath". Ament, Gossard and Vedder appeared in Singles under the name Citizen Dick; their parts were filmed when Pearl Jam was known as Mookie Blaylock.[31]
Vs., Vitalogy and dealing with success (1993–1995)[edit]
The band members grew uncomfortable with their success, with much of the burden of Pearl Jam's popularity falling on frontman Vedder.[9] While Pearl Jam received four awards at the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards for its video for "Jeremy", including Video of the Year and Best Group Video, the band refused to make a video for "Black" in spite of pressure from the label. This action began a trend of the band refusing to make videos for its songs. Vedder felt that the concept of music videos robbed listeners from creating their own interpretations of the song, stating that "Before music videos first came out, you'd listen to a song with headphones on, sitting in a beanbag chair with your eyes closed, and you'd come up with your own visions, these things that came from within. Then all of a sudden, sometimes even the first time you heard a song, it was with these visual images attached, and it robbed you of any form of self-expression."[32] "Ten years from now", Ament said, "I don't want people to remember our songs as videos."[9]
Pearl Jam headed into the studio in early 1993 facing the challenge of following up the commercial success of its debut. McCready said: "The band was blown up pretty big and everything was pretty crazy."[33] Released on October 19, 1993, Pearl Jam's second album, Vs., sold 950,378 copies in its first week of release and outperformed all other entries in the Billboard top ten that week combined.[34] The album set the record for most copies of an album sold in its first week of release, which it held until broken by Garth Brooks' 1998 album Double Live.[35] Vs. included the singles "Go", "Daughter", "Animal", and "Dissident". Paul Evans of Rolling Stone stated: "Few American bands have arrived more clearly talented than this one did with Ten; and Vs. tops even that debut." He added: "Like Jim Morrison and Pete Townshend, Vedder makes a forte of his psychological-mythic explorations... As guitarists Stone Gossard and Mike McCready paint dense and slashing backdrops, he invites us into a drama of experiment and strife."[36] The band decided, beginning with the release of Vs., to scale back its commercial efforts.[37] The members declined to produce any more music videos after the massive success of "Jeremy" and opted for fewer interviews and television appearances. Industry insiders compared Pearl Jam's tour that year to the touring habits of Led Zeppelin in that the band "ignored the press and took its music directly to the fans".[38] During the Vs. Tour, the band set a cap on ticket prices in an attempt to thwart scalpers.[39]
By 1994, Pearl Jam was "fighting on all fronts" as its manager described the band at the time.[40] Reporter Chuck Philips broke a series of stories showing that Ticketmaster was gouging Pearl Jam's customers.[41] Pearl Jam was outraged when, after it played a pair of charity benefit shows in Chicago, it discovered that ticket vendor Ticketmaster had added a service charge to the tickets. Pearl Jam was committed to keeping their concert ticket prices down but Fred Rosen of Ticketmaster refused to waive the service charge. Because Ticketmaster controlled most major venues, the band was forced to create from scratch its own outdoor stadiums in rural areas in order to perform. Pearl Jam's efforts to organize a tour without the ticket giant collapsed, which Pearl Jam said was evidence of Ticketmaster's monopoly. An analysis of journalist Chuck Philips' investigative series[42][43][44][45][46][47] in a well known legal monograph[48] concluded that it was hard to imagine a legitimate reason for Ticketmaster's exclusive contracts with venues and contracts to cover such a lengthy period of time. The authors wrote: "The pervasiveness of Ticketmaster's exclusive agreements, coupled with their excessive duration and the manner in which they are procured, supported a finding that Ticketmaster had engaged in anticompetitive conduct under section 2 of the Sherman Act."
The United States Department of Justice was investigating the company's practices at the time and asked the band to create a memorandum of its experiences with the company. Band members Gossard and Ament testified at a subcommittee investigation on June 30, 1994, in Washington, D.C.[49] Pearl Jam alleged that Ticketmaster used anti-competitive and monopolistic practices to gouge fans. After Pearl Jam's testimony before Congress, Congressman Dingell (D-Mich.) wrote a bill requiring full disclosure to prevent Ticketmaster from burying escalating service fees. Pearl Jam's manager said he was gratified that Congress recognized the problem as a national issue.[50] The band eventually canceled its 1994 summer tour in protest.[51] After the Justice Department dropped the case, Pearl Jam continued to boycott Ticketmaster, refusing to play venues that had contracts with the company.[52] The band tried to work around Ticketmaster's exclusive contracts by hosting charities and benefits at major venues because the exclusive contracts often contained a clause allowing charity event promoters to sell their own tickets.[53] Music critic Jim DeRogatis noted that, along with the Ticketmaster debacle, "the band has refused to release singles or make videos; it has demanded that its albums be released on vinyl; and it wants to be more like its 1960s heroes, the Who, releasing two or three albums a year". He also stated that sources said that most of the band's third album Vitalogy was completed by early 1994, but that either a forced delay by Epic or the battle with Ticketmaster was to blame for the delay.[40]
Pearl Jam wrote and recorded while touring behind Vs. and the majority of the tracks for Vitalogy were recorded during breaks on the tour. Tensions within the band had increased by this time. Producer Brendan O'Brien said: "Vitalogy was a little strained. I'm being polite—there was some imploding going on."[19][54] After Pearl Jam finished the recording of Vitalogy, drummer Dave Abbruzzese was fired. The band cited political differences between Abbruzzese and the other members; for example, Abbruzzese disagreed with the Ticketmaster boycott.[19][54] He was replaced by Jack Irons, who had connected Vedder to the rest of the band some four years prior. Irons made his debut with the band at Neil Young's 1994 Bridge School Benefit, but he was not announced as the band's new drummer until its 1995 Self-Pollution satellite radio broadcast, a four-and-a-half-hour-long pirate broadcast out of Seattle which was available to any radio stations that wanted to carry it.[55]
Vitalogy was released first on November 21, 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.[13] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic stated that "thanks to its stripped-down, lean production, Vitalogy stands as Pearl Jam's most original and uncompromising album".[56] Many of the songs on the album appear to be inspired by the pressures of fame.[57] 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 songs "Not for You", "Corduroy", "Better Man", and "Immortality". "Better Man" (), a song originally written and performed by Vedder while in Bad Radio, reached number one on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart, spending a total of eight weeks there. Considered a "blatantly great pop song" by producer Brendan O'Brien, Pearl Jam was reluctant to record it and initially rejected it from Vs. due to its accessibility.[19][54]
The band continued its boycott against Ticketmaster during its 1995 tour for Vitalogy, but was surprised that virtually no other bands joined.[58] Pearl Jam's initiative to play only at non-Ticketmaster venues effectively, with a few exceptions, prevented it from playing shows in the United States for the next three years.[59] Ament later said: "We were so hardheaded about the 1995 tour. Had to prove we could tour on our own, and it pretty much killed us, killed our career."[19][54] In the same year, Pearl Jam backed Neil Young, whom the band had noted as an influence, 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.[2] 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 1995 EP Merkin Ball.
No Code and Yield (1996–1999)[edit]
Following the round of touring for Vitalogy, the band went into the studio to record No Code. Vedder said: "Making No Code was all about gaining perspective."[60] Released in 1996, No Code was seen as a deliberate break from the band's sound since Ten,[61] favoring experimental ballads and noisy garage rockers. David Browne of Entertainment Weekly stated that "No Code displays a wider range of moods and instrumentation than on any previous Pearl Jam album."[62] The lyrical themes on the album deal with issues of self-examination,[63] with Ament stating: "In some ways, it's like the band's story. It's about growing up."[63] Although the album debuted at number one on the Billboard charts, it quickly fell down the charts. No Code included the singles "Who You Are" (), "Hail, Hail", and "Off He Goes". 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. A European tour took place in the fall of 1996. Gossard stated that there was "a lot of stress associated with trying to tour at that time" and that "it was growing more and more difficult to be excited about being part of the band".[19][54]
Following the short tour for No Code, the band went into the studio in 1997 to record its follow-up. The sessions for the band's fifth album represented more of a team effort among all members of the group, with Ament stating that "everybody really got a little bit of their say on the record... because of that, everybody feels like they're an integral part of the band".[64] On February 3, 1998, Pearl Jam released Yield. The album was cited as a return to the band's early, straightforward rock sound.[65] Tom Sinclair of Entertainment Weekly stated that the band has "turned in an intermittently affecting album that veers between fiery garage rock and rootsy, acoustic-based ruminations. Perhaps mindful of their position as the last alt-rock ambassadors with any degree of clout, they've come up with their most cohesive album since their 1991 debut, Ten."[66] Lyrically, Yield continued with the more contemplative type of writing found on No Code,[67] with Vedder saying: "What was rage in the past has become reflection."[68] Yield debuted at number two on the Billboard charts, but like No Code soon began dropping down the charts.[69] It included the singles "Given to Fly" and "Wishlist". The band hired comic book artist Todd McFarlane to create an animated video for the song "Do the Evolution" from the album, its first music video since 1992.[70] A documentary detailing the making of Yield, Single Video Theory, was released on VHS and DVD later that year.
In April 1998, Pearl Jam again changed drummers. Jack Irons left the band due to dissatisfaction with touring and was replaced with former Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron on a temporary basis,[71] but he soon became a permanent replacement for Irons. Pearl Jam's 1998 Yield Tour in North America marked the band's return to full-scale touring. The band's anti-trust lawsuit against Ticketmaster had proven to be unsuccessful and hindered live tours. Many fan
Pearl Jam | |
|---|---|
Pearl Jam performing in Amsterdam in 2012. From left to right: Mike McCready, Jeff Ament, Matt Cameron, Eddie Vedder, and Stone Gossard. | |
| Background information | |
| Also known as | Mookie Blaylock (1990) |
| Origin | Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Discography | Pearl Jam discography |
| Years active | 1990–present |
| Labels | |
| Spinoffs | Hovercraft |
| Spinoff of | |
| Members | |
| Past members | |
| Website | pearljam |
Pearl Jam is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. The band's lineup consists of founding members Jeff Ament (bass guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar), and Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, guitar), as well as Matt Cameron (drums), who joined in 1998. Keyboardist Boom Gaspar has also been a touring/session member with the band since 2002. Former members include Dave Krusen (an original member), Matt Chamberlain, Dave Abbruzzese, and Jack Irons, all of whom were the band's drummers from 1990 to 1998. Pearl Jam has outsold and outlasted many of its contemporaries from the early 1990s, and is considered one of the most influential bands from that decade,[1] dubbed "the most popular American rock and roll band of the '90s".[2]
Formed after the demise of Gossard and Ament's previous bands, Green River and Mother Love Bone, Pearl Jam broke into the mainstream with their debut album, Ten, in 1991. Ten stayed on the Billboard 200 chart for nearly five years, and has gone on to become one of the highest-selling rock records ever, going 13× Platinum in the United States. Released in 1993, Pearl Jam's second album, Vs., sold over 950,000 copies in its first week of release, setting the record for most copies of an album sold in its first week of release at the time. Their third album, Vitalogy (1994), became the second-fastest-selling CD in history at the time, with more than 877,000 units sold in its first week.
One of the key bands in the grunge movement of the early 1990s, Pearl Jam's members often shunned popular music industry practices such as making music videos or participating in interviews. The band had also sued Ticketmaster, claiming it had monopolized the concert-ticket market. In 2006, Rolling Stone described the band as having "spent much of the past decade deliberately tearing apart their own fame".[3]
Pearl Jam had sold more than 85 million albums worldwide by 2018, including nearly 32 million albums in the United States by 2012,[4] making them one of the best-selling bands of all time. Pearl Jam was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017 in its first year of eligibility.[5] They were ranked eighth in a readers' poll by Rolling Stone magazine in its "Top Ten Live Acts of All Time" issue.[6] Throughout its career, the band has also promoted wider social and political issues, such as abortion rights sentiments and opposition to George W. Bush's presidency. Vedder acts as the band's spokesman on these issues.
History[edit]
Background (1984–1990)[edit]
Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament were members of Seattle-based grunge band Green River during the mid-1980s. Green River toured and recorded to moderate success, but disbanded in 1987 due to a stylistic division between the pair and bandmates Mark Arm and Steve Turner.[7]
In late 1987, Gossard and Ament began playing with Malfunkshun vocalist Andrew Wood, eventually organizing the band Mother Love Bone. In 1988 and 1989, the band recorded and toured to increasing interest. PolyGram signed the band in early 1989. Mother Love Bone's debut album, Apple, was released in July 1990, four months after Wood died of a heroin overdose.[8]
Formation (1990)[edit]
Ament and Gossard were devastated by the death of Wood and the resulting demise of Mother Love Bone. Gossard spent his time afterwards writing material that was harder-edged than what he had been doing previously.[9] After a few months, Gossard started practicing with fellow Seattle guitarist Mike McCready, whose band, Shadow, had broken up; McCready in turn encouraged Gossard to reconnect with Ament.[3] After practicing for a while, the trio sent out a five-song demo tape in order to find a singer and a drummer. They gave former Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Jack Irons the demo to see if he would be interested in joining the band and to distribute the demo to anyone he felt might fit the lead vocal position.[9]
Irons passed on the invitation but gave the demo to his friend Eddie Vedder.[10] Vedder was the lead vocalist for the San Diego band Bad Radio and worked part-time at a gas station. He listened to the tape shortly before going surfing, where lyrics came to him.[9] He then recorded the vocals to three of the songs ("Alive", "Once", and "Footsteps") in what he later described as a "mini-opera" titled Mamasan.[11] Vedder sent the tape with his vocals back to the three Seattle musicians, who were impressed enough to fly Vedder up to Seattle for an audition. Within a week, Vedder had joined the band.[9]
With the addition of Dave Krusen on drums, the band took the name Mookie Blaylock, in reference to the then-active basketball player.[12] The band played its first official show at the Off Ramp Café in Seattle on October 22, 1990.[13] They opened for Alice in Chains at the Moore Theatre in Seattle on December 22, 1990,[14] and served as the opening act for the band's Facelift tour in 1991.[15][16] Mookie Blaylock soon signed to Epic Records and renamed themselves Pearl Jam.[2] In an early promotional interview, Vedder said that the name "Pearl Jam" was a reference to his great-grandmother Pearl, who was married to a Native American and had a special recipe for peyote-laced jam.[17] In a 2006 cover story for Rolling Stone, Vedder admitted that this story was "total bullshit", but added that he did have a great-grandmother named Pearl. Ament and McCready explained that Ament came up with "pearl", and that the band later settled on Pearl Jam after attending a Neil Young concert in which he extended his songs as improvisations (i.e. "jams") of 15–20 minutes in length.[3]
Ten and the grunge explosion (1991–1992)[edit]
Pearl Jam entered Seattle's London Bridge Studios in March 1991 to record its debut album Ten.[18] McCready said that "Ten was mostly Stone and Jeff; Eddie and I were along for the ride at that time."[19] Krusen left the band in May 1991 after checking himself into rehabilitation for alcoholism;[20] he was replaced by Matt Chamberlain, who 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 band for Saturday Night Live.[12] Chamberlain suggested Dave Abbruzzese as his replacement. Abbruzzese joined the group and played the rest of Pearl Jam's live shows supporting Ten.[12]
Released on August 27, 1991, Ten (named after Mookie Blaylock's jersey number)[17] contained 11 tracks dealing with dark subjects like depression, suicide, loneliness, and murder. Ten's musical style, influenced by classic rock, combined an "expansive harmonic vocabulary" with an anthemic sound.[21] The album was slow to sell, but by the second half of 1992 it became a breakthrough success, being certified gold and reaching number two on the Billboard charts.[18] Ten produced the hit singles "Alive", "Even Flow", and "Jeremy". Originally interpreted as an anthem by many,[9] Vedder later revealed that "Alive" tells the semi-autobiographical tale of a son discovering that his father is actually his stepfather, and his mother's grief turns her to sexually embrace her son, who strongly resembles the biological father. In this lyric, even though Vedder originally looked at "being alive as a curse", as the sadness the speaker in the song suggests, "But as fans quickly turned the title phrase into a self-empowering anthem", particularly at Pearl Jam concerts, Vedder said: "they lifted the curse. The audience changed the meaning for me", he told VH1 Storytellers in 2006.[22]
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.[23] Ten stayed on the Billboard charts for nearly five years, going 13× platinum.[24]
With the success of Ten, Pearl Jam became a key member of the Seattle grunge explosion, along with Alice in Chains, Nirvana, and Soundgarden. The band was criticized in the music press; British music magazine NME wrote that Pearl Jam was "trying to steal money from young alternative kids' pockets".[25]
Pearl Jam toured relentlessly in support of Ten. Ament stated that "essentially Ten was just an excuse to tour", adding: "We told the record company, 'We know we can be a great band, so let's just get the opportunity to get out and play.'"[26] The band's manager Kelly Curtis stated: "Once people came and saw them live, this lightbulb would go on. Doing their first tour, you kind of knew it was happening and there was no stopping it."[19] Early on in Pearl Jam's career, the band became known for its intense live performances. Looking back at this time, Vedder said that "playing music and then getting a shot at making a record and at having an audience and stuff, it's just like an untamed force... But it didn't come from jock mentality. It came from just being let out of the gates."[27]
In 1992, Pearl Jam made television appearances on Saturday Night Live and MTV Unplugged and took a slot on that summer's Lollapalooza tour with Ministry, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Soundgarden, among others.[28][29][30] The band contributed two songs to the soundtrack of the 1992 Cameron Crowe film Singles: "State of Love and Trust" and "Breath". Ament, Gossard and Vedder appeared in Singles under the name Citizen Dick; their parts were filmed when Pearl Jam was known as Mookie Blaylock.[31]
Vs., Vitalogy and dealing with success (1993–1995)[edit]
The band members grew uncomfortable with their success, with much of the burden of Pearl Jam's popularity falling on frontman Vedder.[9] While Pearl Jam received four awards at the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards for its video for "Jeremy", including Video of the Year and Best Group Video, the band refused to make a video for "Black" in spite of pressure from the label. This action began a trend of the band refusing to make videos for its songs. Vedder felt that the concept of music videos robbed listeners from creating their own interpretations of the song, stating that "Before music videos first came out, you'd listen to a song with headphones on, sitting in a beanbag chair with your eyes closed, and you'd come up with your own visions, these things that came from within. Then all of a sudden, sometimes even the first time you heard a song, it was with these visual images attached, and it robbed you of any form of self-expression."[32] "Ten years from now", Ament said, "I don't want people to remember our songs as videos."[9]
Pearl Jam headed into the studio in early 1993 facing the challenge of following up the commercial success of its debut. McCready said: "The band was blown up pretty big and everything was pretty crazy."[33] Released on October 19, 1993, Pearl Jam's second album, Vs., sold 950,378 copies in its first week of release and outperformed all other entries in the Billboard top ten that week combined.[34] The album set the record for most copies of an album sold in its first week of release, which it held until broken by Garth Brooks' 1998 album Double Live.[35] Vs. included the singles "Go", "Daughter", "Animal", and "Dissident". Paul Evans of Rolling Stone stated: "Few American bands have arrived more clearly talented than this one did with Ten; and Vs. tops even that debut." He added: "Like Jim Morrison and Pete Townshend, Vedder makes a forte of his psychological-mythic explorations... As guitarists Stone Gossard and Mike McCready paint dense and slashing backdrops, he invites us into a drama of experiment and strife."[36] The band decided, beginning with the release of Vs., to scale back its commercial efforts.[37] The members declined to produce any more music videos after the massive success of "Jeremy" and opted for fewer interviews and television appearances. Industry insiders compared Pearl Jam's tour that year to the touring habits of Led Zeppelin in that the band "ignored the press and took its music directly to the fans".[38] During the Vs. Tour, the band set a cap on ticket prices in an attempt to thwart scalpers.[39]
By 1994, Pearl Jam was "fighting on all fronts" as its manager described the band at the time.[40] Reporter Chuck Philips broke a series of stories showing that Ticketmaster was gouging Pearl Jam's customers.[41] Pearl Jam was outraged when, after it played a pair of charity benefit shows in Chicago, it discovered that ticket vendor Ticketmaster had added a service charge to the tickets. Pearl Jam was committed to keeping their concert ticket prices down but Fred Rosen of Ticketmaster refused to waive the service charge. Because Ticketmaster controlled most major venues, the band was forced to create from scratch its own outdoor stadiums in rural areas in order to perform. Pearl Jam's efforts to organize a tour without the ticket giant collapsed, which Pearl Jam said was evidence of Ticketmaster's monopoly. An analysis of journalist Chuck Philips' investigative series[42][43][44][45][46][47] in a well known legal monograph[48] concluded that it was hard to imagine a legitimate reason for Ticketmaster's exclusive contracts with venues and contracts to cover such a lengthy period of time. The authors wrote: "The pervasiveness of Ticketmaster's exclusive agreements, coupled with their excessive duration and the manner in which they are procured, supported a finding that Ticketmaster had engaged in anticompetitive conduct under section 2 of the Sherman Act."
The United States Department of Justice was investigating the company's practices at the time and asked the band to create a memorandum of its experiences with the company. Band members Gossard and Ament testified at a subcommittee investigation on June 30, 1994, in Washington, D.C.[49] Pearl Jam alleged that Ticketmaster used anti-competitive and monopolistic practices to gouge fans. After Pearl Jam's testimony before Congress, Congressman Dingell (D-Mich.) wrote a bill requiring full disclosure to prevent Ticketmaster from burying escalating service fees. Pearl Jam's manager said he was gratified that Congress recognized the problem as a national issue.[50] The band eventually canceled its 1994 summer tour in protest.[51] After the Justice Department dropped the case, Pearl Jam continued to boycott Ticketmaster, refusing to play venues that had contracts with the company.[52] The band tried to work around Ticketmaster's exclusive contracts by hosting charities and benefits at major venues because the exclusive contracts often contained a clause allowing charity event promoters to sell their own tickets.[53] Music critic Jim DeRogatis noted that, along with the Ticketmaster debacle, "the band has refused to release singles or make videos; it has demanded that its albums be released on vinyl; and it wants to be more like its 1960s heroes, the Who, releasing two or three albums a year". He also stated that sources said that most of the band's third album Vitalogy was completed by early 1994, but that either a forced delay by Epic or the battle with Ticketmaster was to blame for the delay.[40]
Pearl Jam wrote and recorded while touring behind Vs. and the majority of the tracks for Vitalogy were recorded during breaks on the tour. Tensions within the band had increased by this time. Producer Brendan O'Brien said: "Vitalogy was a little strained. I'm being polite—there was some imploding going on."[19][54] After Pearl Jam finished the recording of Vitalogy, drummer Dave Abbruzzese was fired. The band cited political differences between Abbruzzese and the other members; for example, Abbruzzese disagreed with the Ticketmaster boycott.[19][54] He was replaced by Jack Irons, who had connected Vedder to the rest of the band some four years prior. Irons made his debut with the band at Neil Young's 1994 Bridge School Benefit, but he was not announced as the band's new drummer until its 1995 Self-Pollution satellite radio broadcast, a four-and-a-half-hour-long pirate broadcast out of Seattle which was available to any radio stations that wanted to carry it.[55]
Vitalogy was released first on November 21, 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.[13] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic stated that "thanks to its stripped-down, lean production, Vitalogy stands as Pearl Jam's most original and uncompromising album".[56] Many of the songs on the album appear to be inspired by the pressures of fame.[57] 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 songs "Not for You", "Corduroy", "Better Man", and "Immortality". "Better Man" (), a song originally written and performed by Vedder while in Bad Radio, reached number one on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart, spending a total of eight weeks there. Considered a "blatantly great pop song" by producer Brendan O'Brien, Pearl Jam was reluctant to record it and initially rejected it from Vs. due to its accessibility.[19][54]
The band continued its boycott against Ticketmaster during its 1995 tour for Vitalogy, but was surprised that virtually no other bands joined.[58] Pearl Jam's initiative to play only at non-Ticketmaster venues effectively, with a few exceptions, prevented it from playing shows in the United States for the next three years.[59] Ament later said: "We were so hardheaded about the 1995 tour. Had to prove we could tour on our own, and it pretty much killed us, killed our career."[19][54] In the same year, Pearl Jam backed Neil Young, whom the band had noted as an influence, 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.[2] 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 1995 EP Merkin Ball.
No Code and Yield (1996–1999)[edit]
Following the round of touring for Vitalogy, the band went into the studio to record No Code. Vedder said: "Making No Code was all about gaining perspective."[60] Released in 1996, No Code was seen as a deliberate break from the band's sound since Ten,[61] favoring experimental ballads and noisy garage rockers. David Browne of Entertainment Weekly stated that "No Code displays a wider range of moods and instrumentation than on any previous Pearl Jam album."[62] The lyrical themes on the album deal with issues of self-examination,[63] with Ament stating: "In some ways, it's like the band's story. It's about growing up."[63] Although the album debuted at number one on the Billboard charts, it quickly fell down the charts. No Code included the singles "Who You Are" (), "Hail, Hail", and "Off He Goes". 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. A European tour took place in the fall of 1996. Gossard stated that there was "a lot of stress associated with trying to tour at that time" and that "it was growing more and more difficult to be excited about being part of the band".[19][54]
Following the short tour for No Code, the band went into the studio in 1997 to record its follow-up. The sessions for the band's fifth album represented more of a team effort among all members of the group, with Ament stating that "everybody really got a little bit of their say on the record... because of that, everybody feels like they're an integral part of the band".[64] On February 3, 1998, Pearl Jam released Yield. The album was cited as a return to the band's early, straightforward rock sound.[65] Tom Sinclair of Entertainment Weekly stated that the band has "turned in an intermittently affecting album that veers between fiery garage rock and rootsy, acoustic-based ruminations. Perhaps mindful of their position as the last alt-rock ambassadors with any degree of clout, they've come up with their most cohesive album since their 1991 debut, Ten."[66] Lyrically, Yield continued with the more contemplative type of writing found on No Code,[67] with Vedder saying: "What was rage in the past has become reflection."[68] Yield debuted at number two on the Billboard charts, but like No Code soon began dropping down the charts.[69] It included the singles "Given to Fly" and "Wishlist". The band hired comic book artist Todd McFarlane to create an animated video for the song "Do the Evolution" from the album, its first music video since 1992.[70] A documentary detailing the making of Yield, Single Video Theory, was released on VHS and DVD later that year.
In April 1998, Pearl Jam again changed drummers. Jack Irons left the band due to dissatisfaction with touring and was replaced with former Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron on a temporary basis,[71] but he soon became a permanent replacement for Irons. Pearl Jam's 1998 Yield Tour in North America marked the band's return to full-scale touring. The band's anti-trust lawsuit against Ticketmaster had proven to be unsuccessful and hindered live tours. Many fan