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Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por HamTyler 02.07.21 13:44
Anda, funkos de los miembros supervivientes deTemple of the Dog.
HamTyler- Mensajes : 2135
Fecha de inscripción : 29/09/2009
Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por Lazaretto 02.07.21 13:52
wakam escribió:Nadie ha comentado los funkos de Pearl Jam? Ya sólo les falta el Monopoly
Reservados!
Si a alguno le interesan, aquí se puede pillar el pack por 45€: https://www.popinabox.es/merch-figures/pearl-jam-funko-pop-vinyl/13151734.html
Lazaretto- Mensajes : 18171
Fecha de inscripción : 03/02/2016
Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por Mr. Integrity 02.07.21 14:01
Yo también he comprado, no soy mega fan de estas cosas, tengo un par que me han regalado con los años y ya, pero éstos de PJ me hacen gracia.
Mr. Integrity- Mensajes : 8319
Fecha de inscripción : 14/02/2018
Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por Humpty Dumpty 02.07.21 16:02
También en Zavvi:
https://www.zavvi.es/merch-figures/pearl-jam-funko-pop-vinyl/13151734.html?settingsSaved=Y&shippingcountry=ES&switchcurrency=EUR&affil=thggpsad&countrySelected=Y
Humpty Dumpty- Mensajes : 16650
Fecha de inscripción : 30/01/2019
Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por Txomin 03.07.21 7:46
Por la gorra de Jeff, si no pueden ser una banda del barrio.Humpty Dumpty escribió:
También en Zavvi:
https://www.zavvi.es/merch-figures/pearl-jam-funko-pop-vinyl/13151734.html?settingsSaved=Y&shippingcountry=ES&switchcurrency=EUR&affil=thggpsad&countrySelected=Y
Txomin- Mensajes : 31771
Fecha de inscripción : 26/03/2008
Breath- Mensajes : 25962
Fecha de inscripción : 15/10/2009
Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por Mcbein 19.07.21 11:55
https://www.mercadeopop.com/el-portentoso-primer-concierto-de-pearl-jam-antes-de-ser-pearl-jam/
Mcbein- Mensajes : 5652
Fecha de inscripción : 24/04/2013
Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por Breath 11.08.21 0:33
Está ahora Jeff haciendo un directo en instagram contestando preguntas de los fans. Sus tres discos favoritos de PJ son Yield, VS y Gigaton (obvio lo último, por aquello de ser el nuevo).
3 favoritas canciones de SG: The day I tried to live, Mind Riot, Outshined, entre otras. De Temple of the Dog y de Cornell de siempre, dice que All Night Thing. Y Floyd the Barber su canción favorita de Nirvana. Y dice que no ha visto el docu de Woodstock 99 pero sí el tráiler y que no puede estar más feliz de no haber tocado en él.
Y su canción de REM: Nightswimming. Di que sí, Jeff, di que sí.
3 favoritas canciones de SG: The day I tried to live, Mind Riot, Outshined, entre otras. De Temple of the Dog y de Cornell de siempre, dice que All Night Thing. Y Floyd the Barber su canción favorita de Nirvana. Y dice que no ha visto el docu de Woodstock 99 pero sí el tráiler y que no puede estar más feliz de no haber tocado en él.
Y su canción de REM: Nightswimming. Di que sí, Jeff, di que sí.
Breath- Mensajes : 25962
Fecha de inscripción : 15/10/2009
Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por henchman 11.08.21 9:06
Nada del otro jueves el disco de Ament nuevo pero entra bien.
Por lo menos no se ha tocado las bolas en el confinamiento.
henchman- Mensajes : 16490
Fecha de inscripción : 31/03/2008
Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por p0pi 11.08.21 17:16
El disco no está en plataformas? El de Jeff?
p0pi- Mensajes : 18103
Fecha de inscripción : 07/10/2015 -
henchman- Mensajes : 16490
Fecha de inscripción : 31/03/2008
Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por p0pi 11.08.21 21:28
henchman escribió:Si. Búscalo bajo Ament.
Ah, coño. Estuve buscando por JEFF Ament. Thanks.
p0pi- Mensajes : 18103
Fecha de inscripción : 07/10/2015 -
Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por wakam 25.08.21 10:48
Qué pasó con el último single del 10C? se envió? porque yo nunca recibí nada.
wakam- Mensajes : 81435
Fecha de inscripción : 27/03/2008
Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por Mr. Integrity 25.08.21 10:52
wakam escribió:Qué pasó con el último single del 10C? se envió? porque yo nunca recibí nada.
Se supone que algunos habían llegado ya a gente de USA creo recordar (hace meses incluso), y los del 10c habían colgado en redes que ya estaban fabricados etc, pero ni a mi ni a ninguno de mis colegas que son socios nos ha llegado aún.
Mr. Integrity- Mensajes : 8319
Fecha de inscripción : 14/02/2018
Axlferrari- Mensajes : 26139
Fecha de inscripción : 06/02/2016 -
Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por Ivanov 27.08.21 11:00
Maravilloso.Axlferrari escribió:
Y No Code 25 años. Maravilloso.
Ivanov- Mensajes : 3576
Fecha de inscripción : 26/08/2016
Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por Ciclóncósmico 28.08.21 3:48
Join us now for a free livestream of Pearl Jam’s full 2014 ‘The No Code Show'! The concert earned its place in history when the band took the stage in Moline, IL and performed the 1996 studio album in its entirety. Celebrate the 25th Anniversary of No Code right here or at nugs.net/pearljamlivestream, available for replay through Monday evening.
Ciclóncósmico- Mensajes : 15977
Fecha de inscripción : 01/11/2009
Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por keith_caputo 29.08.21 10:28
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Hacia bastantes años que no escuchaba este disco. Recuerdo que lo compré cuando salió a la venta y recuerdo perfectamente el dia que lo compré en la tienda TIPO de Aviles y las ganas que tenia de llegar a casa para escucharlo. Llevo 2 dias escuchandolo de nuevo. Que buenos recuerdos
keith_caputo- Mensajes : 31016
Fecha de inscripción : 25/03/2008
Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por Adso 29.08.21 10:50
wakam escribió:Nadie ha comentado los funkos de Pearl Jam? Ya sólo les falta el Monopoly
Adso- Mensajes : 33155
Fecha de inscripción : 03/12/2013
Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por henchman 29.08.21 14:32
Ciclóncósmico escribió:
Join us now for a free livestream of Pearl Jam’s full 2014 ‘The No Code Show'! The concert earned its place in history when the band took the stage in Moline, IL and performed the 1996 studio album in its entirety. Celebrate the 25th Anniversary of No Code right here or at nugs.net/pearljamlivestream, available for replay through Monday evening.
Tremendo. Dadle que mañana lo quitan.
henchman- Mensajes : 16490
Fecha de inscripción : 31/03/2008
Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por Breath 29.08.21 19:52
¿Alguna manera de ver el artículo que Spin magazine ha dedicado al aniversario del Ten?
Soy incapaz de verlo, sea desde el dispositivo que sea me sale 'forbidden'.
Soy incapaz de verlo, sea desde el dispositivo que sea me sale 'forbidden'.
Breath- Mensajes : 25962
Fecha de inscripción : 15/10/2009
Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por thunderpussy 29.08.21 19:57
+1keith_caputo escribió:
Hacia bastantes años que no escuchaba este disco. Recuerdo que lo compré cuando salió a la venta y recuerdo perfectamente el dia que lo compré en la tienda TIPO de Aviles y las ganas que tenia de llegar a casa para escucharlo. Llevo 2 dias escuchandolo de nuevo. Que buenos recuerdos
Magnifico documento en su época cuando aún no editaban los bootlegs
thunderpussy- Mensajes : 28167
Fecha de inscripción : 26/03/2008
Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por thunderpussy 29.08.21 20:12
henchman escribió:Ciclóncósmico escribió:
Join us now for a free livestream of Pearl Jam’s full 2014 ‘The No Code Show'! The concert earned its place in history when the band took the stage in Moline, IL and performed the 1996 studio album in its entirety. Celebrate the 25th Anniversary of No Code right here or at nugs.net/pearljamlivestream, available for replay through Monday evening.
Tremendo. Dadle que mañana lo quitan.
Buah con la tele 4K y pasando el sonido por salida digital óptica al DAC al equipo HIFi no se puede pedir más…no entiendo porque no se editan estas cosas en blu-ray.
thunderpussy- Mensajes : 28167
Fecha de inscripción : 26/03/2008
Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por Humpty Dumpty 29.08.21 20:24
Breath escribió:¿Alguna manera de ver el artículo que Spin magazine ha dedicado al aniversario del Ten?
Soy incapaz de verlo, sea desde el dispositivo que sea me sale 'forbidden'.
- Spoiler:
- The story has been told thousands of times, but it bears repeating: Pearl Jam should never have happened.
The ’90s had just begun. In March 1990, the promising Seattle rock band Mother Love Bone was about to unveil their debut album. But on the eve of the release, the band’s lead singer, Andrew Wood, died tragically of a heroin overdose. His band members, guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament were blind-sided, devastated, and decided to end the band. Over the next few months, Gossard slowly found his way back to music. He made a few demos that landed in the hands of a surfer from San Diego via Chicago who got them from ex-Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Jack Irons. The surfer’s name was Eddie Vedder. The songs he sent back? “Alive,” “Once,” and “Footsteps.”
Pearl Jam formed around the intensity of these songs. And on Aug. 27, 1991, they brought them into the open with their harrowing masterpiece, Ten. Musically, the album’s blend of classic rock, punk, and metal opened up the sonic possibilities for this new genre called grunge. Ten wasn’t an overnight success. There was a little buzz coming from their hometown of Seattle — that would come a few months later — but if you knew, you knew. Sub Pop was rapidly ascending. Soundgarden and Nirvana were set to unleash their fire and fury onto a new audience. Alice in Chains was already well on their way. But Pearl Jam was just … different.
In the months following Ten’s release, “Alive” caught on, as did the band’s magnetic live show. MTV Unplugged was the perfect vehicle to display the catharsis of hearing Pearl Jam live and unvarnished. Ultimately, music videos like “Jeremy” and “Even Flow” catapulted them to stardom — another testament to the insane appeal of their sound, since none of the band members took much of an interest in promotional tactics.
Had it not been for strange twists, a confluence of serendipitous events, and instantly killer chemistry between the core four band members, the music world would be a much, much different place.
But they survived, endured, and carved out a legacy that seemed impossible 30 years ago. They continue to sell out arenas, stadiums, and festivals, and their influence is undeniable.
In honor of Ten turning 30 today, we spoke with 30 musicians who reflected on Pearl Jam and the album’s lasting influence.
Julian Casablancas, The Strokes
As a teenager, we’d hang out in our bedroom and listen to mixtapes, and one of Nikolai’s [Fraiture] older brother’s ‘cool’ friends (ah, older kids) had turned him on to “Yellow Ledbetter” (way before it was mega-in-the-know) was a B-side I think, but we thought it was some secret demo. Anyway, that is literally the moment that changed my life. It hit me in a bizarre and deep way, and I understood the dark mystery and power of music in that weird instant.
Fast forward a couple of years and I’m seriously thinking about trying my hand at music as I just learned guitar and was drawn to music theory and finally had a knack for SOMETHING. I decided to (again on tape – I’m old OK, mean internet people) record myself singing over some Pearl Jam songs and sang my heart out over “Alive” and “Jeremy” and felt the power and felt like it was maybe pretty good, until I listened back. Horror and sadness overcame me as I realized like a punch in the stomach that in fact, I had a horrible voice. I recovered and decided I’d be a guitarist and try to improve other people’s songs instead. only slowly after getting good at writing songs and years of practice did I become ok (Nothing compared to Eddie Vedder obviously – the punk Freddie Mercury of our time).
Anyway, I still wear corduroy jackets and hope that Eddie Vedder will run for office. They were the Beatles of our time really. Anyway, thank you Pearl Jam, for everything. Also, I loved Mookie Blaylock, (the basketball player) which was their original name.
Corin Tucker, Sleater-Kinney
Ten hit our generation like the seventh wave in the ocean – the huge wall of guitars made gritty with the grunge sound, along with the epic wail of Eddie’s voice.
“Black” is my favorite song – the opening riff is so iconic. I remember when we toured with them around 2001, “Black” was usually the last song of their set. And Sleater-Kinney were lucky enough to guest on an encore song so there was a “spot” we were supposed to be standing on. But I couldn’t see Mike McCready play guitar from there! So I would sneak around to the other side of the stage for that song, making Dick Adams, the legendary production guy, freak out as he was running around trying to find our band! I remember thinking, I can’t believe this is my life right now!
John Doe, X
Like most people, “Alive” was the first song I remember hearing from PJ and even after one listen, I realized they and some others in Seattle were bringing real electric guitars back into mainstream culture. That was a good thing. It was evident that PJ took time to developed a sound that was intentional, accessible, exuberant w/ an honest soul. Though its influences could be heard, their sound was unique. Thank goodness they and the other Seattle bands saved us from hair metal.
Little did we realize our paths would cross in 2012 when X opened for them in South America and Europe. They shared members of their crew, recorded our sets, played with us during our show, invited us on stage during theirs and kept us safe inside the PJ bubble. Seeing 70,000 fans in Sao Paulo (and every other city) sing along to every song, brought home just how important a band they have become.
Nancy Wilson, Heart
In the early ’90s, it couldn’t have been hipper to be from Seattle. The explosion of the music coming out of the northwest was insanely great.
My best buddy Kelly Curtis who managed Mother Love Bone who then morphed into Mookie Blaylock which then became Pearl Jam, introduced me to the whole scene and all the amazing bands of the time. Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Screaming Trees.
Cat Butt, Sleater-Kinney, Nirvana and the list goes on.
I was lucky enough to watch each metamorphosis of Pearl Jam in clubs and stages around town. Then there was the summer I got to hitch my wagon to their European tour. There were so many wonderful moments and big laughs along the way. Every guy in Pearl Jam is a stellar human being. They have a truly beautiful brotherhood of love that always extends to their entire crew. The live shows were astounding as always and the raw energy was formidable. It seemed they spent most of the show flying through the air.
Ed carried this classic old tweed suitcase full of his writings around everywhere which often became a seat for waiting for some kind of transportation or another. There were beers in Edinburgh, wine in Paris, and the world’s best coffee in Rome.
Their fans are such loyal people and still to this day they know every syllable of every word to every Pearl Jam song. There is only one Pearl Jam and I am honored to have them as friends.
Perry Farrell, Jane’s Addiction/Porno for Pyros
I remember when I saw Pearl Jam for the first time. We had the same agent, Don Muller, so Don made sure that I was on the side of the stage to see them. And it’s one of those moments where…have you ever seen someone and fell in love with them at first sight? It was like that. These guys, they’ve got you know, they’ve got the right message, they got the right attitude. They’re rocking their asses off as if there’s no tomorrow. And we’ve been friends ever since. “Even Flow” was the song for me when I went “I like these guys.”
It’s a testament to them that they can last 30 years in this country in this world, as a group. To start off, not even to begin to speak about their music. Just that they’re there. I want to say like, their motivation, their message and their intentions. It’s a testament to who they are as people that it’s lasted this long.
Donita Sparks, L7
Well, I’ll always have a soft spot for “Even Flow.” L7 were playing Finsbury Park in London with Pearl Jam and some other bands in the summer of 1992. We were goofing off with Eddie Vedder backstage before Pearl Jam’s set. Our drummer Dee was late with her period and not feeling great so I started singing “Let Dee Flo-ow” and then Eddie started singing it better, of course. Later during their set, Eddie sang the line once or twice during the real “Even Flow,” which we thought was great. I always think of that when I hear that track. Brings a smile.
Jerry Cantrell, Alice in Chains
t [Ten] was a rebirth for those guys. They had such an unfortunate blow with the loss of Andy [Wood] right as their album is coming out. There was a real kind of a brotherhood between all of the artists in Seattle and it was really meaningful to see them pick themselves up, start again and invite Ed and Dave [Krusen] into the band. To have that record have the sort of impact that it has is really powerful. It was very right for those guys all find each other and we were really, really, really happy for that — I still am. They’re one of the greatest bands in the history of rock and roll and they made one really important record together.
“Black” is a great record, just as a piece of work, but every track on the album I think is really important. They started out with “Alive” in 91 and then “Even Flow” and “Jeremy” huge fucking song. But “Black” has always been my favorite from the record.
They deserve a ton of credit for fighting through adversity and starting anew. That record is still really powerful.
Jack Johnson
I first heard Ten when I was 16. What an age to be hit by that group of songs, guitar tones, and lyrics. The CD was in my player every morning on the way to school. I have vivid memories of closing my eyes and my bedroom door and trying to sing every one of those songs. That same year I saw Pearl Jam perform at a small amphitheater at the University of Hawai’i and it changed my life forever.
Patrick Carney, The Black Keys
That time, in August and September 1991, was the 1968 of my generation with so much cool music with Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Metallica, all releasing albums within a small window. I think that sonically, those records kind of take you to that early ’90s place in a really good way. But some of those records from that time sound dated, but Ten holds up. There are some songs that I really liked off the first record like “Alive,” which introduced me to Temple of the Dog which introduced me to Soundgarden. I think it’s crazy that records turned 30 to think of all the insane fucking records that came out in that one little 60-day window is insane.
I started off as a big Nirvana guy when I was younger then became a team Pearl Jam because those dudes are some of the nicest guys you could ever meet. The first time we ever did a show with Pearl Jam was we played in Berlin with them. They asked us to play and we had our own show booked at some punk, small rock and roll club when we were on tour for Magic Potion but this special show popped up. They hooked us up and we had to play like 15,000 people and then we went and played our own show at like midnight that night and Eddie came to the show, sat and watched this play until 1:30 in the morning and the crowd freaked out that Eddie Vedder was at the club and it made us look really cool. Then I remember playing with them in Summer 2014, we were playing some festivals with them and I just remember getting to watch some serious World Cup soccer with Eddie Vedder and it was very enjoyable.
Ben Blackwell, Third Man Records
All these years later, it’s hard to even remember a time prior to Pearl Jam (and fairly, Nirvana too) having exploded onto the mainstream. In my head, it’s almost like I woke up one morning, age 9, and the entire musical landscape had changed. If I were to simplify my life into any sort of musical “before” and “after” it’s punctuated by the imagined image of Kurt Cobain and Eddie Vedder punching through some fog declaring they’re here for me.
As the years pile on, it’s a funny little exercise discerning my “favorite” song from Ten. At this point, the singles of “Alive” and “Even Flow” and “Jeremy” have been heard SO many times that they kinda just feel like something that’s been there my entire life. The love I felt for those songs as a pre-teen has definitely waned through their marked over-exposure. I find it difficult to still get excited by them. But that just lets me have a deeper appreciation of “Porch.” It’s impossible for me to think of the song without connecting it to the transformative performance of it during the MTV Unplugged session. Eddie writing “Pro Choice!!!” on his arm during the instrumental breakdown still feels powerful and important today and the song itself hits hard. “Porch” is the only song off Ten that I am guaranteed to listen to in full when a version pops up on SiriusXM Pearl Jam Radio. Enough said.
Laura Jane Grace
I cannot overestimate the impact that Ten had on me and my friend group as young teens. The album came out right as I was starting to play with my first band, and given that we had no original songs written, we covered Pearl Jam songs. This was down in southwest Florida, pretty much the polar opposite of Seattle, WA, but grunge became the sound.
After a couple of poorly received appearances at our church talent shows, my band made the big jump to playing at the Collier County Fair. There still exists a video of us playing a cover of “Porch” to a completely disinterested audience. But the funniest part was that everyone in the band was wearing a Pearl Jam shirt!
The really astounding thing, though, is how those songs have stuck with me. Here we are more than 25 years later and you could wake me from a dead sleep, hand me a guitar and I could bust out the riff for “Alive” on command. I’ll remember how to play those songs until the day I die. There’s nothing that could dislodge them from my muscle memory.
Ben Harper
Ten (reasons)
1. It’s as if they made their fifth record first. The music and musicianship is as fully realized as a band that’s prepared for its destiny.
2. No one had ever heard a voice like this in the history of rock, a voice that sounded as if it were coming from our hearts as much as it was from Ed.
3. Songs that range from three-to-nine minutes, that are lyrically as compelling as a timelessly penned novel or biography.
4. Finally a safe sonic space to replace our generational displacement.
5. They brought it/bring it to the stage live every night and raised the bar for all bands and fans as to what the intensity level of a show could reach.
6. The depth of their friendship and camaraderie with one another matches the depth of their music.
7. They revere their fans with the same intensity as their fans love them. PJ’s fan club, The Ten Club, is the gold standard for all bands.
8. Can we talk about Ed climbing the scaffolding?
9. They’d be the exact same people had Ten not done what Ten did.
10. I can’t wait for “Twenty.”
Dhani Harrison
I could not have been at a more perfect age to appreciate Ten when it came out. I had just turned 13 and moved to a new school. I was hooked and so were the kids that were going to become some of my closest friends, still to this day. We bonded over that album.
Then after school, it was just me, my little yellow sports walkman (with Ten in it) and my skateboard, outside for hours. Occasionally coming inside to catch a glimpse of the “Jeremy” video and watch Aeon Flux. Just better times.
Pharoahe Monch
It’s going to have to be between “Even Flow” and “Alive” as my favorite songs on Ten. Even though people think I’m the quintessential favorite rapper’s favorite rapper, I’m a sucker for big choruses. I found it enjoyable to try to imitate Eddie Vedder and could sing these two songs all day long.
Being a huge sports fan and knowing the story behind the whole Mookie Blaylock inspiration for Ten sealed the deal for me as Pearl Jam being the perennial band that restored my faith in classic rock.
Taylor Momsen, The Pretty Reckless
It’s hard to put into words the raw emotion that Pearl Jam puts into their music. In the past few years, I’ve been looking for music that inspires me, and without fault, every time a Pearl Jam song comes on, I’m whisked away into the angst of the vocal and the lyrics, and surrounded by the playing of one of the most energetic bands of all time. Of course, Ten delivers this to perfection status. It’s no wonder that in a time when the competition was so high, that this record shines through, holding its own, and mostly surpassing its peers. It’s every band’s dream to have their sound captured on tape, and Ten simply does it with seeming ease. You feel like the band is in your living room with you. The songs themselves are the star of the show, with their unique storytelling and poetry to match. Easily a record I put on when I want to be reminded why I traded my life for this obsession we call rock and roll, and as soon as it starts cranking, I feel vindicated in my decision. The record sounds as if The Doors and The Who had a baby, who was raised by Neil Young, and then that baby made stadiums rock. Love it.
Scott Lucas, Local H
We’d been around for a little bit before that record came out. My sister’s husband at the time had it, so I listened to it and I didn’t really like the way it sounded. I thought it was a little too reverb-y and it wasn’t totally my cup of tea. But, Eddie’s voice was this thing. It was just like that guy sounds amazing. I would listen to it, basically, because of his voice. Then when I saw them live at The Metro in Chicago, it was great. And they were so good live, and they’re still good live and are one of the few bands that can navigate those stadium shows.
I really liked “Release” a lot, just the way it built and the way that vocal really rose up. I remember thinking with “Black,” “What was going on with that song?” It had this really weird production where almost sounded like a Survivor song from the ’80s or something, but there was this crazy emotion going on it. That really did stick out to me. What was also interesting to me is that they didn’t keep doing that type of song. It seemed like people wanted them to keep doing a song like that. And they were like, “Yeah, no we don’t want to do that anymore.’ They took a left turn and all these bands sort of showed up and the wake and were like “We’ll do it,” but no one did it better.
When we released our song “Eddie Vedder,” there was a certain amount of snark in it on our part, but also some real honesty. Everyone on the radio at that time sounded like Vedder, which was embarrassing to everyone else. Then somebody told me that that kind of bummed Eddie Vedder out and I didn’t want to do that. I remember finally meeting him in Chicago, like only a few years ago, and brought it up. I was like, “Hey, you know, I wrote that song and somebody told me that you were bummed out about it. I apologize and I really didn’t mean to do anything like that.” He was like, “Yeah, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Somebody must have given you some bad information. Never crossed my mind.” So that was pretty funny. We ended up singing along to some Who songs off the jukebox after that.
Danny Clinch
met Eddie Vedder before I saw Pearl Jam play live in person. It was Aug. 12, 1992, Lollapalooza Waterloo Village. A year after Ten’s release. My friend Tim Donnelly was doing a story on Eddie for the Surfrider Foundation newsletter and invited me along to the interview with my camera. We were having trouble getting backstage so EV jumped over the backstage fence, into the public space to sit down with us for a conversation. I felt such warm vibes from him right from the start.
Quiet and humble, he cared about the ocean and Mother Earth and was very generous with his time. Eventually, I asked to take some portraits of him and I had my old Nikon FE and my Rolleiflex twin-lens camera ( for you camera geeks out there ) That I still have to this day. The short session was relaxed and he was very present in the moment. Subtle collaboration at its best. One of these images ended up on the cover of SPIN. Eventually, Eddie walked through the crowd saying hello to people and then scaled the fence to backstage. I didn’t realize at the time that climbing on things was something Eddie was very good at. You wouldn’t know that if you hadn’t seen a live PJ show.
Fast forward to the show and Pearl Jam came out on FIRE. My thoughts were, THIS is the guy we were chilling with a short while ago? Stomping all over the stage with an incredible energy force. They played all songs from Ten aside from the encore “Rockin in the Free World” by Neil Young. Which of course they still do. So eventually, during the set EV begins to climb the scaffolding right above Tim Donnelly and I, and I realize at this moment that my motor drive batteries ran out and I had to plan on one frame to capture this moment. It never occurred to me until recently since getting to know him and how observant he is, that he probably spotted us in the crowd, and as I waited patiently, he leaped off of the scaffolding right over the top of us, I saw my moment and grabbed it. Bam. I had a moment of meeting someone and watching them transform on the stage into some incredible performer who connected with the audience with the support of a monster band and just fell in love with this record. It became such a part of my life moving forward. A soundtrack for my ears and my eyes. Now we have PJ on the Beach in Asbury Park at Sea Hear Now. First show in three years. I wonder what they have in store for us.
Myles Kennedy, Alter Bridge
It’s interesting because I knew of the former entity Mother Love Bone. So after Andrew passed away, no one really knew how they were going to be able to replace him and how that was going to pan out. I think the first song I heard might have been “Alive.” I was like, “Wow, that’s, that’s great!” That’s really good that the new guy is an awesome singer and little did I know just how big that was gonna get in the coming year. And it just exploded. I think once they put out “Jeremy” it was, I hate using this phrase, but game-changer in a lot of ways.
It’s one of those situations very similar to what happened with AC/DC, where you had Bon Scott pass away and how are you going to replace Bon Scott? And then they make the biggest record of their career with Brian [Johnson] right after that. So it was kind of the same dynamic. It was really exciting because those of us who live in Spokane to see these bands in Seattle, not just have some success, but literally changed the landscape of pop culture in an instant. That was really something to was inspiring. We were very proud of all those bands, what they were doing.
David Lovering, Pixies
When I’m going back to that time, which was ’91-’92, that was the era of it. We were still a band, the Pixies were still and going and I was still married at the time and living in Los Angeles. I was married to a publicist who worked at Epic Records and was working with Pearl Jam, so I had an early introduction to them. Of course, I heard them not on a record or anything, but it was a tape. I think if there’s any song that struck me, I think it’d be “Even Flow.” I think that’s a little harder, at least of the popular songs on it, compared to “Jeremy” or something like that. But I think that I was more I enjoyed more of that emerging grunge kind of thing of them. Back in that day, I saw them five or six times.
And the reason I say that is because again, I was married at the time, we would go to the show when they came to L.A., or we would travel to wherever because she was working it so I would see Pearl Jam a lot. That was my indoctrination to it and stuff like that. I still enjoy the shows and they were fantastic.
Even before the album was released, Eddie wanted to meet me through my wife because he was a little unsure of being in a band and had some questions and stuff like that. So we went to lunch one day, and this is before I even heard anything, it was just brand new before anything came out and I heard bits and pieces of it. We were talking we’re getting along great and I was saying, ‘Hey, just enjoy yourself and stuff like that. And I’m thinking ‘Oh yeah this band. it’d be interesting. I don’t know how they’re going to do and whatever like that.’ Of course, Baboom! They just blow up and stuff like that. So that was funny. And then I’ve seen Eddie throughout the years because we remember that time we met. He’s a wonderful guy and everything like that and it’s great whenever we connect.
Lilly Hiatt
earl Jam has always been a band that has meant so much to me. Not only is the songwriting profoundly relatable, Eddie’s voice has always struck a note of understanding within my soul. A debut like Ten…where do I even start? To think of the history of that band in the Seattle scene, Jeff and Stone having been such staples and already having experienced much through Green River and Mother Love Bone, and then recruiting Mike, thrills me. Then inviting Mr. Vedder into the picture from California to begin their journey. Dave Krusen joined in and they were a band. I love the lore of their formation and what lead to Ten.
Elements of each member’s past can be heard in that record. Tones of Jimi, Jim Morrison, punk, straight-up poetry. But the coolest thing about Ten is that the amalgam of each member’s musical core made for a sound that was fresh and untouchable. I had never heard a song like “Jeremy.” It still remains in a league of its own. As do all the songs on Ten. What an anthem to sing “I’m still alive.” Those words will never tire. And the ballads are some of the best parts. From the airy pleas of “Release” to the tumbling melody of “Oceans,” there is depth and questioning to this album that continues to evolve for me. “Why Go” always piqued my feminist mentality, and that is another thing I have always respected about this band. They care about women. Ten is grungy and pissed, but open and tolerant. Eddie lets you in on his family history. Mike wails out the riffs, and Stone, Jeff, and Dave hold it down with a visceral groove.
A very special record that will always mean something to the world and an introduction to a band that forever changed the musical landscape.
Adrian Quesada, Black Pumas
I had just started to play guitar when I came home with Pearl Jam’s Ten on CD from the local mall. I was obsessed with hip hop at the time and the musical excess of hair metal at the time had kept me away from guitar-based music but the trio of Nirvana, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam (who all released a seminal album within a month of each other) quickly shifted my attention to rock music. It felt like a rebirth for rock and roll and came at just the right point in my life. When I first heard “Alive,” my first impression was how unique the guitar riff was and it was likely the first song I learned off tablature.
Stone Gossard had one of the most original approaches to the guitar and Eddie Vedder’s voice also seemed to have no precedent, not to mention the rest of the band kicked ass and also looked cool as shit to me – a rock band wearing basketball jerseys! Stone would become one of the more influential guitarists at a formative time for me, I even went so far as to get a Les Paul and a Peavey Classic 30 amp because of him. Thirty years later, the band has been a prime example of how to establish longevity with integrity, creativity and grace, and I’m forever grateful for the groundwork they’ve laid.
Dan Gleason, Grouplove
When I was seven years old my mom had to go away to receive treatment for a few tough stretches. My brother Sean and I would listen to “Release” every night just to know that someone else had felt a piece missing and come out the other side. It gave us hope it would be alright. When my father passed recently, “Release” was the first piece of music I went for. “I’ll hold the pain, release me” is somehow brave, sad, longing, and defiant. It’s the eye of the grieving process. It still makes me feel connected. It still gives me the same hope. Ten was my first musical and emotional road map and I’m forever grateful for it. Here’s to 30!
Dave Hillis, Engineer of Ten
Looking back over the last 30 years, I’m not sure I fully appreciated the gravity of the situation at the time. Pearl Jam’s Ten was one of the first real label projects I had worked on. I wish I had taken the time to really appreciate how special that moment was. We all came up together in the scene and I was just so focused on doing my job that I took it for granted.
What strikes me now, and probably had the greatest impact on my career going forward, was the level of focus and dedication that the band and Rick [Parashar] had on the art. They were very intentional and laser-focused on getting great sounds, finding the groove and getting the perfect performance. There were no “tricks” or “frills” in those sessions. I continue to be impressed with how honest it really was. My production style today continues to rely on many of the lessons I learned from them back then.
Dave Hause
I was going into eighth grade in the autumn of 1991, and after band practice at my friend Craig’s house, we got into his dad’s liquor stash and put on MTV. They had just started to play the video for “Alive,” and while Craig turned his nose up at Pearl Jam in favor of Glenn Danzig’s satanic appeal, I was transfixed. They had plenty of hallmarks of older rock and roll; McCready’s playing sounded like Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Vedder often dipped into Roger Daltrey territory, and Ament’s bass playing had plenty of soul. At the same time, to my young ears they had something completely new. They had an intense energy, and I could hear the Chili Peppers, Jane’s Addiction, and even Fugazi in what they were doing. And it just seemed like something my friends and I could maybe accomplish if all the stars aligned and we just had a few inspired band practices.
I had seen all I needed to see, and I’ve been a Pearl Jam fan ever since. Ten was the soundtrack to the rest of that year: getting high and going to soccer practice, getting cut from the team and cranking “Once” on my Walkman on the ride home. Falling head over heels into teenage love, getting my heart broken and listening to “Black” on repeat. For 30 years I’ve played that record every autumn and it always sounds great to me, taking me back to being that wild-eyed kid trying to come to grips with what I was starting to see as a world gone mad. I’m so glad that record found me.
Zane Lowe, Apple Music
Pearl Jam landed so significantly in New Zealand — it really was a vacuum that sucked us all into it. Ten is such a taut record, start to finish really great songs that hold up as some of the greatest of that era. Even the most cynical music fan who disregarded Pearl Jam in the early years would go back to Ten and recognize just how great a record that is. Most artists don’t get past a debut album like Ten. No one can deny the quality of the body of work and the power of Pearl Jam to be able to get beyond it.
Melissa Brooks, The Aquadolls
Pearl Jam’s Ten influenced ’90s pop culture by taking the grunge rock sound of the DIY scene and showing it to a mainstream audience, as rock music was truly the thought-provoking pop music of the time. The true guitar tones, crystal clear pounding drums and raw emotional vocals provided by Eddie Vedder helped pioneer a brooding yet powerful sound that continues to influence music to this day. My favorite song, “Jeremy,” always gives me heaps of nostalgia when I listen to it. It reminds me of my childhood and watching the music video before school on VH1, preparing myself for a rock n roll day. I’m grateful my band has shared the stage with Eddie Vedder at Ohana Festival, as I got to hear his powerful vocals live in action.
Sam Wilkerson, White Reaper
Pearl Jam might have one of the best debut albums of all time. If you take it out of the context of the ’90s, it still rocks harder than most shit now or 50 years ago. No one else could write or play these songs like they did. It’s an anthem from front to back. To top it off, they come from a real place, they listen to good music, they are the realest band, the nicest band, and everyone’s favorite band. The first song I heard off of this album was “Jeremy.” I think the rhythmic qualities and bass harmonic in the beginning had a lasting effect on me. The production touches are flawless. The world would be a different place without Ten.
Jason Narducy, Bob Mould/Superchunk/Split Single
In 1991, the world took to Pearl Jam right away. My girlfriend (now wife) loved them. She even wore combat boots. But it took me a little longer.
The third single from Ten, “Jeremy,” was the one that hooked me. My first concert was Cheap Trick and their bassist, Tom Petersson, played (and actually invented) the 12-string bass. Jeff Ament’s melodic opening to “Jeremy” is on a 12-string bass so it was a familiar sound to me. Eddie Vedder’s lyrics evoked a children’s book that was important to my family (Where the Wild Things Are). “Gnashed his teeth,” “ruled his world,” “unleashed the lion,” etc. But Eddie’s vocal melody on “And he hit me with a surprise left” was the final straw. Powerful and infectious. I wanted to learn more about this band.
There are so many layers in Ten that I’ve come to appreciate over the years. Dave Krusen’s playing on this album is too often overlooked. He brought swing and swagger to the songs. Jeff’s fretless bass (very uncommon in rock songs) adds a unique foundation to “Alive.” Stone Gossard’s guitar voicings on “Black” and “Garden” provides a simmering depth and mood. Ten was an introduction to a band that has become better since its release. The addition of drummer, Matt Cameron, in 1998 made the band chemistry stronger than ever. Pearl Jam are a great rock band. The world and my girlfriend were right.
Cat Popper
Me and my then-boyfriend were listening to the first album and were laughing at the poor executives trying to slap a label on what “kind” of music it was. And we also thought that the name Pearl Jam sounded super dirty and we figured they’d get hassled about it.
Jeff has always been so cool and welcoming to me as a bassist. He just likes to laugh at stupid shit and talk about music, so we got on like gangbusters. He sent me some of his solo stuff and it’s my favorite music I’ve heard in ages. He can play everything with the same amount of ease and looseness. it’s completely obnoxious to know someone so talented and so humble.
Scarypoolparty
Ten is one of those albums that you grew up listening to, and you just naturally understand that everyone in the band is a shredder. Definitely continues to inspire me daily with the number of legendary tracks that will last a lifetime.
The strongest memory I have with this album is legit just playing the song “Even Flow” as loud as possible in my car and trying to sing like Eddie Vedder!
Humpty Dumpty- Mensajes : 16650
Fecha de inscripción : 30/01/2019
Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por Breath 29.08.21 20:30
Humpty Dumpty escribió:Breath escribió:¿Alguna manera de ver el artículo que Spin magazine ha dedicado al aniversario del Ten?
Soy incapaz de verlo, sea desde el dispositivo que sea me sale 'forbidden'.
- Spoiler:
The ’90s had just begun. In March 1990, the promising Seattle rock band Mother Love Bone was about to unveil their debut album. But on the eve of the release, the band’s lead singer, Andrew Wood, died tragically of a heroin overdose. His band members, guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament were blind-sided, devastated, and decided to end the band. Over the next few months, Gossard slowly found his way back to music. He made a few demos that landed in the hands of a surfer from San Diego via Chicago who got them from ex-Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Jack Irons. The surfer’s name was Eddie Vedder. The songs he sent back? “Alive,” “Once,” and “Footsteps.”
Pearl Jam formed around the intensity of these songs. And on Aug. 27, 1991, they brought them into the open with their harrowing masterpiece, Ten. Musically, the album’s blend of classic rock, punk, and metal opened up the sonic possibilities for this new genre called grunge. Ten wasn’t an overnight success. There was a little buzz coming from their hometown of Seattle — that would come a few months later — but if you knew, you knew. Sub Pop was rapidly ascending. Soundgarden and Nirvana were set to unleash their fire and fury onto a new audience. Alice in Chains was already well on their way. But Pearl Jam was just … different.
In the months following Ten’s release, “Alive” caught on, as did the band’s magnetic live show. MTV Unplugged was the perfect vehicle to display the catharsis of hearing Pearl Jam live and unvarnished. Ultimately, music videos like “Jeremy” and “Even Flow” catapulted them to stardom — another testament to the insane appeal of their sound, since none of the band members took much of an interest in promotional tactics.
Had it not been for strange twists, a confluence of serendipitous events, and instantly killer chemistry between the core four band members, the music world would be a much, much different place.
But they survived, endured, and carved out a legacy that seemed impossible 30 years ago. They continue to sell out arenas, stadiums, and festivals, and their influence is undeniable.
In honor of Ten turning 30 today, we spoke with 30 musicians who reflected on Pearl Jam and the album’s lasting influence.
Julian Casablancas, The Strokes
As a teenager, we’d hang out in our bedroom and listen to mixtapes, and one of Nikolai’s [Fraiture] older brother’s ‘cool’ friends (ah, older kids) had turned him on to “Yellow Ledbetter” (way before it was mega-in-the-know) was a B-side I think, but we thought it was some secret demo. Anyway, that is literally the moment that changed my life. It hit me in a bizarre and deep way, and I understood the dark mystery and power of music in that weird instant.
Fast forward a couple of years and I’m seriously thinking about trying my hand at music as I just learned guitar and was drawn to music theory and finally had a knack for SOMETHING. I decided to (again on tape – I’m old OK, mean internet people) record myself singing over some Pearl Jam songs and sang my heart out over “Alive” and “Jeremy” and felt the power and felt like it was maybe pretty good, until I listened back. Horror and sadness overcame me as I realized like a punch in the stomach that in fact, I had a horrible voice. I recovered and decided I’d be a guitarist and try to improve other people’s songs instead. only slowly after getting good at writing songs and years of practice did I become ok (Nothing compared to Eddie Vedder obviously – the punk Freddie Mercury of our time).
Anyway, I still wear corduroy jackets and hope that Eddie Vedder will run for office. They were the Beatles of our time really. Anyway, thank you Pearl Jam, for everything. Also, I loved Mookie Blaylock, (the basketball player) which was their original name.
Corin Tucker, Sleater-Kinney
Ten hit our generation like the seventh wave in the ocean – the huge wall of guitars made gritty with the grunge sound, along with the epic wail of Eddie’s voice.
“Black” is my favorite song – the opening riff is so iconic. I remember when we toured with them around 2001, “Black” was usually the last song of their set. And Sleater-Kinney were lucky enough to guest on an encore song so there was a “spot” we were supposed to be standing on. But I couldn’t see Mike McCready play guitar from there! So I would sneak around to the other side of the stage for that song, making Dick Adams, the legendary production guy, freak out as he was running around trying to find our band! I remember thinking, I can’t believe this is my life right now!
John Doe, X
Like most people, “Alive” was the first song I remember hearing from PJ and even after one listen, I realized they and some others in Seattle were bringing real electric guitars back into mainstream culture. That was a good thing. It was evident that PJ took time to developed a sound that was intentional, accessible, exuberant w/ an honest soul. Though its influences could be heard, their sound was unique. Thank goodness they and the other Seattle bands saved us from hair metal.
Little did we realize our paths would cross in 2012 when X opened for them in South America and Europe. They shared members of their crew, recorded our sets, played with us during our show, invited us on stage during theirs and kept us safe inside the PJ bubble. Seeing 70,000 fans in Sao Paulo (and every other city) sing along to every song, brought home just how important a band they have become.
Nancy Wilson, Heart
In the early ’90s, it couldn’t have been hipper to be from Seattle. The explosion of the music coming out of the northwest was insanely great.
My best buddy Kelly Curtis who managed Mother Love Bone who then morphed into Mookie Blaylock which then became Pearl Jam, introduced me to the whole scene and all the amazing bands of the time. Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Screaming Trees.
Cat Butt, Sleater-Kinney, Nirvana and the list goes on.
I was lucky enough to watch each metamorphosis of Pearl Jam in clubs and stages around town. Then there was the summer I got to hitch my wagon to their European tour. There were so many wonderful moments and big laughs along the way. Every guy in Pearl Jam is a stellar human being. They have a truly beautiful brotherhood of love that always extends to their entire crew. The live shows were astounding as always and the raw energy was formidable. It seemed they spent most of the show flying through the air.
Ed carried this classic old tweed suitcase full of his writings around everywhere which often became a seat for waiting for some kind of transportation or another. There were beers in Edinburgh, wine in Paris, and the world’s best coffee in Rome.
Their fans are such loyal people and still to this day they know every syllable of every word to every Pearl Jam song. There is only one Pearl Jam and I am honored to have them as friends.
Perry Farrell, Jane’s Addiction/Porno for Pyros
I remember when I saw Pearl Jam for the first time. We had the same agent, Don Muller, so Don made sure that I was on the side of the stage to see them. And it’s one of those moments where…have you ever seen someone and fell in love with them at first sight? It was like that. These guys, they’ve got you know, they’ve got the right message, they got the right attitude. They’re rocking their asses off as if there’s no tomorrow. And we’ve been friends ever since. “Even Flow” was the song for me when I went “I like these guys.”
It’s a testament to them that they can last 30 years in this country in this world, as a group. To start off, not even to begin to speak about their music. Just that they’re there. I want to say like, their motivation, their message and their intentions. It’s a testament to who they are as people that it’s lasted this long.
Donita Sparks, L7
Well, I’ll always have a soft spot for “Even Flow.” L7 were playing Finsbury Park in London with Pearl Jam and some other bands in the summer of 1992. We were goofing off with Eddie Vedder backstage before Pearl Jam’s set. Our drummer Dee was late with her period and not feeling great so I started singing “Let Dee Flo-ow” and then Eddie started singing it better, of course. Later during their set, Eddie sang the line once or twice during the real “Even Flow,” which we thought was great. I always think of that when I hear that track. Brings a smile.
Jerry Cantrell, Alice in Chains
t [Ten] was a rebirth for those guys. They had such an unfortunate blow with the loss of Andy [Wood] right as their album is coming out. There was a real kind of a brotherhood between all of the artists in Seattle and it was really meaningful to see them pick themselves up, start again and invite Ed and Dave [Krusen] into the band. To have that record have the sort of impact that it has is really powerful. It was very right for those guys all find each other and we were really, really, really happy for that — I still am. They’re one of the greatest bands in the history of rock and roll and they made one really important record together.
“Black” is a great record, just as a piece of work, but every track on the album I think is really important. They started out with “Alive” in 91 and then “Even Flow” and “Jeremy” huge fucking song. But “Black” has always been my favorite from the record.
They deserve a ton of credit for fighting through adversity and starting anew. That record is still really powerful.
Jack Johnson
I first heard Ten when I was 16. What an age to be hit by that group of songs, guitar tones, and lyrics. The CD was in my player every morning on the way to school. I have vivid memories of closing my eyes and my bedroom door and trying to sing every one of those songs. That same year I saw Pearl Jam perform at a small amphitheater at the University of Hawai’i and it changed my life forever.
Patrick Carney, The Black Keys
That time, in August and September 1991, was the 1968 of my generation with so much cool music with Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Metallica, all releasing albums within a small window. I think that sonically, those records kind of take you to that early ’90s place in a really good way. But some of those records from that time sound dated, but Ten holds up. There are some songs that I really liked off the first record like “Alive,” which introduced me to Temple of the Dog which introduced me to Soundgarden. I think it’s crazy that records turned 30 to think of all the insane fucking records that came out in that one little 60-day window is insane.
I started off as a big Nirvana guy when I was younger then became a team Pearl Jam because those dudes are some of the nicest guys you could ever meet. The first time we ever did a show with Pearl Jam was we played in Berlin with them. They asked us to play and we had our own show booked at some punk, small rock and roll club when we were on tour for Magic Potion but this special show popped up. They hooked us up and we had to play like 15,000 people and then we went and played our own show at like midnight that night and Eddie came to the show, sat and watched this play until 1:30 in the morning and the crowd freaked out that Eddie Vedder was at the club and it made us look really cool. Then I remember playing with them in Summer 2014, we were playing some festivals with them and I just remember getting to watch some serious World Cup soccer with Eddie Vedder and it was very enjoyable.
Ben Blackwell, Third Man Records
All these years later, it’s hard to even remember a time prior to Pearl Jam (and fairly, Nirvana too) having exploded onto the mainstream. In my head, it’s almost like I woke up one morning, age 9, and the entire musical landscape had changed. If I were to simplify my life into any sort of musical “before” and “after” it’s punctuated by the imagined image of Kurt Cobain and Eddie Vedder punching through some fog declaring they’re here for me.
As the years pile on, it’s a funny little exercise discerning my “favorite” song from Ten. At this point, the singles of “Alive” and “Even Flow” and “Jeremy” have been heard SO many times that they kinda just feel like something that’s been there my entire life. The love I felt for those songs as a pre-teen has definitely waned through their marked over-exposure. I find it difficult to still get excited by them. But that just lets me have a deeper appreciation of “Porch.” It’s impossible for me to think of the song without connecting it to the transformative performance of it during the MTV Unplugged session. Eddie writing “Pro Choice!!!” on his arm during the instrumental breakdown still feels powerful and important today and the song itself hits hard. “Porch” is the only song off Ten that I am guaranteed to listen to in full when a version pops up on SiriusXM Pearl Jam Radio. Enough said.
Laura Jane Grace
I cannot overestimate the impact that Ten had on me and my friend group as young teens. The album came out right as I was starting to play with my first band, and given that we had no original songs written, we covered Pearl Jam songs. This was down in southwest Florida, pretty much the polar opposite of Seattle, WA, but grunge became the sound.
After a couple of poorly received appearances at our church talent shows, my band made the big jump to playing at the Collier County Fair. There still exists a video of us playing a cover of “Porch” to a completely disinterested audience. But the funniest part was that everyone in the band was wearing a Pearl Jam shirt!
The really astounding thing, though, is how those songs have stuck with me. Here we are more than 25 years later and you could wake me from a dead sleep, hand me a guitar and I could bust out the riff for “Alive” on command. I’ll remember how to play those songs until the day I die. There’s nothing that could dislodge them from my muscle memory.
Ben Harper
Ten (reasons)
1. It’s as if they made their fifth record first. The music and musicianship is as fully realized as a band that’s prepared for its destiny.
2. No one had ever heard a voice like this in the history of rock, a voice that sounded as if it were coming from our hearts as much as it was from Ed.
3. Songs that range from three-to-nine minutes, that are lyrically as compelling as a timelessly penned novel or biography.
4. Finally a safe sonic space to replace our generational displacement.
5. They brought it/bring it to the stage live every night and raised the bar for all bands and fans as to what the intensity level of a show could reach.
6. The depth of their friendship and camaraderie with one another matches the depth of their music.
7. They revere their fans with the same intensity as their fans love them. PJ’s fan club, The Ten Club, is the gold standard for all bands.
8. Can we talk about Ed climbing the scaffolding?
9. They’d be the exact same people had Ten not done what Ten did.
10. I can’t wait for “Twenty.”
Dhani Harrison
I could not have been at a more perfect age to appreciate Ten when it came out. I had just turned 13 and moved to a new school. I was hooked and so were the kids that were going to become some of my closest friends, still to this day. We bonded over that album.
Then after school, it was just me, my little yellow sports walkman (with Ten in it) and my skateboard, outside for hours. Occasionally coming inside to catch a glimpse of the “Jeremy” video and watch Aeon Flux. Just better times.
Pharoahe Monch
It’s going to have to be between “Even Flow” and “Alive” as my favorite songs on Ten. Even though people think I’m the quintessential favorite rapper’s favorite rapper, I’m a sucker for big choruses. I found it enjoyable to try to imitate Eddie Vedder and could sing these two songs all day long.
Being a huge sports fan and knowing the story behind the whole Mookie Blaylock inspiration for Ten sealed the deal for me as Pearl Jam being the perennial band that restored my faith in classic rock.
Taylor Momsen, The Pretty Reckless
It’s hard to put into words the raw emotion that Pearl Jam puts into their music. In the past few years, I’ve been looking for music that inspires me, and without fault, every time a Pearl Jam song comes on, I’m whisked away into the angst of the vocal and the lyrics, and surrounded by the playing of one of the most energetic bands of all time. Of course, Ten delivers this to perfection status. It’s no wonder that in a time when the competition was so high, that this record shines through, holding its own, and mostly surpassing its peers. It’s every band’s dream to have their sound captured on tape, and Ten simply does it with seeming ease. You feel like the band is in your living room with you. The songs themselves are the star of the show, with their unique storytelling and poetry to match. Easily a record I put on when I want to be reminded why I traded my life for this obsession we call rock and roll, and as soon as it starts cranking, I feel vindicated in my decision. The record sounds as if The Doors and The Who had a baby, who was raised by Neil Young, and then that baby made stadiums rock. Love it.
Scott Lucas, Local H
We’d been around for a little bit before that record came out. My sister’s husband at the time had it, so I listened to it and I didn’t really like the way it sounded. I thought it was a little too reverb-y and it wasn’t totally my cup of tea. But, Eddie’s voice was this thing. It was just like that guy sounds amazing. I would listen to it, basically, because of his voice. Then when I saw them live at The Metro in Chicago, it was great. And they were so good live, and they’re still good live and are one of the few bands that can navigate those stadium shows.
I really liked “Release” a lot, just the way it built and the way that vocal really rose up. I remember thinking with “Black,” “What was going on with that song?” It had this really weird production where almost sounded like a Survivor song from the ’80s or something, but there was this crazy emotion going on it. That really did stick out to me. What was also interesting to me is that they didn’t keep doing that type of song. It seemed like people wanted them to keep doing a song like that. And they were like, “Yeah, no we don’t want to do that anymore.’ They took a left turn and all these bands sort of showed up and the wake and were like “We’ll do it,” but no one did it better.
When we released our song “Eddie Vedder,” there was a certain amount of snark in it on our part, but also some real honesty. Everyone on the radio at that time sounded like Vedder, which was embarrassing to everyone else. Then somebody told me that that kind of bummed Eddie Vedder out and I didn’t want to do that. I remember finally meeting him in Chicago, like only a few years ago, and brought it up. I was like, “Hey, you know, I wrote that song and somebody told me that you were bummed out about it. I apologize and I really didn’t mean to do anything like that.” He was like, “Yeah, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Somebody must have given you some bad information. Never crossed my mind.” So that was pretty funny. We ended up singing along to some Who songs off the jukebox after that.
Danny Clinch
met Eddie Vedder before I saw Pearl Jam play live in person. It was Aug. 12, 1992, Lollapalooza Waterloo Village. A year after Ten’s release. My friend Tim Donnelly was doing a story on Eddie for the Surfrider Foundation newsletter and invited me along to the interview with my camera. We were having trouble getting backstage so EV jumped over the backstage fence, into the public space to sit down with us for a conversation. I felt such warm vibes from him right from the start.
Quiet and humble, he cared about the ocean and Mother Earth and was very generous with his time. Eventually, I asked to take some portraits of him and I had my old Nikon FE and my Rolleiflex twin-lens camera ( for you camera geeks out there ) That I still have to this day. The short session was relaxed and he was very present in the moment. Subtle collaboration at its best. One of these images ended up on the cover of SPIN. Eventually, Eddie walked through the crowd saying hello to people and then scaled the fence to backstage. I didn’t realize at the time that climbing on things was something Eddie was very good at. You wouldn’t know that if you hadn’t seen a live PJ show.
Fast forward to the show and Pearl Jam came out on FIRE. My thoughts were, THIS is the guy we were chilling with a short while ago? Stomping all over the stage with an incredible energy force. They played all songs from Ten aside from the encore “Rockin in the Free World” by Neil Young. Which of course they still do. So eventually, during the set EV begins to climb the scaffolding right above Tim Donnelly and I, and I realize at this moment that my motor drive batteries ran out and I had to plan on one frame to capture this moment. It never occurred to me until recently since getting to know him and how observant he is, that he probably spotted us in the crowd, and as I waited patiently, he leaped off of the scaffolding right over the top of us, I saw my moment and grabbed it. Bam. I had a moment of meeting someone and watching them transform on the stage into some incredible performer who connected with the audience with the support of a monster band and just fell in love with this record. It became such a part of my life moving forward. A soundtrack for my ears and my eyes. Now we have PJ on the Beach in Asbury Park at Sea Hear Now. First show in three years. I wonder what they have in store for us.
Myles Kennedy, Alter Bridge
It’s interesting because I knew of the former entity Mother Love Bone. So after Andrew passed away, no one really knew how they were going to be able to replace him and how that was going to pan out. I think the first song I heard might have been “Alive.” I was like, “Wow, that’s, that’s great!” That’s really good that the new guy is an awesome singer and little did I know just how big that was gonna get in the coming year. And it just exploded. I think once they put out “Jeremy” it was, I hate using this phrase, but game-changer in a lot of ways.
It’s one of those situations very similar to what happened with AC/DC, where you had Bon Scott pass away and how are you going to replace Bon Scott? And then they make the biggest record of their career with Brian [Johnson] right after that. So it was kind of the same dynamic. It was really exciting because those of us who live in Spokane to see these bands in Seattle, not just have some success, but literally changed the landscape of pop culture in an instant. That was really something to was inspiring. We were very proud of all those bands, what they were doing.
David Lovering, Pixies
When I’m going back to that time, which was ’91-’92, that was the era of it. We were still a band, the Pixies were still and going and I was still married at the time and living in Los Angeles. I was married to a publicist who worked at Epic Records and was working with Pearl Jam, so I had an early introduction to them. Of course, I heard them not on a record or anything, but it was a tape. I think if there’s any song that struck me, I think it’d be “Even Flow.” I think that’s a little harder, at least of the popular songs on it, compared to “Jeremy” or something like that. But I think that I was more I enjoyed more of that emerging grunge kind of thing of them. Back in that day, I saw them five or six times.
And the reason I say that is because again, I was married at the time, we would go to the show when they came to L.A., or we would travel to wherever because she was working it so I would see Pearl Jam a lot. That was my indoctrination to it and stuff like that. I still enjoy the shows and they were fantastic.
Even before the album was released, Eddie wanted to meet me through my wife because he was a little unsure of being in a band and had some questions and stuff like that. So we went to lunch one day, and this is before I even heard anything, it was just brand new before anything came out and I heard bits and pieces of it. We were talking we’re getting along great and I was saying, ‘Hey, just enjoy yourself and stuff like that. And I’m thinking ‘Oh yeah this band. it’d be interesting. I don’t know how they’re going to do and whatever like that.’ Of course, Baboom! They just blow up and stuff like that. So that was funny. And then I’ve seen Eddie throughout the years because we remember that time we met. He’s a wonderful guy and everything like that and it’s great whenever we connect.
Lilly Hiatt
earl Jam has always been a band that has meant so much to me. Not only is the songwriting profoundly relatable, Eddie’s voice has always struck a note of understanding within my soul. A debut like Ten…where do I even start? To think of the history of that band in the Seattle scene, Jeff and Stone having been such staples and already having experienced much through Green River and Mother Love Bone, and then recruiting Mike, thrills me. Then inviting Mr. Vedder into the picture from California to begin their journey. Dave Krusen joined in and they were a band. I love the lore of their formation and what lead to Ten.
Elements of each member’s past can be heard in that record. Tones of Jimi, Jim Morrison, punk, straight-up poetry. But the coolest thing about Ten is that the amalgam of each member’s musical core made for a sound that was fresh and untouchable. I had never heard a song like “Jeremy.” It still remains in a league of its own. As do all the songs on Ten. What an anthem to sing “I’m still alive.” Those words will never tire. And the ballads are some of the best parts. From the airy pleas of “Release” to the tumbling melody of “Oceans,” there is depth and questioning to this album that continues to evolve for me. “Why Go” always piqued my feminist mentality, and that is another thing I have always respected about this band. They care about women. Ten is grungy and pissed, but open and tolerant. Eddie lets you in on his family history. Mike wails out the riffs, and Stone, Jeff, and Dave hold it down with a visceral groove.
A very special record that will always mean something to the world and an introduction to a band that forever changed the musical landscape.
Adrian Quesada, Black Pumas
I had just started to play guitar when I came home with Pearl Jam’s Ten on CD from the local mall. I was obsessed with hip hop at the time and the musical excess of hair metal at the time had kept me away from guitar-based music but the trio of Nirvana, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam (who all released a seminal album within a month of each other) quickly shifted my attention to rock music. It felt like a rebirth for rock and roll and came at just the right point in my life. When I first heard “Alive,” my first impression was how unique the guitar riff was and it was likely the first song I learned off tablature.
Stone Gossard had one of the most original approaches to the guitar and Eddie Vedder’s voice also seemed to have no precedent, not to mention the rest of the band kicked ass and also looked cool as shit to me – a rock band wearing basketball jerseys! Stone would become one of the more influential guitarists at a formative time for me, I even went so far as to get a Les Paul and a Peavey Classic 30 amp because of him. Thirty years later, the band has been a prime example of how to establish longevity with integrity, creativity and grace, and I’m forever grateful for the groundwork they’ve laid.
Dan Gleason, Grouplove
When I was seven years old my mom had to go away to receive treatment for a few tough stretches. My brother Sean and I would listen to “Release” every night just to know that someone else had felt a piece missing and come out the other side. It gave us hope it would be alright. When my father passed recently, “Release” was the first piece of music I went for. “I’ll hold the pain, release me” is somehow brave, sad, longing, and defiant. It’s the eye of the grieving process. It still makes me feel connected. It still gives me the same hope. Ten was my first musical and emotional road map and I’m forever grateful for it. Here’s to 30!
Dave Hillis, Engineer of Ten
Looking back over the last 30 years, I’m not sure I fully appreciated the gravity of the situation at the time. Pearl Jam’s Ten was one of the first real label projects I had worked on. I wish I had taken the time to really appreciate how special that moment was. We all came up together in the scene and I was just so focused on doing my job that I took it for granted.
What strikes me now, and probably had the greatest impact on my career going forward, was the level of focus and dedication that the band and Rick [Parashar] had on the art. They were very intentional and laser-focused on getting great sounds, finding the groove and getting the perfect performance. There were no “tricks” or “frills” in those sessions. I continue to be impressed with how honest it really was. My production style today continues to rely on many of the lessons I learned from them back then.
Dave Hause
I was going into eighth grade in the autumn of 1991, and after band practice at my friend Craig’s house, we got into his dad’s liquor stash and put on MTV. They had just started to play the video for “Alive,” and while Craig turned his nose up at Pearl Jam in favor of Glenn Danzig’s satanic appeal, I was transfixed. They had plenty of hallmarks of older rock and roll; McCready’s playing sounded like Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Vedder often dipped into Roger Daltrey territory, and Ament’s bass playing had plenty of soul. At the same time, to my young ears they had something completely new. They had an intense energy, and I could hear the Chili Peppers, Jane’s Addiction, and even Fugazi in what they were doing. And it just seemed like something my friends and I could maybe accomplish if all the stars aligned and we just had a few inspired band practices.
I had seen all I needed to see, and I’ve been a Pearl Jam fan ever since. Ten was the soundtrack to the rest of that year: getting high and going to soccer practice, getting cut from the team and cranking “Once” on my Walkman on the ride home. Falling head over heels into teenage love, getting my heart broken and listening to “Black” on repeat. For 30 years I’ve played that record every autumn and it always sounds great to me, taking me back to being that wild-eyed kid trying to come to grips with what I was starting to see as a world gone mad. I’m so glad that record found me.
Zane Lowe, Apple Music
Pearl Jam landed so significantly in New Zealand — it really was a vacuum that sucked us all into it. Ten is such a taut record, start to finish really great songs that hold up as some of the greatest of that era. Even the most cynical music fan who disregarded Pearl Jam in the early years would go back to Ten and recognize just how great a record that is. Most artists don’t get past a debut album like Ten. No one can deny the quality of the body of work and the power of Pearl Jam to be able to get beyond it.
Melissa Brooks, The Aquadolls
Pearl Jam’s Ten influenced ’90s pop culture by taking the grunge rock sound of the DIY scene and showing it to a mainstream audience, as rock music was truly the thought-provoking pop music of the time. The true guitar tones, crystal clear pounding drums and raw emotional vocals provided by Eddie Vedder helped pioneer a brooding yet powerful sound that continues to influence music to this day. My favorite song, “Jeremy,” always gives me heaps of nostalgia when I listen to it. It reminds me of my childhood and watching the music video before school on VH1, preparing myself for a rock n roll day. I’m grateful my band has shared the stage with Eddie Vedder at Ohana Festival, as I got to hear his powerful vocals live in action.
Sam Wilkerson, White Reaper
Pearl Jam might have one of the best debut albums of all time. If you take it out of the context of the ’90s, it still rocks harder than most shit now or 50 years ago. No one else could write or play these songs like they did. It’s an anthem from front to back. To top it off, they come from a real place, they listen to good music, they are the realest band, the nicest band, and everyone’s favorite band. The first song I heard off of this album was “Jeremy.” I think the rhythmic qualities and bass harmonic in the beginning had a lasting effect on me. The production touches are flawless. The world would be a different place without Ten.
Jason Narducy, Bob Mould/Superchunk/Split Single
In 1991, the world took to Pearl Jam right away. My girlfriend (now wife) loved them. She even wore combat boots. But it took me a little longer.
The third single from Ten, “Jeremy,” was the one that hooked me. My first concert was Cheap Trick and their bassist, Tom Petersson, played (and actually invented) the 12-string bass. Jeff Ament’s melodic opening to “Jeremy” is on a 12-string bass so it was a familiar sound to me. Eddie Vedder’s lyrics evoked a children’s book that was important to my family (Where the Wild Things Are). “Gnashed his teeth,” “ruled his world,” “unleashed the lion,” etc. But Eddie’s vocal melody on “And he hit me with a surprise left” was the final straw. Powerful and infectious. I wanted to learn more about this band.
There are so many layers in Ten that I’ve come to appreciate over the years. Dave Krusen’s playing on this album is too often overlooked. He brought swing and swagger to the songs. Jeff’s fretless bass (very uncommon in rock songs) adds a unique foundation to “Alive.” Stone Gossard’s guitar voicings on “Black” and “Garden” provides a simmering depth and mood. Ten was an introduction to a band that has become better since its release. The addition of drummer, Matt Cameron, in 1998 made the band chemistry stronger than ever. Pearl Jam are a great rock band. The world and my girlfriend were right.
Cat Popper
Me and my then-boyfriend were listening to the first album and were laughing at the poor executives trying to slap a label on what “kind” of music it was. And we also thought that the name Pearl Jam sounded super dirty and we figured they’d get hassled about it.
Jeff has always been so cool and welcoming to me as a bassist. He just likes to laugh at stupid shit and talk about music, so we got on like gangbusters. He sent me some of his solo stuff and it’s my favorite music I’ve heard in ages. He can play everything with the same amount of ease and looseness. it’s completely obnoxious to know someone so talented and so humble.
Scarypoolparty
Ten is one of those albums that you grew up listening to, and you just naturally understand that everyone in the band is a shredder. Definitely continues to inspire me daily with the number of legendary tracks that will last a lifetime.
The strongest memory I have with this album is legit just playing the song “Even Flow” as loud as possible in my car and trying to sing like Eddie Vedder!
A mis brazos.
Breath- Mensajes : 25962
Fecha de inscripción : 15/10/2009
Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por Humpty Dumpty 29.08.21 20:31
Breath escribió:Humpty Dumpty escribió:Breath escribió:¿Alguna manera de ver el artículo que Spin magazine ha dedicado al aniversario del Ten?
Soy incapaz de verlo, sea desde el dispositivo que sea me sale 'forbidden'.
- Spoiler:
The ’90s had just begun. In March 1990, the promising Seattle rock band Mother Love Bone was about to unveil their debut album. But on the eve of the release, the band’s lead singer, Andrew Wood, died tragically of a heroin overdose. His band members, guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament were blind-sided, devastated, and decided to end the band. Over the next few months, Gossard slowly found his way back to music. He made a few demos that landed in the hands of a surfer from San Diego via Chicago who got them from ex-Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Jack Irons. The surfer’s name was Eddie Vedder. The songs he sent back? “Alive,” “Once,” and “Footsteps.”
Pearl Jam formed around the intensity of these songs. And on Aug. 27, 1991, they brought them into the open with their harrowing masterpiece, Ten. Musically, the album’s blend of classic rock, punk, and metal opened up the sonic possibilities for this new genre called grunge. Ten wasn’t an overnight success. There was a little buzz coming from their hometown of Seattle — that would come a few months later — but if you knew, you knew. Sub Pop was rapidly ascending. Soundgarden and Nirvana were set to unleash their fire and fury onto a new audience. Alice in Chains was already well on their way. But Pearl Jam was just … different.
In the months following Ten’s release, “Alive” caught on, as did the band’s magnetic live show. MTV Unplugged was the perfect vehicle to display the catharsis of hearing Pearl Jam live and unvarnished. Ultimately, music videos like “Jeremy” and “Even Flow” catapulted them to stardom — another testament to the insane appeal of their sound, since none of the band members took much of an interest in promotional tactics.
Had it not been for strange twists, a confluence of serendipitous events, and instantly killer chemistry between the core four band members, the music world would be a much, much different place.
But they survived, endured, and carved out a legacy that seemed impossible 30 years ago. They continue to sell out arenas, stadiums, and festivals, and their influence is undeniable.
In honor of Ten turning 30 today, we spoke with 30 musicians who reflected on Pearl Jam and the album’s lasting influence.
Julian Casablancas, The Strokes
As a teenager, we’d hang out in our bedroom and listen to mixtapes, and one of Nikolai’s [Fraiture] older brother’s ‘cool’ friends (ah, older kids) had turned him on to “Yellow Ledbetter” (way before it was mega-in-the-know) was a B-side I think, but we thought it was some secret demo. Anyway, that is literally the moment that changed my life. It hit me in a bizarre and deep way, and I understood the dark mystery and power of music in that weird instant.
Fast forward a couple of years and I’m seriously thinking about trying my hand at music as I just learned guitar and was drawn to music theory and finally had a knack for SOMETHING. I decided to (again on tape – I’m old OK, mean internet people) record myself singing over some Pearl Jam songs and sang my heart out over “Alive” and “Jeremy” and felt the power and felt like it was maybe pretty good, until I listened back. Horror and sadness overcame me as I realized like a punch in the stomach that in fact, I had a horrible voice. I recovered and decided I’d be a guitarist and try to improve other people’s songs instead. only slowly after getting good at writing songs and years of practice did I become ok (Nothing compared to Eddie Vedder obviously – the punk Freddie Mercury of our time).
Anyway, I still wear corduroy jackets and hope that Eddie Vedder will run for office. They were the Beatles of our time really. Anyway, thank you Pearl Jam, for everything. Also, I loved Mookie Blaylock, (the basketball player) which was their original name.
Corin Tucker, Sleater-Kinney
Ten hit our generation like the seventh wave in the ocean – the huge wall of guitars made gritty with the grunge sound, along with the epic wail of Eddie’s voice.
“Black” is my favorite song – the opening riff is so iconic. I remember when we toured with them around 2001, “Black” was usually the last song of their set. And Sleater-Kinney were lucky enough to guest on an encore song so there was a “spot” we were supposed to be standing on. But I couldn’t see Mike McCready play guitar from there! So I would sneak around to the other side of the stage for that song, making Dick Adams, the legendary production guy, freak out as he was running around trying to find our band! I remember thinking, I can’t believe this is my life right now!
John Doe, X
Like most people, “Alive” was the first song I remember hearing from PJ and even after one listen, I realized they and some others in Seattle were bringing real electric guitars back into mainstream culture. That was a good thing. It was evident that PJ took time to developed a sound that was intentional, accessible, exuberant w/ an honest soul. Though its influences could be heard, their sound was unique. Thank goodness they and the other Seattle bands saved us from hair metal.
Little did we realize our paths would cross in 2012 when X opened for them in South America and Europe. They shared members of their crew, recorded our sets, played with us during our show, invited us on stage during theirs and kept us safe inside the PJ bubble. Seeing 70,000 fans in Sao Paulo (and every other city) sing along to every song, brought home just how important a band they have become.
Nancy Wilson, Heart
In the early ’90s, it couldn’t have been hipper to be from Seattle. The explosion of the music coming out of the northwest was insanely great.
My best buddy Kelly Curtis who managed Mother Love Bone who then morphed into Mookie Blaylock which then became Pearl Jam, introduced me to the whole scene and all the amazing bands of the time. Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Screaming Trees.
Cat Butt, Sleater-Kinney, Nirvana and the list goes on.
I was lucky enough to watch each metamorphosis of Pearl Jam in clubs and stages around town. Then there was the summer I got to hitch my wagon to their European tour. There were so many wonderful moments and big laughs along the way. Every guy in Pearl Jam is a stellar human being. They have a truly beautiful brotherhood of love that always extends to their entire crew. The live shows were astounding as always and the raw energy was formidable. It seemed they spent most of the show flying through the air.
Ed carried this classic old tweed suitcase full of his writings around everywhere which often became a seat for waiting for some kind of transportation or another. There were beers in Edinburgh, wine in Paris, and the world’s best coffee in Rome.
Their fans are such loyal people and still to this day they know every syllable of every word to every Pearl Jam song. There is only one Pearl Jam and I am honored to have them as friends.
Perry Farrell, Jane’s Addiction/Porno for Pyros
I remember when I saw Pearl Jam for the first time. We had the same agent, Don Muller, so Don made sure that I was on the side of the stage to see them. And it’s one of those moments where…have you ever seen someone and fell in love with them at first sight? It was like that. These guys, they’ve got you know, they’ve got the right message, they got the right attitude. They’re rocking their asses off as if there’s no tomorrow. And we’ve been friends ever since. “Even Flow” was the song for me when I went “I like these guys.”
It’s a testament to them that they can last 30 years in this country in this world, as a group. To start off, not even to begin to speak about their music. Just that they’re there. I want to say like, their motivation, their message and their intentions. It’s a testament to who they are as people that it’s lasted this long.
Donita Sparks, L7
Well, I’ll always have a soft spot for “Even Flow.” L7 were playing Finsbury Park in London with Pearl Jam and some other bands in the summer of 1992. We were goofing off with Eddie Vedder backstage before Pearl Jam’s set. Our drummer Dee was late with her period and not feeling great so I started singing “Let Dee Flo-ow” and then Eddie started singing it better, of course. Later during their set, Eddie sang the line once or twice during the real “Even Flow,” which we thought was great. I always think of that when I hear that track. Brings a smile.
Jerry Cantrell, Alice in Chains
t [Ten] was a rebirth for those guys. They had such an unfortunate blow with the loss of Andy [Wood] right as their album is coming out. There was a real kind of a brotherhood between all of the artists in Seattle and it was really meaningful to see them pick themselves up, start again and invite Ed and Dave [Krusen] into the band. To have that record have the sort of impact that it has is really powerful. It was very right for those guys all find each other and we were really, really, really happy for that — I still am. They’re one of the greatest bands in the history of rock and roll and they made one really important record together.
“Black” is a great record, just as a piece of work, but every track on the album I think is really important. They started out with “Alive” in 91 and then “Even Flow” and “Jeremy” huge fucking song. But “Black” has always been my favorite from the record.
They deserve a ton of credit for fighting through adversity and starting anew. That record is still really powerful.
Jack Johnson
I first heard Ten when I was 16. What an age to be hit by that group of songs, guitar tones, and lyrics. The CD was in my player every morning on the way to school. I have vivid memories of closing my eyes and my bedroom door and trying to sing every one of those songs. That same year I saw Pearl Jam perform at a small amphitheater at the University of Hawai’i and it changed my life forever.
Patrick Carney, The Black Keys
That time, in August and September 1991, was the 1968 of my generation with so much cool music with Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Metallica, all releasing albums within a small window. I think that sonically, those records kind of take you to that early ’90s place in a really good way. But some of those records from that time sound dated, but Ten holds up. There are some songs that I really liked off the first record like “Alive,” which introduced me to Temple of the Dog which introduced me to Soundgarden. I think it’s crazy that records turned 30 to think of all the insane fucking records that came out in that one little 60-day window is insane.
I started off as a big Nirvana guy when I was younger then became a team Pearl Jam because those dudes are some of the nicest guys you could ever meet. The first time we ever did a show with Pearl Jam was we played in Berlin with them. They asked us to play and we had our own show booked at some punk, small rock and roll club when we were on tour for Magic Potion but this special show popped up. They hooked us up and we had to play like 15,000 people and then we went and played our own show at like midnight that night and Eddie came to the show, sat and watched this play until 1:30 in the morning and the crowd freaked out that Eddie Vedder was at the club and it made us look really cool. Then I remember playing with them in Summer 2014, we were playing some festivals with them and I just remember getting to watch some serious World Cup soccer with Eddie Vedder and it was very enjoyable.
Ben Blackwell, Third Man Records
All these years later, it’s hard to even remember a time prior to Pearl Jam (and fairly, Nirvana too) having exploded onto the mainstream. In my head, it’s almost like I woke up one morning, age 9, and the entire musical landscape had changed. If I were to simplify my life into any sort of musical “before” and “after” it’s punctuated by the imagined image of Kurt Cobain and Eddie Vedder punching through some fog declaring they’re here for me.
As the years pile on, it’s a funny little exercise discerning my “favorite” song from Ten. At this point, the singles of “Alive” and “Even Flow” and “Jeremy” have been heard SO many times that they kinda just feel like something that’s been there my entire life. The love I felt for those songs as a pre-teen has definitely waned through their marked over-exposure. I find it difficult to still get excited by them. But that just lets me have a deeper appreciation of “Porch.” It’s impossible for me to think of the song without connecting it to the transformative performance of it during the MTV Unplugged session. Eddie writing “Pro Choice!!!” on his arm during the instrumental breakdown still feels powerful and important today and the song itself hits hard. “Porch” is the only song off Ten that I am guaranteed to listen to in full when a version pops up on SiriusXM Pearl Jam Radio. Enough said.
Laura Jane Grace
I cannot overestimate the impact that Ten had on me and my friend group as young teens. The album came out right as I was starting to play with my first band, and given that we had no original songs written, we covered Pearl Jam songs. This was down in southwest Florida, pretty much the polar opposite of Seattle, WA, but grunge became the sound.
After a couple of poorly received appearances at our church talent shows, my band made the big jump to playing at the Collier County Fair. There still exists a video of us playing a cover of “Porch” to a completely disinterested audience. But the funniest part was that everyone in the band was wearing a Pearl Jam shirt!
The really astounding thing, though, is how those songs have stuck with me. Here we are more than 25 years later and you could wake me from a dead sleep, hand me a guitar and I could bust out the riff for “Alive” on command. I’ll remember how to play those songs until the day I die. There’s nothing that could dislodge them from my muscle memory.
Ben Harper
Ten (reasons)
1. It’s as if they made their fifth record first. The music and musicianship is as fully realized as a band that’s prepared for its destiny.
2. No one had ever heard a voice like this in the history of rock, a voice that sounded as if it were coming from our hearts as much as it was from Ed.
3. Songs that range from three-to-nine minutes, that are lyrically as compelling as a timelessly penned novel or biography.
4. Finally a safe sonic space to replace our generational displacement.
5. They brought it/bring it to the stage live every night and raised the bar for all bands and fans as to what the intensity level of a show could reach.
6. The depth of their friendship and camaraderie with one another matches the depth of their music.
7. They revere their fans with the same intensity as their fans love them. PJ’s fan club, The Ten Club, is the gold standard for all bands.
8. Can we talk about Ed climbing the scaffolding?
9. They’d be the exact same people had Ten not done what Ten did.
10. I can’t wait for “Twenty.”
Dhani Harrison
I could not have been at a more perfect age to appreciate Ten when it came out. I had just turned 13 and moved to a new school. I was hooked and so were the kids that were going to become some of my closest friends, still to this day. We bonded over that album.
Then after school, it was just me, my little yellow sports walkman (with Ten in it) and my skateboard, outside for hours. Occasionally coming inside to catch a glimpse of the “Jeremy” video and watch Aeon Flux. Just better times.
Pharoahe Monch
It’s going to have to be between “Even Flow” and “Alive” as my favorite songs on Ten. Even though people think I’m the quintessential favorite rapper’s favorite rapper, I’m a sucker for big choruses. I found it enjoyable to try to imitate Eddie Vedder and could sing these two songs all day long.
Being a huge sports fan and knowing the story behind the whole Mookie Blaylock inspiration for Ten sealed the deal for me as Pearl Jam being the perennial band that restored my faith in classic rock.
Taylor Momsen, The Pretty Reckless
It’s hard to put into words the raw emotion that Pearl Jam puts into their music. In the past few years, I’ve been looking for music that inspires me, and without fault, every time a Pearl Jam song comes on, I’m whisked away into the angst of the vocal and the lyrics, and surrounded by the playing of one of the most energetic bands of all time. Of course, Ten delivers this to perfection status. It’s no wonder that in a time when the competition was so high, that this record shines through, holding its own, and mostly surpassing its peers. It’s every band’s dream to have their sound captured on tape, and Ten simply does it with seeming ease. You feel like the band is in your living room with you. The songs themselves are the star of the show, with their unique storytelling and poetry to match. Easily a record I put on when I want to be reminded why I traded my life for this obsession we call rock and roll, and as soon as it starts cranking, I feel vindicated in my decision. The record sounds as if The Doors and The Who had a baby, who was raised by Neil Young, and then that baby made stadiums rock. Love it.
Scott Lucas, Local H
We’d been around for a little bit before that record came out. My sister’s husband at the time had it, so I listened to it and I didn’t really like the way it sounded. I thought it was a little too reverb-y and it wasn’t totally my cup of tea. But, Eddie’s voice was this thing. It was just like that guy sounds amazing. I would listen to it, basically, because of his voice. Then when I saw them live at The Metro in Chicago, it was great. And they were so good live, and they’re still good live and are one of the few bands that can navigate those stadium shows.
I really liked “Release” a lot, just the way it built and the way that vocal really rose up. I remember thinking with “Black,” “What was going on with that song?” It had this really weird production where almost sounded like a Survivor song from the ’80s or something, but there was this crazy emotion going on it. That really did stick out to me. What was also interesting to me is that they didn’t keep doing that type of song. It seemed like people wanted them to keep doing a song like that. And they were like, “Yeah, no we don’t want to do that anymore.’ They took a left turn and all these bands sort of showed up and the wake and were like “We’ll do it,” but no one did it better.
When we released our song “Eddie Vedder,” there was a certain amount of snark in it on our part, but also some real honesty. Everyone on the radio at that time sounded like Vedder, which was embarrassing to everyone else. Then somebody told me that that kind of bummed Eddie Vedder out and I didn’t want to do that. I remember finally meeting him in Chicago, like only a few years ago, and brought it up. I was like, “Hey, you know, I wrote that song and somebody told me that you were bummed out about it. I apologize and I really didn’t mean to do anything like that.” He was like, “Yeah, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Somebody must have given you some bad information. Never crossed my mind.” So that was pretty funny. We ended up singing along to some Who songs off the jukebox after that.
Danny Clinch
met Eddie Vedder before I saw Pearl Jam play live in person. It was Aug. 12, 1992, Lollapalooza Waterloo Village. A year after Ten’s release. My friend Tim Donnelly was doing a story on Eddie for the Surfrider Foundation newsletter and invited me along to the interview with my camera. We were having trouble getting backstage so EV jumped over the backstage fence, into the public space to sit down with us for a conversation. I felt such warm vibes from him right from the start.
Quiet and humble, he cared about the ocean and Mother Earth and was very generous with his time. Eventually, I asked to take some portraits of him and I had my old Nikon FE and my Rolleiflex twin-lens camera ( for you camera geeks out there ) That I still have to this day. The short session was relaxed and he was very present in the moment. Subtle collaboration at its best. One of these images ended up on the cover of SPIN. Eventually, Eddie walked through the crowd saying hello to people and then scaled the fence to backstage. I didn’t realize at the time that climbing on things was something Eddie was very good at. You wouldn’t know that if you hadn’t seen a live PJ show.
Fast forward to the show and Pearl Jam came out on FIRE. My thoughts were, THIS is the guy we were chilling with a short while ago? Stomping all over the stage with an incredible energy force. They played all songs from Ten aside from the encore “Rockin in the Free World” by Neil Young. Which of course they still do. So eventually, during the set EV begins to climb the scaffolding right above Tim Donnelly and I, and I realize at this moment that my motor drive batteries ran out and I had to plan on one frame to capture this moment. It never occurred to me until recently since getting to know him and how observant he is, that he probably spotted us in the crowd, and as I waited patiently, he leaped off of the scaffolding right over the top of us, I saw my moment and grabbed it. Bam. I had a moment of meeting someone and watching them transform on the stage into some incredible performer who connected with the audience with the support of a monster band and just fell in love with this record. It became such a part of my life moving forward. A soundtrack for my ears and my eyes. Now we have PJ on the Beach in Asbury Park at Sea Hear Now. First show in three years. I wonder what they have in store for us.
Myles Kennedy, Alter Bridge
It’s interesting because I knew of the former entity Mother Love Bone. So after Andrew passed away, no one really knew how they were going to be able to replace him and how that was going to pan out. I think the first song I heard might have been “Alive.” I was like, “Wow, that’s, that’s great!” That’s really good that the new guy is an awesome singer and little did I know just how big that was gonna get in the coming year. And it just exploded. I think once they put out “Jeremy” it was, I hate using this phrase, but game-changer in a lot of ways.
It’s one of those situations very similar to what happened with AC/DC, where you had Bon Scott pass away and how are you going to replace Bon Scott? And then they make the biggest record of their career with Brian [Johnson] right after that. So it was kind of the same dynamic. It was really exciting because those of us who live in Spokane to see these bands in Seattle, not just have some success, but literally changed the landscape of pop culture in an instant. That was really something to was inspiring. We were very proud of all those bands, what they were doing.
David Lovering, Pixies
When I’m going back to that time, which was ’91-’92, that was the era of it. We were still a band, the Pixies were still and going and I was still married at the time and living in Los Angeles. I was married to a publicist who worked at Epic Records and was working with Pearl Jam, so I had an early introduction to them. Of course, I heard them not on a record or anything, but it was a tape. I think if there’s any song that struck me, I think it’d be “Even Flow.” I think that’s a little harder, at least of the popular songs on it, compared to “Jeremy” or something like that. But I think that I was more I enjoyed more of that emerging grunge kind of thing of them. Back in that day, I saw them five or six times.
And the reason I say that is because again, I was married at the time, we would go to the show when they came to L.A., or we would travel to wherever because she was working it so I would see Pearl Jam a lot. That was my indoctrination to it and stuff like that. I still enjoy the shows and they were fantastic.
Even before the album was released, Eddie wanted to meet me through my wife because he was a little unsure of being in a band and had some questions and stuff like that. So we went to lunch one day, and this is before I even heard anything, it was just brand new before anything came out and I heard bits and pieces of it. We were talking we’re getting along great and I was saying, ‘Hey, just enjoy yourself and stuff like that. And I’m thinking ‘Oh yeah this band. it’d be interesting. I don’t know how they’re going to do and whatever like that.’ Of course, Baboom! They just blow up and stuff like that. So that was funny. And then I’ve seen Eddie throughout the years because we remember that time we met. He’s a wonderful guy and everything like that and it’s great whenever we connect.
Lilly Hiatt
earl Jam has always been a band that has meant so much to me. Not only is the songwriting profoundly relatable, Eddie’s voice has always struck a note of understanding within my soul. A debut like Ten…where do I even start? To think of the history of that band in the Seattle scene, Jeff and Stone having been such staples and already having experienced much through Green River and Mother Love Bone, and then recruiting Mike, thrills me. Then inviting Mr. Vedder into the picture from California to begin their journey. Dave Krusen joined in and they were a band. I love the lore of their formation and what lead to Ten.
Elements of each member’s past can be heard in that record. Tones of Jimi, Jim Morrison, punk, straight-up poetry. But the coolest thing about Ten is that the amalgam of each member’s musical core made for a sound that was fresh and untouchable. I had never heard a song like “Jeremy.” It still remains in a league of its own. As do all the songs on Ten. What an anthem to sing “I’m still alive.” Those words will never tire. And the ballads are some of the best parts. From the airy pleas of “Release” to the tumbling melody of “Oceans,” there is depth and questioning to this album that continues to evolve for me. “Why Go” always piqued my feminist mentality, and that is another thing I have always respected about this band. They care about women. Ten is grungy and pissed, but open and tolerant. Eddie lets you in on his family history. Mike wails out the riffs, and Stone, Jeff, and Dave hold it down with a visceral groove.
A very special record that will always mean something to the world and an introduction to a band that forever changed the musical landscape.
Adrian Quesada, Black Pumas
I had just started to play guitar when I came home with Pearl Jam’s Ten on CD from the local mall. I was obsessed with hip hop at the time and the musical excess of hair metal at the time had kept me away from guitar-based music but the trio of Nirvana, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam (who all released a seminal album within a month of each other) quickly shifted my attention to rock music. It felt like a rebirth for rock and roll and came at just the right point in my life. When I first heard “Alive,” my first impression was how unique the guitar riff was and it was likely the first song I learned off tablature.
Stone Gossard had one of the most original approaches to the guitar and Eddie Vedder’s voice also seemed to have no precedent, not to mention the rest of the band kicked ass and also looked cool as shit to me – a rock band wearing basketball jerseys! Stone would become one of the more influential guitarists at a formative time for me, I even went so far as to get a Les Paul and a Peavey Classic 30 amp because of him. Thirty years later, the band has been a prime example of how to establish longevity with integrity, creativity and grace, and I’m forever grateful for the groundwork they’ve laid.
Dan Gleason, Grouplove
When I was seven years old my mom had to go away to receive treatment for a few tough stretches. My brother Sean and I would listen to “Release” every night just to know that someone else had felt a piece missing and come out the other side. It gave us hope it would be alright. When my father passed recently, “Release” was the first piece of music I went for. “I’ll hold the pain, release me” is somehow brave, sad, longing, and defiant. It’s the eye of the grieving process. It still makes me feel connected. It still gives me the same hope. Ten was my first musical and emotional road map and I’m forever grateful for it. Here’s to 30!
Dave Hillis, Engineer of Ten
Looking back over the last 30 years, I’m not sure I fully appreciated the gravity of the situation at the time. Pearl Jam’s Ten was one of the first real label projects I had worked on. I wish I had taken the time to really appreciate how special that moment was. We all came up together in the scene and I was just so focused on doing my job that I took it for granted.
What strikes me now, and probably had the greatest impact on my career going forward, was the level of focus and dedication that the band and Rick [Parashar] had on the art. They were very intentional and laser-focused on getting great sounds, finding the groove and getting the perfect performance. There were no “tricks” or “frills” in those sessions. I continue to be impressed with how honest it really was. My production style today continues to rely on many of the lessons I learned from them back then.
Dave Hause
I was going into eighth grade in the autumn of 1991, and after band practice at my friend Craig’s house, we got into his dad’s liquor stash and put on MTV. They had just started to play the video for “Alive,” and while Craig turned his nose up at Pearl Jam in favor of Glenn Danzig’s satanic appeal, I was transfixed. They had plenty of hallmarks of older rock and roll; McCready’s playing sounded like Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Vedder often dipped into Roger Daltrey territory, and Ament’s bass playing had plenty of soul. At the same time, to my young ears they had something completely new. They had an intense energy, and I could hear the Chili Peppers, Jane’s Addiction, and even Fugazi in what they were doing. And it just seemed like something my friends and I could maybe accomplish if all the stars aligned and we just had a few inspired band practices.
I had seen all I needed to see, and I’ve been a Pearl Jam fan ever since. Ten was the soundtrack to the rest of that year: getting high and going to soccer practice, getting cut from the team and cranking “Once” on my Walkman on the ride home. Falling head over heels into teenage love, getting my heart broken and listening to “Black” on repeat. For 30 years I’ve played that record every autumn and it always sounds great to me, taking me back to being that wild-eyed kid trying to come to grips with what I was starting to see as a world gone mad. I’m so glad that record found me.
Zane Lowe, Apple Music
Pearl Jam landed so significantly in New Zealand — it really was a vacuum that sucked us all into it. Ten is such a taut record, start to finish really great songs that hold up as some of the greatest of that era. Even the most cynical music fan who disregarded Pearl Jam in the early years would go back to Ten and recognize just how great a record that is. Most artists don’t get past a debut album like Ten. No one can deny the quality of the body of work and the power of Pearl Jam to be able to get beyond it.
Melissa Brooks, The Aquadolls
Pearl Jam’s Ten influenced ’90s pop culture by taking the grunge rock sound of the DIY scene and showing it to a mainstream audience, as rock music was truly the thought-provoking pop music of the time. The true guitar tones, crystal clear pounding drums and raw emotional vocals provided by Eddie Vedder helped pioneer a brooding yet powerful sound that continues to influence music to this day. My favorite song, “Jeremy,” always gives me heaps of nostalgia when I listen to it. It reminds me of my childhood and watching the music video before school on VH1, preparing myself for a rock n roll day. I’m grateful my band has shared the stage with Eddie Vedder at Ohana Festival, as I got to hear his powerful vocals live in action.
Sam Wilkerson, White Reaper
Pearl Jam might have one of the best debut albums of all time. If you take it out of the context of the ’90s, it still rocks harder than most shit now or 50 years ago. No one else could write or play these songs like they did. It’s an anthem from front to back. To top it off, they come from a real place, they listen to good music, they are the realest band, the nicest band, and everyone’s favorite band. The first song I heard off of this album was “Jeremy.” I think the rhythmic qualities and bass harmonic in the beginning had a lasting effect on me. The production touches are flawless. The world would be a different place without Ten.
Jason Narducy, Bob Mould/Superchunk/Split Single
In 1991, the world took to Pearl Jam right away. My girlfriend (now wife) loved them. She even wore combat boots. But it took me a little longer.
The third single from Ten, “Jeremy,” was the one that hooked me. My first concert was Cheap Trick and their bassist, Tom Petersson, played (and actually invented) the 12-string bass. Jeff Ament’s melodic opening to “Jeremy” is on a 12-string bass so it was a familiar sound to me. Eddie Vedder’s lyrics evoked a children’s book that was important to my family (Where the Wild Things Are). “Gnashed his teeth,” “ruled his world,” “unleashed the lion,” etc. But Eddie’s vocal melody on “And he hit me with a surprise left” was the final straw. Powerful and infectious. I wanted to learn more about this band.
There are so many layers in Ten that I’ve come to appreciate over the years. Dave Krusen’s playing on this album is too often overlooked. He brought swing and swagger to the songs. Jeff’s fretless bass (very uncommon in rock songs) adds a unique foundation to “Alive.” Stone Gossard’s guitar voicings on “Black” and “Garden” provides a simmering depth and mood. Ten was an introduction to a band that has become better since its release. The addition of drummer, Matt Cameron, in 1998 made the band chemistry stronger than ever. Pearl Jam are a great rock band. The world and my girlfriend were right.
Cat Popper
Me and my then-boyfriend were listening to the first album and were laughing at the poor executives trying to slap a label on what “kind” of music it was. And we also thought that the name Pearl Jam sounded super dirty and we figured they’d get hassled about it.
Jeff has always been so cool and welcoming to me as a bassist. He just likes to laugh at stupid shit and talk about music, so we got on like gangbusters. He sent me some of his solo stuff and it’s my favorite music I’ve heard in ages. He can play everything with the same amount of ease and looseness. it’s completely obnoxious to know someone so talented and so humble.
Scarypoolparty
Ten is one of those albums that you grew up listening to, and you just naturally understand that everyone in the band is a shredder. Definitely continues to inspire me daily with the number of legendary tracks that will last a lifetime.
The strongest memory I have with this album is legit just playing the song “Even Flow” as loud as possible in my car and trying to sing like Eddie Vedder!
A mis brazos.
Humpty Dumpty- Mensajes : 16650
Fecha de inscripción : 30/01/2019
Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por thunderpussy 29.08.21 23:51
henchman escribió:Ciclóncósmico escribió:
Join us now for a free livestream of Pearl Jam’s full 2014 ‘The No Code Show'! The concert earned its place in history when the band took the stage in Moline, IL and performed the 1996 studio album in its entirety. Celebrate the 25th Anniversary of No Code right here or at nugs.net/pearljamlivestream, available for replay through Monday evening.
Tremendo. Dadle que mañana lo quitan.
Gran show y a la semana siguiente se cascaron el Yield del tiron
https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/pearl-jam/2014/bmo-harris-bradley-center-milwaukee-wi-13cce145.html
thunderpussy- Mensajes : 28167
Fecha de inscripción : 26/03/2008
Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por Breath 30.08.21 1:07
Humpty Dumpty escribió:Breath escribió:Humpty Dumpty escribió:Breath escribió:¿Alguna manera de ver el artículo que Spin magazine ha dedicado al aniversario del Ten?
Soy incapaz de verlo, sea desde el dispositivo que sea me sale 'forbidden'.
- Spoiler:
The ’90s had just begun. In March 1990, the promising Seattle rock band Mother Love Bone was about to unveil their debut album. But on the eve of the release, the band’s lead singer, Andrew Wood, died tragically of a heroin overdose. His band members, guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament were blind-sided, devastated, and decided to end the band. Over the next few months, Gossard slowly found his way back to music. He made a few demos that landed in the hands of a surfer from San Diego via Chicago who got them from ex-Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Jack Irons. The surfer’s name was Eddie Vedder. The songs he sent back? “Alive,” “Once,” and “Footsteps.”
Pearl Jam formed around the intensity of these songs. And on Aug. 27, 1991, they brought them into the open with their harrowing masterpiece, Ten. Musically, the album’s blend of classic rock, punk, and metal opened up the sonic possibilities for this new genre called grunge. Ten wasn’t an overnight success. There was a little buzz coming from their hometown of Seattle — that would come a few months later — but if you knew, you knew. Sub Pop was rapidly ascending. Soundgarden and Nirvana were set to unleash their fire and fury onto a new audience. Alice in Chains was already well on their way. But Pearl Jam was just … different.
In the months following Ten’s release, “Alive” caught on, as did the band’s magnetic live show. MTV Unplugged was the perfect vehicle to display the catharsis of hearing Pearl Jam live and unvarnished. Ultimately, music videos like “Jeremy” and “Even Flow” catapulted them to stardom — another testament to the insane appeal of their sound, since none of the band members took much of an interest in promotional tactics.
Had it not been for strange twists, a confluence of serendipitous events, and instantly killer chemistry between the core four band members, the music world would be a much, much different place.
But they survived, endured, and carved out a legacy that seemed impossible 30 years ago. They continue to sell out arenas, stadiums, and festivals, and their influence is undeniable.
In honor of Ten turning 30 today, we spoke with 30 musicians who reflected on Pearl Jam and the album’s lasting influence.
Julian Casablancas, The Strokes
As a teenager, we’d hang out in our bedroom and listen to mixtapes, and one of Nikolai’s [Fraiture] older brother’s ‘cool’ friends (ah, older kids) had turned him on to “Yellow Ledbetter” (way before it was mega-in-the-know) was a B-side I think, but we thought it was some secret demo. Anyway, that is literally the moment that changed my life. It hit me in a bizarre and deep way, and I understood the dark mystery and power of music in that weird instant.
Fast forward a couple of years and I’m seriously thinking about trying my hand at music as I just learned guitar and was drawn to music theory and finally had a knack for SOMETHING. I decided to (again on tape – I’m old OK, mean internet people) record myself singing over some Pearl Jam songs and sang my heart out over “Alive” and “Jeremy” and felt the power and felt like it was maybe pretty good, until I listened back. Horror and sadness overcame me as I realized like a punch in the stomach that in fact, I had a horrible voice. I recovered and decided I’d be a guitarist and try to improve other people’s songs instead. only slowly after getting good at writing songs and years of practice did I become ok (Nothing compared to Eddie Vedder obviously – the punk Freddie Mercury of our time).
Anyway, I still wear corduroy jackets and hope that Eddie Vedder will run for office. They were the Beatles of our time really. Anyway, thank you Pearl Jam, for everything. Also, I loved Mookie Blaylock, (the basketball player) which was their original name.
Corin Tucker, Sleater-Kinney
Ten hit our generation like the seventh wave in the ocean – the huge wall of guitars made gritty with the grunge sound, along with the epic wail of Eddie’s voice.
“Black” is my favorite song – the opening riff is so iconic. I remember when we toured with them around 2001, “Black” was usually the last song of their set. And Sleater-Kinney were lucky enough to guest on an encore song so there was a “spot” we were supposed to be standing on. But I couldn’t see Mike McCready play guitar from there! So I would sneak around to the other side of the stage for that song, making Dick Adams, the legendary production guy, freak out as he was running around trying to find our band! I remember thinking, I can’t believe this is my life right now!
John Doe, X
Like most people, “Alive” was the first song I remember hearing from PJ and even after one listen, I realized they and some others in Seattle were bringing real electric guitars back into mainstream culture. That was a good thing. It was evident that PJ took time to developed a sound that was intentional, accessible, exuberant w/ an honest soul. Though its influences could be heard, their sound was unique. Thank goodness they and the other Seattle bands saved us from hair metal.
Little did we realize our paths would cross in 2012 when X opened for them in South America and Europe. They shared members of their crew, recorded our sets, played with us during our show, invited us on stage during theirs and kept us safe inside the PJ bubble. Seeing 70,000 fans in Sao Paulo (and every other city) sing along to every song, brought home just how important a band they have become.
Nancy Wilson, Heart
In the early ’90s, it couldn’t have been hipper to be from Seattle. The explosion of the music coming out of the northwest was insanely great.
My best buddy Kelly Curtis who managed Mother Love Bone who then morphed into Mookie Blaylock which then became Pearl Jam, introduced me to the whole scene and all the amazing bands of the time. Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Screaming Trees.
Cat Butt, Sleater-Kinney, Nirvana and the list goes on.
I was lucky enough to watch each metamorphosis of Pearl Jam in clubs and stages around town. Then there was the summer I got to hitch my wagon to their European tour. There were so many wonderful moments and big laughs along the way. Every guy in Pearl Jam is a stellar human being. They have a truly beautiful brotherhood of love that always extends to their entire crew. The live shows were astounding as always and the raw energy was formidable. It seemed they spent most of the show flying through the air.
Ed carried this classic old tweed suitcase full of his writings around everywhere which often became a seat for waiting for some kind of transportation or another. There were beers in Edinburgh, wine in Paris, and the world’s best coffee in Rome.
Their fans are such loyal people and still to this day they know every syllable of every word to every Pearl Jam song. There is only one Pearl Jam and I am honored to have them as friends.
Perry Farrell, Jane’s Addiction/Porno for Pyros
I remember when I saw Pearl Jam for the first time. We had the same agent, Don Muller, so Don made sure that I was on the side of the stage to see them. And it’s one of those moments where…have you ever seen someone and fell in love with them at first sight? It was like that. These guys, they’ve got you know, they’ve got the right message, they got the right attitude. They’re rocking their asses off as if there’s no tomorrow. And we’ve been friends ever since. “Even Flow” was the song for me when I went “I like these guys.”
It’s a testament to them that they can last 30 years in this country in this world, as a group. To start off, not even to begin to speak about their music. Just that they’re there. I want to say like, their motivation, their message and their intentions. It’s a testament to who they are as people that it’s lasted this long.
Donita Sparks, L7
Well, I’ll always have a soft spot for “Even Flow.” L7 were playing Finsbury Park in London with Pearl Jam and some other bands in the summer of 1992. We were goofing off with Eddie Vedder backstage before Pearl Jam’s set. Our drummer Dee was late with her period and not feeling great so I started singing “Let Dee Flo-ow” and then Eddie started singing it better, of course. Later during their set, Eddie sang the line once or twice during the real “Even Flow,” which we thought was great. I always think of that when I hear that track. Brings a smile.
Jerry Cantrell, Alice in Chains
t [Ten] was a rebirth for those guys. They had such an unfortunate blow with the loss of Andy [Wood] right as their album is coming out. There was a real kind of a brotherhood between all of the artists in Seattle and it was really meaningful to see them pick themselves up, start again and invite Ed and Dave [Krusen] into the band. To have that record have the sort of impact that it has is really powerful. It was very right for those guys all find each other and we were really, really, really happy for that — I still am. They’re one of the greatest bands in the history of rock and roll and they made one really important record together.
“Black” is a great record, just as a piece of work, but every track on the album I think is really important. They started out with “Alive” in 91 and then “Even Flow” and “Jeremy” huge fucking song. But “Black” has always been my favorite from the record.
They deserve a ton of credit for fighting through adversity and starting anew. That record is still really powerful.
Jack Johnson
I first heard Ten when I was 16. What an age to be hit by that group of songs, guitar tones, and lyrics. The CD was in my player every morning on the way to school. I have vivid memories of closing my eyes and my bedroom door and trying to sing every one of those songs. That same year I saw Pearl Jam perform at a small amphitheater at the University of Hawai’i and it changed my life forever.
Patrick Carney, The Black Keys
That time, in August and September 1991, was the 1968 of my generation with so much cool music with Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Metallica, all releasing albums within a small window. I think that sonically, those records kind of take you to that early ’90s place in a really good way. But some of those records from that time sound dated, but Ten holds up. There are some songs that I really liked off the first record like “Alive,” which introduced me to Temple of the Dog which introduced me to Soundgarden. I think it’s crazy that records turned 30 to think of all the insane fucking records that came out in that one little 60-day window is insane.
I started off as a big Nirvana guy when I was younger then became a team Pearl Jam because those dudes are some of the nicest guys you could ever meet. The first time we ever did a show with Pearl Jam was we played in Berlin with them. They asked us to play and we had our own show booked at some punk, small rock and roll club when we were on tour for Magic Potion but this special show popped up. They hooked us up and we had to play like 15,000 people and then we went and played our own show at like midnight that night and Eddie came to the show, sat and watched this play until 1:30 in the morning and the crowd freaked out that Eddie Vedder was at the club and it made us look really cool. Then I remember playing with them in Summer 2014, we were playing some festivals with them and I just remember getting to watch some serious World Cup soccer with Eddie Vedder and it was very enjoyable.
Ben Blackwell, Third Man Records
All these years later, it’s hard to even remember a time prior to Pearl Jam (and fairly, Nirvana too) having exploded onto the mainstream. In my head, it’s almost like I woke up one morning, age 9, and the entire musical landscape had changed. If I were to simplify my life into any sort of musical “before” and “after” it’s punctuated by the imagined image of Kurt Cobain and Eddie Vedder punching through some fog declaring they’re here for me.
As the years pile on, it’s a funny little exercise discerning my “favorite” song from Ten. At this point, the singles of “Alive” and “Even Flow” and “Jeremy” have been heard SO many times that they kinda just feel like something that’s been there my entire life. The love I felt for those songs as a pre-teen has definitely waned through their marked over-exposure. I find it difficult to still get excited by them. But that just lets me have a deeper appreciation of “Porch.” It’s impossible for me to think of the song without connecting it to the transformative performance of it during the MTV Unplugged session. Eddie writing “Pro Choice!!!” on his arm during the instrumental breakdown still feels powerful and important today and the song itself hits hard. “Porch” is the only song off Ten that I am guaranteed to listen to in full when a version pops up on SiriusXM Pearl Jam Radio. Enough said.
Laura Jane Grace
I cannot overestimate the impact that Ten had on me and my friend group as young teens. The album came out right as I was starting to play with my first band, and given that we had no original songs written, we covered Pearl Jam songs. This was down in southwest Florida, pretty much the polar opposite of Seattle, WA, but grunge became the sound.
After a couple of poorly received appearances at our church talent shows, my band made the big jump to playing at the Collier County Fair. There still exists a video of us playing a cover of “Porch” to a completely disinterested audience. But the funniest part was that everyone in the band was wearing a Pearl Jam shirt!
The really astounding thing, though, is how those songs have stuck with me. Here we are more than 25 years later and you could wake me from a dead sleep, hand me a guitar and I could bust out the riff for “Alive” on command. I’ll remember how to play those songs until the day I die. There’s nothing that could dislodge them from my muscle memory.
Ben Harper
Ten (reasons)
1. It’s as if they made their fifth record first. The music and musicianship is as fully realized as a band that’s prepared for its destiny.
2. No one had ever heard a voice like this in the history of rock, a voice that sounded as if it were coming from our hearts as much as it was from Ed.
3. Songs that range from three-to-nine minutes, that are lyrically as compelling as a timelessly penned novel or biography.
4. Finally a safe sonic space to replace our generational displacement.
5. They brought it/bring it to the stage live every night and raised the bar for all bands and fans as to what the intensity level of a show could reach.
6. The depth of their friendship and camaraderie with one another matches the depth of their music.
7. They revere their fans with the same intensity as their fans love them. PJ’s fan club, The Ten Club, is the gold standard for all bands.
8. Can we talk about Ed climbing the scaffolding?
9. They’d be the exact same people had Ten not done what Ten did.
10. I can’t wait for “Twenty.”
Dhani Harrison
I could not have been at a more perfect age to appreciate Ten when it came out. I had just turned 13 and moved to a new school. I was hooked and so were the kids that were going to become some of my closest friends, still to this day. We bonded over that album.
Then after school, it was just me, my little yellow sports walkman (with Ten in it) and my skateboard, outside for hours. Occasionally coming inside to catch a glimpse of the “Jeremy” video and watch Aeon Flux. Just better times.
Pharoahe Monch
It’s going to have to be between “Even Flow” and “Alive” as my favorite songs on Ten. Even though people think I’m the quintessential favorite rapper’s favorite rapper, I’m a sucker for big choruses. I found it enjoyable to try to imitate Eddie Vedder and could sing these two songs all day long.
Being a huge sports fan and knowing the story behind the whole Mookie Blaylock inspiration for Ten sealed the deal for me as Pearl Jam being the perennial band that restored my faith in classic rock.
Taylor Momsen, The Pretty Reckless
It’s hard to put into words the raw emotion that Pearl Jam puts into their music. In the past few years, I’ve been looking for music that inspires me, and without fault, every time a Pearl Jam song comes on, I’m whisked away into the angst of the vocal and the lyrics, and surrounded by the playing of one of the most energetic bands of all time. Of course, Ten delivers this to perfection status. It’s no wonder that in a time when the competition was so high, that this record shines through, holding its own, and mostly surpassing its peers. It’s every band’s dream to have their sound captured on tape, and Ten simply does it with seeming ease. You feel like the band is in your living room with you. The songs themselves are the star of the show, with their unique storytelling and poetry to match. Easily a record I put on when I want to be reminded why I traded my life for this obsession we call rock and roll, and as soon as it starts cranking, I feel vindicated in my decision. The record sounds as if The Doors and The Who had a baby, who was raised by Neil Young, and then that baby made stadiums rock. Love it.
Scott Lucas, Local H
We’d been around for a little bit before that record came out. My sister’s husband at the time had it, so I listened to it and I didn’t really like the way it sounded. I thought it was a little too reverb-y and it wasn’t totally my cup of tea. But, Eddie’s voice was this thing. It was just like that guy sounds amazing. I would listen to it, basically, because of his voice. Then when I saw them live at The Metro in Chicago, it was great. And they were so good live, and they’re still good live and are one of the few bands that can navigate those stadium shows.
I really liked “Release” a lot, just the way it built and the way that vocal really rose up. I remember thinking with “Black,” “What was going on with that song?” It had this really weird production where almost sounded like a Survivor song from the ’80s or something, but there was this crazy emotion going on it. That really did stick out to me. What was also interesting to me is that they didn’t keep doing that type of song. It seemed like people wanted them to keep doing a song like that. And they were like, “Yeah, no we don’t want to do that anymore.’ They took a left turn and all these bands sort of showed up and the wake and were like “We’ll do it,” but no one did it better.
When we released our song “Eddie Vedder,” there was a certain amount of snark in it on our part, but also some real honesty. Everyone on the radio at that time sounded like Vedder, which was embarrassing to everyone else. Then somebody told me that that kind of bummed Eddie Vedder out and I didn’t want to do that. I remember finally meeting him in Chicago, like only a few years ago, and brought it up. I was like, “Hey, you know, I wrote that song and somebody told me that you were bummed out about it. I apologize and I really didn’t mean to do anything like that.” He was like, “Yeah, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Somebody must have given you some bad information. Never crossed my mind.” So that was pretty funny. We ended up singing along to some Who songs off the jukebox after that.
Danny Clinch
met Eddie Vedder before I saw Pearl Jam play live in person. It was Aug. 12, 1992, Lollapalooza Waterloo Village. A year after Ten’s release. My friend Tim Donnelly was doing a story on Eddie for the Surfrider Foundation newsletter and invited me along to the interview with my camera. We were having trouble getting backstage so EV jumped over the backstage fence, into the public space to sit down with us for a conversation. I felt such warm vibes from him right from the start.
Quiet and humble, he cared about the ocean and Mother Earth and was very generous with his time. Eventually, I asked to take some portraits of him and I had my old Nikon FE and my Rolleiflex twin-lens camera ( for you camera geeks out there ) That I still have to this day. The short session was relaxed and he was very present in the moment. Subtle collaboration at its best. One of these images ended up on the cover of SPIN. Eventually, Eddie walked through the crowd saying hello to people and then scaled the fence to backstage. I didn’t realize at the time that climbing on things was something Eddie was very good at. You wouldn’t know that if you hadn’t seen a live PJ show.
Fast forward to the show and Pearl Jam came out on FIRE. My thoughts were, THIS is the guy we were chilling with a short while ago? Stomping all over the stage with an incredible energy force. They played all songs from Ten aside from the encore “Rockin in the Free World” by Neil Young. Which of course they still do. So eventually, during the set EV begins to climb the scaffolding right above Tim Donnelly and I, and I realize at this moment that my motor drive batteries ran out and I had to plan on one frame to capture this moment. It never occurred to me until recently since getting to know him and how observant he is, that he probably spotted us in the crowd, and as I waited patiently, he leaped off of the scaffolding right over the top of us, I saw my moment and grabbed it. Bam. I had a moment of meeting someone and watching them transform on the stage into some incredible performer who connected with the audience with the support of a monster band and just fell in love with this record. It became such a part of my life moving forward. A soundtrack for my ears and my eyes. Now we have PJ on the Beach in Asbury Park at Sea Hear Now. First show in three years. I wonder what they have in store for us.
Myles Kennedy, Alter Bridge
It’s interesting because I knew of the former entity Mother Love Bone. So after Andrew passed away, no one really knew how they were going to be able to replace him and how that was going to pan out. I think the first song I heard might have been “Alive.” I was like, “Wow, that’s, that’s great!” That’s really good that the new guy is an awesome singer and little did I know just how big that was gonna get in the coming year. And it just exploded. I think once they put out “Jeremy” it was, I hate using this phrase, but game-changer in a lot of ways.
It’s one of those situations very similar to what happened with AC/DC, where you had Bon Scott pass away and how are you going to replace Bon Scott? And then they make the biggest record of their career with Brian [Johnson] right after that. So it was kind of the same dynamic. It was really exciting because those of us who live in Spokane to see these bands in Seattle, not just have some success, but literally changed the landscape of pop culture in an instant. That was really something to was inspiring. We were very proud of all those bands, what they were doing.
David Lovering, Pixies
When I’m going back to that time, which was ’91-’92, that was the era of it. We were still a band, the Pixies were still and going and I was still married at the time and living in Los Angeles. I was married to a publicist who worked at Epic Records and was working with Pearl Jam, so I had an early introduction to them. Of course, I heard them not on a record or anything, but it was a tape. I think if there’s any song that struck me, I think it’d be “Even Flow.” I think that’s a little harder, at least of the popular songs on it, compared to “Jeremy” or something like that. But I think that I was more I enjoyed more of that emerging grunge kind of thing of them. Back in that day, I saw them five or six times.
And the reason I say that is because again, I was married at the time, we would go to the show when they came to L.A., or we would travel to wherever because she was working it so I would see Pearl Jam a lot. That was my indoctrination to it and stuff like that. I still enjoy the shows and they were fantastic.
Even before the album was released, Eddie wanted to meet me through my wife because he was a little unsure of being in a band and had some questions and stuff like that. So we went to lunch one day, and this is before I even heard anything, it was just brand new before anything came out and I heard bits and pieces of it. We were talking we’re getting along great and I was saying, ‘Hey, just enjoy yourself and stuff like that. And I’m thinking ‘Oh yeah this band. it’d be interesting. I don’t know how they’re going to do and whatever like that.’ Of course, Baboom! They just blow up and stuff like that. So that was funny. And then I’ve seen Eddie throughout the years because we remember that time we met. He’s a wonderful guy and everything like that and it’s great whenever we connect.
Lilly Hiatt
earl Jam has always been a band that has meant so much to me. Not only is the songwriting profoundly relatable, Eddie’s voice has always struck a note of understanding within my soul. A debut like Ten…where do I even start? To think of the history of that band in the Seattle scene, Jeff and Stone having been such staples and already having experienced much through Green River and Mother Love Bone, and then recruiting Mike, thrills me. Then inviting Mr. Vedder into the picture from California to begin their journey. Dave Krusen joined in and they were a band. I love the lore of their formation and what lead to Ten.
Elements of each member’s past can be heard in that record. Tones of Jimi, Jim Morrison, punk, straight-up poetry. But the coolest thing about Ten is that the amalgam of each member’s musical core made for a sound that was fresh and untouchable. I had never heard a song like “Jeremy.” It still remains in a league of its own. As do all the songs on Ten. What an anthem to sing “I’m still alive.” Those words will never tire. And the ballads are some of the best parts. From the airy pleas of “Release” to the tumbling melody of “Oceans,” there is depth and questioning to this album that continues to evolve for me. “Why Go” always piqued my feminist mentality, and that is another thing I have always respected about this band. They care about women. Ten is grungy and pissed, but open and tolerant. Eddie lets you in on his family history. Mike wails out the riffs, and Stone, Jeff, and Dave hold it down with a visceral groove.
A very special record that will always mean something to the world and an introduction to a band that forever changed the musical landscape.
Adrian Quesada, Black Pumas
I had just started to play guitar when I came home with Pearl Jam’s Ten on CD from the local mall. I was obsessed with hip hop at the time and the musical excess of hair metal at the time had kept me away from guitar-based music but the trio of Nirvana, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam (who all released a seminal album within a month of each other) quickly shifted my attention to rock music. It felt like a rebirth for rock and roll and came at just the right point in my life. When I first heard “Alive,” my first impression was how unique the guitar riff was and it was likely the first song I learned off tablature.
Stone Gossard had one of the most original approaches to the guitar and Eddie Vedder’s voice also seemed to have no precedent, not to mention the rest of the band kicked ass and also looked cool as shit to me – a rock band wearing basketball jerseys! Stone would become one of the more influential guitarists at a formative time for me, I even went so far as to get a Les Paul and a Peavey Classic 30 amp because of him. Thirty years later, the band has been a prime example of how to establish longevity with integrity, creativity and grace, and I’m forever grateful for the groundwork they’ve laid.
Dan Gleason, Grouplove
When I was seven years old my mom had to go away to receive treatment for a few tough stretches. My brother Sean and I would listen to “Release” every night just to know that someone else had felt a piece missing and come out the other side. It gave us hope it would be alright. When my father passed recently, “Release” was the first piece of music I went for. “I’ll hold the pain, release me” is somehow brave, sad, longing, and defiant. It’s the eye of the grieving process. It still makes me feel connected. It still gives me the same hope. Ten was my first musical and emotional road map and I’m forever grateful for it. Here’s to 30!
Dave Hillis, Engineer of Ten
Looking back over the last 30 years, I’m not sure I fully appreciated the gravity of the situation at the time. Pearl Jam’s Ten was one of the first real label projects I had worked on. I wish I had taken the time to really appreciate how special that moment was. We all came up together in the scene and I was just so focused on doing my job that I took it for granted.
What strikes me now, and probably had the greatest impact on my career going forward, was the level of focus and dedication that the band and Rick [Parashar] had on the art. They were very intentional and laser-focused on getting great sounds, finding the groove and getting the perfect performance. There were no “tricks” or “frills” in those sessions. I continue to be impressed with how honest it really was. My production style today continues to rely on many of the lessons I learned from them back then.
Dave Hause
I was going into eighth grade in the autumn of 1991, and after band practice at my friend Craig’s house, we got into his dad’s liquor stash and put on MTV. They had just started to play the video for “Alive,” and while Craig turned his nose up at Pearl Jam in favor of Glenn Danzig’s satanic appeal, I was transfixed. They had plenty of hallmarks of older rock and roll; McCready’s playing sounded like Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Vedder often dipped into Roger Daltrey territory, and Ament’s bass playing had plenty of soul. At the same time, to my young ears they had something completely new. They had an intense energy, and I could hear the Chili Peppers, Jane’s Addiction, and even Fugazi in what they were doing. And it just seemed like something my friends and I could maybe accomplish if all the stars aligned and we just had a few inspired band practices.
I had seen all I needed to see, and I’ve been a Pearl Jam fan ever since. Ten was the soundtrack to the rest of that year: getting high and going to soccer practice, getting cut from the team and cranking “Once” on my Walkman on the ride home. Falling head over heels into teenage love, getting my heart broken and listening to “Black” on repeat. For 30 years I’ve played that record every autumn and it always sounds great to me, taking me back to being that wild-eyed kid trying to come to grips with what I was starting to see as a world gone mad. I’m so glad that record found me.
Zane Lowe, Apple Music
Pearl Jam landed so significantly in New Zealand — it really was a vacuum that sucked us all into it. Ten is such a taut record, start to finish really great songs that hold up as some of the greatest of that era. Even the most cynical music fan who disregarded Pearl Jam in the early years would go back to Ten and recognize just how great a record that is. Most artists don’t get past a debut album like Ten. No one can deny the quality of the body of work and the power of Pearl Jam to be able to get beyond it.
Melissa Brooks, The Aquadolls
Pearl Jam’s Ten influenced ’90s pop culture by taking the grunge rock sound of the DIY scene and showing it to a mainstream audience, as rock music was truly the thought-provoking pop music of the time. The true guitar tones, crystal clear pounding drums and raw emotional vocals provided by Eddie Vedder helped pioneer a brooding yet powerful sound that continues to influence music to this day. My favorite song, “Jeremy,” always gives me heaps of nostalgia when I listen to it. It reminds me of my childhood and watching the music video before school on VH1, preparing myself for a rock n roll day. I’m grateful my band has shared the stage with Eddie Vedder at Ohana Festival, as I got to hear his powerful vocals live in action.
Sam Wilkerson, White Reaper
Pearl Jam might have one of the best debut albums of all time. If you take it out of the context of the ’90s, it still rocks harder than most shit now or 50 years ago. No one else could write or play these songs like they did. It’s an anthem from front to back. To top it off, they come from a real place, they listen to good music, they are the realest band, the nicest band, and everyone’s favorite band. The first song I heard off of this album was “Jeremy.” I think the rhythmic qualities and bass harmonic in the beginning had a lasting effect on me. The production touches are flawless. The world would be a different place without Ten.
Jason Narducy, Bob Mould/Superchunk/Split Single
In 1991, the world took to Pearl Jam right away. My girlfriend (now wife) loved them. She even wore combat boots. But it took me a little longer.
The third single from Ten, “Jeremy,” was the one that hooked me. My first concert was Cheap Trick and their bassist, Tom Petersson, played (and actually invented) the 12-string bass. Jeff Ament’s melodic opening to “Jeremy” is on a 12-string bass so it was a familiar sound to me. Eddie Vedder’s lyrics evoked a children’s book that was important to my family (Where the Wild Things Are). “Gnashed his teeth,” “ruled his world,” “unleashed the lion,” etc. But Eddie’s vocal melody on “And he hit me with a surprise left” was the final straw. Powerful and infectious. I wanted to learn more about this band.
There are so many layers in Ten that I’ve come to appreciate over the years. Dave Krusen’s playing on this album is too often overlooked. He brought swing and swagger to the songs. Jeff’s fretless bass (very uncommon in rock songs) adds a unique foundation to “Alive.” Stone Gossard’s guitar voicings on “Black” and “Garden” provides a simmering depth and mood. Ten was an introduction to a band that has become better since its release. The addition of drummer, Matt Cameron, in 1998 made the band chemistry stronger than ever. Pearl Jam are a great rock band. The world and my girlfriend were right.
Cat Popper
Me and my then-boyfriend were listening to the first album and were laughing at the poor executives trying to slap a label on what “kind” of music it was. And we also thought that the name Pearl Jam sounded super dirty and we figured they’d get hassled about it.
Jeff has always been so cool and welcoming to me as a bassist. He just likes to laugh at stupid shit and talk about music, so we got on like gangbusters. He sent me some of his solo stuff and it’s my favorite music I’ve heard in ages. He can play everything with the same amount of ease and looseness. it’s completely obnoxious to know someone so talented and so humble.
Scarypoolparty
Ten is one of those albums that you grew up listening to, and you just naturally understand that everyone in the band is a shredder. Definitely continues to inspire me daily with the number of legendary tracks that will last a lifetime.
The strongest memory I have with this album is legit just playing the song “Even Flow” as loud as possible in my car and trying to sing like Eddie Vedder!
A mis brazos.
Hay otro artículo de Spin sobre el No Code, ¿tenemos algo de ese?
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Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por Humpty Dumpty 30.08.21 7:35
- Spoiler:
The Road Less Traveled: Our 1997 Pearl Jam Cover Story
So 'No Code' is no 'Jagged Little Pill.' With a new drummer and a renewed sense of purpose, Pearl Jam have never been happier. Craig Marks travels to Poland to meet the band that wouldn't be king
This article originally appeared in the February 1997 issue of SPIN. In honor of No Code turning 25, we’re republishing this article here.
Here is a joke Eddie Vedder told me. It wasn’t the only joke he told, but it was probably the best, and it bears repeating.
“How many members of Pearl Jam does it take to change a lightbulb?”
When Eddie Vedder asks a question of you, or you of him, or when he makes an important point, or when he shares something with you and wants a reaction, his eyebrows shoot up so they’re suddenly at right angles to each other. It brings to mind disbelieving girlfriends, mean teachers, and Satan. It’s an altogether unwelcoming look, and it’s immediately amplified by a steely glare and furrowed brow. For a moment—a long moment—you can’t help but believe those damning reports about Vedder’s dour disposition.
But then, just before you flinch, the tension is lanced by a grin. The grin is often set to his own words, and it’s a grin that’s less about self-satisfaction than about breaking the ice, than about inclusiveness. It’s a grin that says forget about what you’ve heard or read, I’m not that guarded, that somber, that paranoid, that humorless, that much of a pain-in-everyone’s-ass. It’s a warm, winning grin, and it works.
“I give up, Eddie. How many members of Pearl Jam does it take to change a lightbulb?”
Vedder stands up, screws his face into a mask of spokesman-for-a-generation pain, and yells: “Change?! Change? We’re not gonna change for anyone! Do you hear me? Not for anyone!“
For just over five years now, Pearl Jam—Vedder, guitarists Mike McCready and Stone Gossard, bassist Jeff Ament, and new drummer Jack Irons—have come to represent most everything that is right, or wrong, with rock’n’roll. They’ve been hailed as saviors, berated as frauds, lauded for their integrity, and ridiculed for their earnestness. They’ve been accused of flagrant careerism and of calculated anti-careerism. They’ve shown genuine empathy for their fans, yet they’ve made it exceedingly difficult for those fans to see them play. They’ve sold too many records, now they sell too few. A recent Rolling Stone cover story even went so far as to question the validity of Vedder’s expressions of anger and betrayal on the grounds that he was a gifted member of his high school drama club. Football team maybe, but drama club?
Pearl Jam have always presented an easy target for snipers. Gossard and Ament helped draw up the blueprints for grunge, first with the Stooges-like Green River, then with the more glam Mother Love Bone, but revisionists have dubbed them opportunists, not pioneers, overlooking the fact that the Seattle sound was always equal parts Black Flag and Bad Company. That Pearl Jam expressed more musical solidarity with the latter than the former outraged those who resented the connection. When Pearl Jam’s AOR-friendly grunge followed Nirvana’s purer version to the top of the charts, they were cast as villains by the indie-rock underground. When they outsold, outdrew, and then outlasted their contemporaries, the resentment grew further. And when they wondered aloud if being on top was so great after all, things got worse even still.
Such is the custom-made cross-to-bear that Pearl Jam carry on their backs. And it’s begun to exact a toll; the world’s most popular rock band is currently suffering through the first popular backlash of its career, and not just because they’ve recently discovered polyrhythms. They find themselves in the unfamiliar position of having a new record, No Code, praised by critics as a brave if not altogether successful departure but treated coldly by record-buyers, relative to the band’s three previous smash hits—Ten, Vs., and Vitalogy. (At press time, No Code has slid down to number 64 on the Billboard charts; according to SoundScan, it has sold 948,000 copies to date). This may bother me more than it does Vedder. “It’s great!” he says about the record’s sluggish sales. “We can be a little more normal now.”
It’s this quest for normalcy that has come to define Pearl Jam’s public identity and has begun to frustrate even their most devoted supporters. Perhaps the only sane way to deal with the crush of fame in the hyperaccelerated ’90s is to tease it, wink at it, blow it postmodern kisses, a la Bono and Michael Stipe. But Pearl Jam are fundamentally incapable of such irony or glibness. They’ve nixed making videos (their last clip was for 1992’s “Jeremy”), declined most every request for an interview, and battled a corporation, Ticketmaster, that no one much complained about to begin with, all of which has left fans feeling confused and resentful, unsure of why their favorite band won’t play ball like the rest of the alternative nation.
“There has to be a basic dialogue between your band and your public,” says Timothy White, editor-in-chief of Billboard magazine (and Spin contributing editor). “People want an ebb and flow of ideas, and they just don’t understand the degree of reticence that has crept up around the band.”
“We’re selfish,” shrugs Vedder. “We want it to be about the music. We don’t really care about any of this stuff,” referring specifically to interviews, but generally to anything that isn’t recording or playing. “We don’t feel we need to justify anything. We know where we’re coming from, and then it gets misconstrued, or people don’t understand certain things, like why you couldn’t play in San Francisco, or why you don’t participate with the music channel. You definitely feel like responding to a lot of this stuff, but then you realize that it just kind of goes away. As long as you focus on the music, all that stuff doesn’t matter.”
The funny thing is, Vedder and Pearl Jam seem to be able to handle “all that stuff.” Beyond Mike McCready’s bout with alcohol addiction (he’s been sober since 1994), they’ve avoided falling prey to the clichés that have become sadly synonymous with Seattle’s rock scene. Their lineup, with the one exception, has remained constant. So has Vedder’s 12-year relationship with his girlfriend-turned-wife, Beth Liebling, who fronts her own band, the space-jamming Hovercraft. Despite their private conflicts and public handwringing, Pearl Jam have emerged from a tumultuous half-decade of superstardom with their dignity, their integrity, and even their enthusiasm intact. Given modern rock’s current undignified state, and a music industry greedier than ever, that is no small feat.
Pearl Jam are both drawn to and embarrassed by their ethical and moral stands, not unlike the way heavy drinkers or sex addicts feel about their poisons the morning after. They build issues up, only to have to live them down. Sizable time must now be spent swearing on a stack of Sub Pop singles that they’re not frumpy killjoys. “We don’t bemoan,” Vedder laughs when I pose a question containing said verb. “I don’t want to be known as a bemoaner.”
So they’ve grown more and more comfortable with who they are, and who they are includes having escapist side projects (Ament’s alt-Eastern Three Fish, McCready’s brooding Mad Season, Gossard’s neo-funky Loosegroove label, Vedder’s meditative scattings with qawwali star Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan on the Dead Man Walking soundtrack, the group’s garage-band fantasies with Neil Young on Mirror Ball, cool hometown supporters (Mudhoney, the Fastbacks), and freaky celebrity friends (Dennis Rodman)). “We’re having a great time these days,” confirms Gossard.
Pressed, they’ll even admit that they enjoy being rock stars, so long as they can decide what that means. “We’re not going to look at the financial end and make decisions based on that,” says Vedder. “If it doesn’t feel right, we don’t want to do it.” Vedder looks at his bandmates and grins. “I’m kind of proud of that.”
It’s four o’clock on a bone-chilling Warsaw afternoon, and outside drab Torwar Arena, hundreds of bundled-up Polish kids are already milling about, their hands torn between the warmth of their coat pockets and the buzz of another cigarette. American rock’n’roll bands rarely include Poland on their European itinerary, and the November 1 Pearl Jam/Fastbacks concert has been sold out for weeks. “We’ll lose money playing here,” said Vedder later, “but I really thought we should do it.”
Inside, Pearl Jam have finished an ear-splitting soundcheck, withstood the trauma of a 15-minute photo shoot, and are now plopped down in their dressing room to sip some hot tea and discuss their new record. The mood is loose and amiable: “Keep it down, you freak!” yells Vedder through the wall to the Fastbacks’ Kim Warnick, who is loudly enthusing about something; “Fuck you, you fuck,” is her eloquent retort. Not exactly renowned for their sense of whimsy, Pearl Jam are visibly giddy when describing the word game they’ve been playing on the road. “You take a well-known person’s name and put it into a phrase,” explains Vedder. “Like, ‘I hope I die before I’m Bob Mould.'”
“Or, ‘SupermodelKimAlexisExpialadocious,'” beams Irons.
“LucIan MacKaye with Diamonds,” adds Vedder.
“Tie a yellow ribbon around Charles Oakley,” cracks McCready.
“This one’s a bit longer, but it’s good,” promises Vedder. “‘You may say I’m a dreamer / But I’m not the only one / I hope someday you’ll join us / Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.'”
Such mirth is in marked contrast to my initial tug-of-war with the group two nights before. “So,” wondered Ament after 60 minutes of terse Q&A, “maybe you have some questions about the record, something more specific?” I wouldn’t go so far as to call them surly; Ament had been gregarious and kind, Gossard cooperative if guarded, Vedder likewise but more guarded still, McCready reserved, even shy. But the tempo, no pun intended, had been set by the recalcitrant Irons, Vedder’s longtime friend from his San Diego days, who shares the group’s disdain for all things media, and appears to have assumed the role of the band’s spiritual center. Irons, 34, who lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two kids, and who once committed himself to a psychiatric hospital after the fatal overdose of his then-Red Hot Chili Peppers bandmate Hillel Slovak, brings to Pearl Jam not just a supple presence behind the kit, but a Zenlike groundedness in the here-and-now that has helped the group navigate some stormy seas.
“Jack’s personality, maturity, and generosity have really helped us communicate with each other,” says Gossard. “It feels like this is how it was intended to be,” marvels Ament. “This should have been the band from the beginning,” states Vedder simply. Irons gently downplays his role as peacemaker. “It’s just a new relationship,” he demurs. “It’s just one of life’s adjustments.” He knows, though, how easy it is to get sidetracked by the extracurriculars. “The whole point is that we’re making music,” says Irons, echoing the now-familiar mantra. “We’re actually feeling something. And people can sense that.”
Irons is more than just a calming influence; his complicated beats set the rhythmic tone of No Code, from the moody drum circles of “In My Tree” to the Eastern swirl of “Who You Are.” “We realized that we had an opportunity to experiment,” says Vedder of recording with Irons. “For instance, everyone has written that ‘Who Are You’ was obviously inspired by my collaboration with Nusrat, but that’s not where it came from.”
“I’d been playing that [drum pattern] since I was eight,” says Irons. “It was inspired by a Max Roach drum solo I heard at a drum shop when I was a little kid.”
“When I first heard that song, I was totally blown away by it,” raves McCready. “I thought it was the best song we had ever done.”
But is it a single? “Who You Are” was the band’s hand-picked choice for the first radio track from No Code, an obviously difficult song that garnered little enthusiasm at radio and set the table for No Code’s subpar commercial performance. Vedder admits that the band’s selection of “Who You Are” was a “conscious decision” made partly to keep the size of their audience, and hence their lives, manageable, and that’s consistent with the album’s musical experiments. It’s not all odd meters and hushed ballads—”Hail, Hail” and “Smile” crunch nicely, while “Lukin,” “Habit,” and Stone Gossard’s kicky “Mankind” show real scrap and gusto—but No Code does challenge Pearl Jam fans to either accept the band as is, or else go listen to Seven Mary Three, Silverchair, or any other readily available source of vintage grunge. My own wish would be for them to reclaim the confident middle ground they occupied on Vitalogy; for all its good intentions, No Code is too insular, too stingy on pleasure. It’s easy to admire, but I wish I enjoyed it more.
“I guess we’re constantly trying to find a balance,” says Ament. “There are very obviously times with this band when everything’s been thrown out of whack, where things have felt crazy, where you’re just going with the clip and there’s no way you can go back and land. So consequently, there are times when we need to isolate, to figure out what we are doing with our lives.”
“Making No Code,” concludes Vedder, “was all about gaining perspective.”
Later that night, in front of 6,500 screaming Poles, Vedder’s words ring in my ears as I watch the band from the side of the stage. Contrary to published reports of Pearl Jam as cynical stars going through the motions, their two-plus-hour set is joyful and generous, studded with standards (“Even Flow,” “Alive,” “Jeremy”), obscurities (“State of Love and Trust” from 1992’s Singles soundtrack, Vs.‘s “Indifference”), and a rich sampling of material from No Code. And the No Code tracks do more than hold their own against the evening’s better-known songs; they overshadow them. Dirges on record, “Present Tense,” “In My Tree,” and “Sometimes” throb and twitch in concert like R&B slow jams; for the first time in their musical lives, Pearl Jam sound sexy. They’re playing not just to the cheap seats but to each other, with a tenderness and playfulness I would never have expected, and which the Torwar crowd connects with instantly. When Vedder introduces the next-to-last song of the night, No Code’s “Smile,” he makes no attempt to hide his emotions. “This is the happiest song we know,” he announces, “and this is for you.”
You haven’t really drunk deeply from the Big Gulp of democracy until you’ve seen a dance floor full of drunken Polish teenagers contorting their arms in unison to spell out the chorus to the Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.” It’s an otherworldly scene, made more so by the white face paint, witch hats, and mummy suits many of the patrons are sporting for this Halloween celebration. Then there’s the matter of my date for the evening, who, if I may speculate, doesn’t usually go in for this sort of entertainment.
“So,” Vedder turns and asks me, “uh, you want another beer?” It’s past midnight, and supposedly somewhere amidst the dry ice and pumping house music are Gossard and McCready. But an hour has passed since we were whisked into the club, and there’s no sign of Vedder’s mates. The closest we’ve come were a couple of female American exchange students who heard us speaking English and invited us to dance. Vedder, looking stricken, politely declined.
As the music heats up and the crowd thickens, Vedder and I duck into a booth and quickly order another round. The disco was Gossard’s idea—he’s a huge fan of hip-hop and R&B, though he draws the line at the more mechanical strains of house music—and Vedder’s clearly a fish out of water here. It’s not just the strobe lights and BPMs, either; Vedder, like so many celebrities these days, has spent the last two years defending himself, his wife, and his home against the maddening intrusions of a stalker, and he’s understandably gun-shy about chatting with strangers.
“What’s really sad about the whole thing is that Beth and I are the kind of people who’d love to ask some kid, some fan, into our house, you know, sit them down and play them records from our jukebox, that kind of thing.” Vedder finishes off his beer. “But we just can’t do that now.” Instead, he now passes the time at his Seattle home by tossing a ball around with the security guards that patrol his yard 24-7.
Little wonder, then, that Vedder feels so adamantly about keeping his mug out of the spotlight; he’s learned firsthand the dangers of overexposure. “Look at those,” he groans, pointing up to the American tequila posters and beer-bottle floats that hang from the club’s walls and ceiling. It’s as if he recognizes a former piece of himself in those advertisements, and he’s not going to allow his band to be turned into a product again. Hence the boycott of “the music channel,” which has lately become anything but.
“The other night I was watching Alice in Chains on MTV Unplugged,” says Vedder. “I’ve known those guys for awhile, and toward the show’s end, I could tell that Layne [Staley] and Jerry [Cantrell] were sharing a real moment. It was pretty moving. And then one second later, some idiot’s screaming, ‘Take 50 guys, and 50 girls.'” He shakes his head in disgust.
“I’ve known Eddie before anyone even cared who he was,” says Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell, who first met Vedder in 1990 at a rehearsal for their side project Temple of the Dog, “and his attitude about things like that has been absolutely consistent. He’s never been interested in selling millions of records. That band has taken an amazing amount of risks throughout their career. New bands could learn a lot from them. I’ve learned a lot from them.”
If Eddie Vedder has a blind spot, it’s this: He believes in heroes. You’d think that the deception he suffered as a kid—he was led to believe by his mother that his stepfather, for whom he felt little, was his real dad—would have curtailed such leaps of faith, but mention any number of musicians to Vedder and you can plainly see that his emotional investment in them borders on the devotional. When he tells me that Bob Dylan recently sold the rights to “The Times They Are A-Changin'” to a financial company for use in a commercial, he looks as if he’s lost his best friend. “I can only hope that it’s some kind of ironic joke,” Vedder says with little conviction. Later, he takes extraordinary pleasure in recounting, song-by-song, moment-by-moment, the solo set he’d seen Pete Townshend perform a few weeks before, and I just don’t have the heart to challenge him on Townshend’s dubious past 20 years. Even when he’s garrulously sharing asides on his all-time favorite TV show, Batman, and talk turns to some of the more titillating revelations in Burt “Boy Wonder” Ward’s tell-all autobiography, Boy Wonder: My Life in Tights, Vedder can’t help but wear his Bat-heart on his sleeve. “I wish he hadn’t revealed so much,” he murmurs.
Vedder loves his boomers—Young, Dylan, Townshend—the ones who extended olive branches to an adolescent San Diego boy struggling to find an identity. He’s indebted to them, and he’s a man who repays his debts. A vital difference between Nirvana and Pearl Jam was that Nirvana, offspring of the Sex Pistols, never trusted a hippie. Pearl Jam, offspring of the Who, couldn’t wait to jam with them.
But Vedder doesn’t let just anyone into his hall of fame, and if you look closely a pattern emerges: Membership is limited to artists who have enjoyed unusually long runs, in part by making willfully difficult music that whittled down the size of their audience. None of the above-mentioned icons sell many records anymore, and only Young continues to contribute to the language of rock, but all three can still pack concert halls, and with varying degrees can still summon the spirit of their greatness. They’ve remained faithful iconoclasts—the same can be also be said for more contemporary inductees such as ex-Minutemen bassist Mike Watt and recent retiree Johnny Ramone—and when Vedder looks in the mirror, it’s their reflections he hopes to glimpse. At 31, he may not be ready to cut the cord quite yet, to write a big fuck-you like Trans or Slow Train Coming. But he’s plainly willing to sacrifice some record sales, even some audience goodwill, in order to maintain control over his art and his life.
“Hopefully, people will continue to extend me the benefit of the doubt,” says Vedder. “If not…” His voice trails off for a moment, but comes back strong. “Well, I’ve gotten a lot, and I appreciate it all. But I could also see myself trading it all in.”
Which is precisely what Vedder did on June 24, 1995, at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. “It was amazing to me how unsympathetic some people were to the situation,” recalls Ament. “Neil [Young] happened to be there; we were making a record together so we knew a bunch of songs. He dragged us back out there. We had our heads down, we were like, ‘Oh my God, this is the worst fucking day.'”
Ament, of course, is referring to the nadir of their ill-fated 1995 tour, when, due to a mix of food poisoning and general exhaustion, Vedder walked offstage after only seven songs, leaving Neil Young and the four remaining members of Pearl Jam to finish off the set. Two days later, physically and emotionally drained, they canceled the remainder of the tour. “I think we all agreed that it had gotten insane, that it was no longer about the music,” says Vedder.
What had supplanted the music was a furious battle with the nation’s dominant ticketing agency, Ticketmaster, and the band’s subsequent attempt to tour the U.S. without playing Ticketmaster-controlled venues. A 1994 squabble over service charges snowballed into an obsession that nearly tore the band apart.
“We were trying to keep our ticket prices low,” recalls Kelly Curtis, Pearl Jam’s manager since their inception, “and we were finding that in a lot of cases, the service charge was changing randomly. Sometimes it would be five bucks, sometimes it would be eight, and we didn’t understand why. And the response was a very cocky Fred Rosen [president of Ticketmaster] saying, ‘If you guys are stupid enough not to make what you’re worth, then I’m going to make what you’re worth.’ They wouldn’t even print their service charge on the tickets. It looked like we were charging, say, 26 bucks for a ticket when we were really only charging 18. My brother, who’s a lawyer, turned me on to another lawyer, and he thought it was all very interesting, and the next thing I know the Justice Department is calling…”
In May 1994, Pearl Jam officially asked the United States Department of Justice to investigate Ticketmaster on antitrust charges, alleging that the company’s 1991 buyout of Ticketron resulted in a Ticketmaster monopoly over ticket distribution in the country’s arenas and stadiums. When Pearl Jam tried to mount a summer 1994 tour using non-Ticketmaster facilities, they claimed that Ticketmaster had used its influence to successfully pressure promoters to boycott the low-cost tour. Instead of appearing before thousands of moshing fans, Ament and Gossard found themselves appearing before the far more sedate House subcommittee on Information, Justice, Transportation, and Agriculture, testifying that they “should have the freedom to go elsewhere if Ticketmaster is not prepared to negotiate terms that are acceptable to both of us.” (In July 1995, the Justice Department dropped its investigation; analysts believe that because venue owners and promoters willingly entered into the exclusive contracts, the Justice Department had no choice but to clear Ticketmaster.)
Unwilling to back down from their now very-public stand and still hoping to tour the U.S. on some scale, Pearl Jam began employing upstart ticketing agency ETM Entertainment Network on their summer 1995 tour, impressed by the company’s system, which included tickets printed with the purchaser’s name and an individual bar-code to prevent scalping, 8,000 phone lines to ensure responsive service, and a service fee of only two dollars. “Their service is so much better [than Ticketmaster’s],” attests Curtis. “You don’t have to have a credit card to order by phone. You don’t have to have advertising on the ticket. It wasn’t the ticketing that fucked that tour up.”
The real problems were the still-scarce number of feasible alternate venues and the intense scrutiny the band was now under. The tour’s opening show in Boise, Idaho, had to be relocated to Casper, Wyoming, after a ticketing dispute with Boise State University. On June 5, less than two weeks before the tour’s kickoff, the San Diego Sheriff’s Department demanded that the band move two shows scheduled for the Del Mar Fairgrounds to the Ticketmaster-controlled San Diego Sports Arena, citing fears of insufficient security. On June 17, yet another show was canceled, this time due to torrential rain and hail. By the time Pearl Jam reached San Francisco on June 24, they had just four completed concerts to show for their considerable efforts. A rancid room-service tuna-fish sandwich was the last straw.
“I needed a sick day,” says Vedder, “and you can’t necessarily do that in this job. There are 50,000 people, and they’ve all come to this place, and—oh, it was just brutal.” The band had had enough windmill-tilting, and they called an end to the tour.
But less than 48 hours later, having cast off the pressure of having to play, Pearl Jam realized that they still wanted to play. “Two days later we were calling each other on the phone,” says Vedder. “There were songs that I was really excited about playing, that everyone was excited about playing.”
“We needed to regroup,” adds McCready. “We sat and talked for a good four hours about all kinds of things.”
“Within a week,” finishes Vedder, “we had rescheduled every one of those shows.” And it was after the band’s July 11 makeup gig in Chicago that they quietly booked time in a local studio and began laying down tracks for what would become No Code. Why begin making a new record so soon after flirting with disaster? “The theory is that rather than meet up after you’ve been away for two months and don’t recognize each other, you go in while everyone’s fingers are flexible and our voices are warm,” says Vedder.
But how did the emotional baggage from the tour play itself out on No Code? The answer can be found in the humble, almost New Age meditations of tracks such as “Sometimes” (“Seek my part / Devote myself / My small self / Like a book amongst the many on a shelf”) and “In My Tree” (“Up here in my tree / I’m trading stories with the leaves… / Wave to all my friends / They don’t seem to notice me”). With nowhere else to turn, Pearl Jam turned within.
“I learned to, what’s that martial arts phrase, Jeet Kune Do,” says Vedder. “You know, where someone comes at you with a whole bunch of energy and you just use that energy to let that thing knock itself down. Don’t get in there and try to wrestle those things that are so much bigger than you; just divert that whole energy and let that thing trip over itself.”
Did recording with such renowned Zen masters as Ali Khan and Young provide any shelter from the storm?
“Singing with Nusrat was pretty heavy,” says Vedder. “There was definitely a spiritual element. I saw him warm up once, and I walked out of the room and just broke down. I mean, God, what amazing power and energy.”
“And we learned so much from Neil,” says McCready.
“Yeah, he’s got a really quiet wisdom,” says Ament. “He’s not beating you over the head with his, um, big book of wisdom.”
“I’d never felt, for lack of a better word, as high as when I’d look over and see Neil playing lead on ‘Down by the River,'” says McCready.
“We get along like old neighbors when we’re in the studio,” says Vedder. “It’s as comfortable as can be. But when you’re on stage playing with Neil, well—it’s one thing to be at the zoo and watch an animal pace around its cage. It’s another to be in the cage with him.”
So, I ask Vedder, seeing that you’re hobnobbing with rock stars, not to mention basketball divas, are we really supposed to buy that bit about you being “a book amongst the many on a shelf?”
“You know, you people have given me so much shit for that line. Like, ‘yeah, fucking right, you’re that guy.’ But you know what?” Vedder looks me straight in the eye. “I am that guy.” Then he motions around the room. “We are that guy.”
On the night before the Torwar show, Vedder wanders into the hotel bar at about 6 P.M., notebook in hand, eager to share with me a song he had just written. His face is flush with pride, his eyes beaming. I rub my hands in anticipation, hoping for a scene like the one in Don’t Look Back where Bob Dylan unveils “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” to a stunned and select few.
“This is called ‘Room Service Tray,'” Vedder announces, his eyes buried deep in his own handwriting. “And it’s from the point of view of one of those room-service trays, and the tray, it always feels left out because people eat off it and then just cruelly leave it outside for the maid to pick up, wash off, and send to yet another room.” Vedder glances up and tosses me a wide, knowing smile. “I think that this proves that I can find the pain in anything.”
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Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
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The Road Less Traveled: Our 1997 Pearl Jam Cover Story
So 'No Code' is no 'Jagged Little Pill.' With a new drummer and a renewed sense of purpose, Pearl Jam have never been happier. Craig Marks travels to Poland to meet the band that wouldn't be king
This article originally appeared in the February 1997 issue of SPIN. In honor of No Code turning 25, we’re republishing this article here.
Here is a joke Eddie Vedder told me. It wasn’t the only joke he told, but it was probably the best, and it bears repeating.
“How many members of Pearl Jam does it take to change a lightbulb?”
When Eddie Vedder asks a question of you, or you of him, or when he makes an important point, or when he shares something with you and wants a reaction, his eyebrows shoot up so they’re suddenly at right angles to each other. It brings to mind disbelieving girlfriends, mean teachers, and Satan. It’s an altogether unwelcoming look, and it’s immediately amplified by a steely glare and furrowed brow. For a moment—a long moment—you can’t help but believe those damning reports about Vedder’s dour disposition.
But then, just before you flinch, the tension is lanced by a grin. The grin is often set to his own words, and it’s a grin that’s less about self-satisfaction than about breaking the ice, than about inclusiveness. It’s a grin that says forget about what you’ve heard or read, I’m not that guarded, that somber, that paranoid, that humorless, that much of a pain-in-everyone’s-ass. It’s a warm, winning grin, and it works.
“I give up, Eddie. How many members of Pearl Jam does it take to change a lightbulb?”
Vedder stands up, screws his face into a mask of spokesman-for-a-generation pain, and yells: “Change?! Change? We’re not gonna change for anyone! Do you hear me? Not for anyone!“
For just over five years now, Pearl Jam—Vedder, guitarists Mike McCready and Stone Gossard, bassist Jeff Ament, and new drummer Jack Irons—have come to represent most everything that is right, or wrong, with rock’n’roll. They’ve been hailed as saviors, berated as frauds, lauded for their integrity, and ridiculed for their earnestness. They’ve been accused of flagrant careerism and of calculated anti-careerism. They’ve shown genuine empathy for their fans, yet they’ve made it exceedingly difficult for those fans to see them play. They’ve sold too many records, now they sell too few. A recent Rolling Stone cover story even went so far as to question the validity of Vedder’s expressions of anger and betrayal on the grounds that he was a gifted member of his high school drama club. Football team maybe, but drama club?
Pearl Jam have always presented an easy target for snipers. Gossard and Ament helped draw up the blueprints for grunge, first with the Stooges-like Green River, then with the more glam Mother Love Bone, but revisionists have dubbed them opportunists, not pioneers, overlooking the fact that the Seattle sound was always equal parts Black Flag and Bad Company. That Pearl Jam expressed more musical solidarity with the latter than the former outraged those who resented the connection. When Pearl Jam’s AOR-friendly grunge followed Nirvana’s purer version to the top of the charts, they were cast as villains by the indie-rock underground. When they outsold, outdrew, and then outlasted their contemporaries, the resentment grew further. And when they wondered aloud if being on top was so great after all, things got worse even still.
Such is the custom-made cross-to-bear that Pearl Jam carry on their backs. And it’s begun to exact a toll; the world’s most popular rock band is currently suffering through the first popular backlash of its career, and not just because they’ve recently discovered polyrhythms. They find themselves in the unfamiliar position of having a new record, No Code, praised by critics as a brave if not altogether successful departure but treated coldly by record-buyers, relative to the band’s three previous smash hits—Ten, Vs., and Vitalogy. (At press time, No Code has slid down to number 64 on the Billboard charts; according to SoundScan, it has sold 948,000 copies to date). This may bother me more than it does Vedder. “It’s great!” he says about the record’s sluggish sales. “We can be a little more normal now.”
It’s this quest for normalcy that has come to define Pearl Jam’s public identity and has begun to frustrate even their most devoted supporters. Perhaps the only sane way to deal with the crush of fame in the hyperaccelerated ’90s is to tease it, wink at it, blow it postmodern kisses, a la Bono and Michael Stipe. But Pearl Jam are fundamentally incapable of such irony or glibness. They’ve nixed making videos (their last clip was for 1992’s “Jeremy”), declined most every request for an interview, and battled a corporation, Ticketmaster, that no one much complained about to begin with, all of which has left fans feeling confused and resentful, unsure of why their favorite band won’t play ball like the rest of the alternative nation.
“There has to be a basic dialogue between your band and your public,” says Timothy White, editor-in-chief of Billboard magazine (and Spin contributing editor). “People want an ebb and flow of ideas, and they just don’t understand the degree of reticence that has crept up around the band.”
“We’re selfish,” shrugs Vedder. “We want it to be about the music. We don’t really care about any of this stuff,” referring specifically to interviews, but generally to anything that isn’t recording or playing. “We don’t feel we need to justify anything. We know where we’re coming from, and then it gets misconstrued, or people don’t understand certain things, like why you couldn’t play in San Francisco, or why you don’t participate with the music channel. You definitely feel like responding to a lot of this stuff, but then you realize that it just kind of goes away. As long as you focus on the music, all that stuff doesn’t matter.”
The funny thing is, Vedder and Pearl Jam seem to be able to handle “all that stuff.” Beyond Mike McCready’s bout with alcohol addiction (he’s been sober since 1994), they’ve avoided falling prey to the clichés that have become sadly synonymous with Seattle’s rock scene. Their lineup, with the one exception, has remained constant. So has Vedder’s 12-year relationship with his girlfriend-turned-wife, Beth Liebling, who fronts her own band, the space-jamming Hovercraft. Despite their private conflicts and public handwringing, Pearl Jam have emerged from a tumultuous half-decade of superstardom with their dignity, their integrity, and even their enthusiasm intact. Given modern rock’s current undignified state, and a music industry greedier than ever, that is no small feat.
Pearl Jam are both drawn to and embarrassed by their ethical and moral stands, not unlike the way heavy drinkers or sex addicts feel about their poisons the morning after. They build issues up, only to have to live them down. Sizable time must now be spent swearing on a stack of Sub Pop singles that they’re not frumpy killjoys. “We don’t bemoan,” Vedder laughs when I pose a question containing said verb. “I don’t want to be known as a bemoaner.”
So they’ve grown more and more comfortable with who they are, and who they are includes having escapist side projects (Ament’s alt-Eastern Three Fish, McCready’s brooding Mad Season, Gossard’s neo-funky Loosegroove label, Vedder’s meditative scattings with qawwali star Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan on the Dead Man Walking soundtrack, the group’s garage-band fantasies with Neil Young on Mirror Ball, cool hometown supporters (Mudhoney, the Fastbacks), and freaky celebrity friends (Dennis Rodman)). “We’re having a great time these days,” confirms Gossard.
Pressed, they’ll even admit that they enjoy being rock stars, so long as they can decide what that means. “We’re not going to look at the financial end and make decisions based on that,” says Vedder. “If it doesn’t feel right, we don’t want to do it.” Vedder looks at his bandmates and grins. “I’m kind of proud of that.”
It’s four o’clock on a bone-chilling Warsaw afternoon, and outside drab Torwar Arena, hundreds of bundled-up Polish kids are already milling about, their hands torn between the warmth of their coat pockets and the buzz of another cigarette. American rock’n’roll bands rarely include Poland on their European itinerary, and the November 1 Pearl Jam/Fastbacks concert has been sold out for weeks. “We’ll lose money playing here,” said Vedder later, “but I really thought we should do it.”
Inside, Pearl Jam have finished an ear-splitting soundcheck, withstood the trauma of a 15-minute photo shoot, and are now plopped down in their dressing room to sip some hot tea and discuss their new record. The mood is loose and amiable: “Keep it down, you freak!” yells Vedder through the wall to the Fastbacks’ Kim Warnick, who is loudly enthusing about something; “Fuck you, you fuck,” is her eloquent retort. Not exactly renowned for their sense of whimsy, Pearl Jam are visibly giddy when describing the word game they’ve been playing on the road. “You take a well-known person’s name and put it into a phrase,” explains Vedder. “Like, ‘I hope I die before I’m Bob Mould.'”
“Or, ‘SupermodelKimAlexisExpialadocious,'” beams Irons.
“LucIan MacKaye with Diamonds,” adds Vedder.
“Tie a yellow ribbon around Charles Oakley,” cracks McCready.
“This one’s a bit longer, but it’s good,” promises Vedder. “‘You may say I’m a dreamer / But I’m not the only one / I hope someday you’ll join us / Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.'”
Such mirth is in marked contrast to my initial tug-of-war with the group two nights before. “So,” wondered Ament after 60 minutes of terse Q&A, “maybe you have some questions about the record, something more specific?” I wouldn’t go so far as to call them surly; Ament had been gregarious and kind, Gossard cooperative if guarded, Vedder likewise but more guarded still, McCready reserved, even shy. But the tempo, no pun intended, had been set by the recalcitrant Irons, Vedder’s longtime friend from his San Diego days, who shares the group’s disdain for all things media, and appears to have assumed the role of the band’s spiritual center. Irons, 34, who lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two kids, and who once committed himself to a psychiatric hospital after the fatal overdose of his then-Red Hot Chili Peppers bandmate Hillel Slovak, brings to Pearl Jam not just a supple presence behind the kit, but a Zenlike groundedness in the here-and-now that has helped the group navigate some stormy seas.
“Jack’s personality, maturity, and generosity have really helped us communicate with each other,” says Gossard. “It feels like this is how it was intended to be,” marvels Ament. “This should have been the band from the beginning,” states Vedder simply. Irons gently downplays his role as peacemaker. “It’s just a new relationship,” he demurs. “It’s just one of life’s adjustments.” He knows, though, how easy it is to get sidetracked by the extracurriculars. “The whole point is that we’re making music,” says Irons, echoing the now-familiar mantra. “We’re actually feeling something. And people can sense that.”
Irons is more than just a calming influence; his complicated beats set the rhythmic tone of No Code, from the moody drum circles of “In My Tree” to the Eastern swirl of “Who You Are.” “We realized that we had an opportunity to experiment,” says Vedder of recording with Irons. “For instance, everyone has written that ‘Who Are You’ was obviously inspired by my collaboration with Nusrat, but that’s not where it came from.”
“I’d been playing that [drum pattern] since I was eight,” says Irons. “It was inspired by a Max Roach drum solo I heard at a drum shop when I was a little kid.”
“When I first heard that song, I was totally blown away by it,” raves McCready. “I thought it was the best song we had ever done.”
But is it a single? “Who You Are” was the band’s hand-picked choice for the first radio track from No Code, an obviously difficult song that garnered little enthusiasm at radio and set the table for No Code’s subpar commercial performance. Vedder admits that the band’s selection of “Who You Are” was a “conscious decision” made partly to keep the size of their audience, and hence their lives, manageable, and that’s consistent with the album’s musical experiments. It’s not all odd meters and hushed ballads—”Hail, Hail” and “Smile” crunch nicely, while “Lukin,” “Habit,” and Stone Gossard’s kicky “Mankind” show real scrap and gusto—but No Code does challenge Pearl Jam fans to either accept the band as is, or else go listen to Seven Mary Three, Silverchair, or any other readily available source of vintage grunge. My own wish would be for them to reclaim the confident middle ground they occupied on Vitalogy; for all its good intentions, No Code is too insular, too stingy on pleasure. It’s easy to admire, but I wish I enjoyed it more.
“I guess we’re constantly trying to find a balance,” says Ament. “There are very obviously times with this band when everything’s been thrown out of whack, where things have felt crazy, where you’re just going with the clip and there’s no way you can go back and land. So consequently, there are times when we need to isolate, to figure out what we are doing with our lives.”
“Making No Code,” concludes Vedder, “was all about gaining perspective.”
Later that night, in front of 6,500 screaming Poles, Vedder’s words ring in my ears as I watch the band from the side of the stage. Contrary to published reports of Pearl Jam as cynical stars going through the motions, their two-plus-hour set is joyful and generous, studded with standards (“Even Flow,” “Alive,” “Jeremy”), obscurities (“State of Love and Trust” from 1992’s Singles soundtrack, Vs.‘s “Indifference”), and a rich sampling of material from No Code. And the No Code tracks do more than hold their own against the evening’s better-known songs; they overshadow them. Dirges on record, “Present Tense,” “In My Tree,” and “Sometimes” throb and twitch in concert like R&B slow jams; for the first time in their musical lives, Pearl Jam sound sexy. They’re playing not just to the cheap seats but to each other, with a tenderness and playfulness I would never have expected, and which the Torwar crowd connects with instantly. When Vedder introduces the next-to-last song of the night, No Code’s “Smile,” he makes no attempt to hide his emotions. “This is the happiest song we know,” he announces, “and this is for you.”
You haven’t really drunk deeply from the Big Gulp of democracy until you’ve seen a dance floor full of drunken Polish teenagers contorting their arms in unison to spell out the chorus to the Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.” It’s an otherworldly scene, made more so by the white face paint, witch hats, and mummy suits many of the patrons are sporting for this Halloween celebration. Then there’s the matter of my date for the evening, who, if I may speculate, doesn’t usually go in for this sort of entertainment.
“So,” Vedder turns and asks me, “uh, you want another beer?” It’s past midnight, and supposedly somewhere amidst the dry ice and pumping house music are Gossard and McCready. But an hour has passed since we were whisked into the club, and there’s no sign of Vedder’s mates. The closest we’ve come were a couple of female American exchange students who heard us speaking English and invited us to dance. Vedder, looking stricken, politely declined.
As the music heats up and the crowd thickens, Vedder and I duck into a booth and quickly order another round. The disco was Gossard’s idea—he’s a huge fan of hip-hop and R&B, though he draws the line at the more mechanical strains of house music—and Vedder’s clearly a fish out of water here. It’s not just the strobe lights and BPMs, either; Vedder, like so many celebrities these days, has spent the last two years defending himself, his wife, and his home against the maddening intrusions of a stalker, and he’s understandably gun-shy about chatting with strangers.
“What’s really sad about the whole thing is that Beth and I are the kind of people who’d love to ask some kid, some fan, into our house, you know, sit them down and play them records from our jukebox, that kind of thing.” Vedder finishes off his beer. “But we just can’t do that now.” Instead, he now passes the time at his Seattle home by tossing a ball around with the security guards that patrol his yard 24-7.
Little wonder, then, that Vedder feels so adamantly about keeping his mug out of the spotlight; he’s learned firsthand the dangers of overexposure. “Look at those,” he groans, pointing up to the American tequila posters and beer-bottle floats that hang from the club’s walls and ceiling. It’s as if he recognizes a former piece of himself in those advertisements, and he’s not going to allow his band to be turned into a product again. Hence the boycott of “the music channel,” which has lately become anything but.
“The other night I was watching Alice in Chains on MTV Unplugged,” says Vedder. “I’ve known those guys for awhile, and toward the show’s end, I could tell that Layne [Staley] and Jerry [Cantrell] were sharing a real moment. It was pretty moving. And then one second later, some idiot’s screaming, ‘Take 50 guys, and 50 girls.'” He shakes his head in disgust.
“I’ve known Eddie before anyone even cared who he was,” says Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell, who first met Vedder in 1990 at a rehearsal for their side project Temple of the Dog, “and his attitude about things like that has been absolutely consistent. He’s never been interested in selling millions of records. That band has taken an amazing amount of risks throughout their career. New bands could learn a lot from them. I’ve learned a lot from them.”
If Eddie Vedder has a blind spot, it’s this: He believes in heroes. You’d think that the deception he suffered as a kid—he was led to believe by his mother that his stepfather, for whom he felt little, was his real dad—would have curtailed such leaps of faith, but mention any number of musicians to Vedder and you can plainly see that his emotional investment in them borders on the devotional. When he tells me that Bob Dylan recently sold the rights to “The Times They Are A-Changin'” to a financial company for use in a commercial, he looks as if he’s lost his best friend. “I can only hope that it’s some kind of ironic joke,” Vedder says with little conviction. Later, he takes extraordinary pleasure in recounting, song-by-song, moment-by-moment, the solo set he’d seen Pete Townshend perform a few weeks before, and I just don’t have the heart to challenge him on Townshend’s dubious past 20 years. Even when he’s garrulously sharing asides on his all-time favorite TV show, Batman, and talk turns to some of the more titillating revelations in Burt “Boy Wonder” Ward’s tell-all autobiography, Boy Wonder: My Life in Tights, Vedder can’t help but wear his Bat-heart on his sleeve. “I wish he hadn’t revealed so much,” he murmurs.
Vedder loves his boomers—Young, Dylan, Townshend—the ones who extended olive branches to an adolescent San Diego boy struggling to find an identity. He’s indebted to them, and he’s a man who repays his debts. A vital difference between Nirvana and Pearl Jam was that Nirvana, offspring of the Sex Pistols, never trusted a hippie. Pearl Jam, offspring of the Who, couldn’t wait to jam with them.
But Vedder doesn’t let just anyone into his hall of fame, and if you look closely a pattern emerges: Membership is limited to artists who have enjoyed unusually long runs, in part by making willfully difficult music that whittled down the size of their audience. None of the above-mentioned icons sell many records anymore, and only Young continues to contribute to the language of rock, but all three can still pack concert halls, and with varying degrees can still summon the spirit of their greatness. They’ve remained faithful iconoclasts—the same can be also be said for more contemporary inductees such as ex-Minutemen bassist Mike Watt and recent retiree Johnny Ramone—and when Vedder looks in the mirror, it’s their reflections he hopes to glimpse. At 31, he may not be ready to cut the cord quite yet, to write a big fuck-you like Trans or Slow Train Coming. But he’s plainly willing to sacrifice some record sales, even some audience goodwill, in order to maintain control over his art and his life.
“Hopefully, people will continue to extend me the benefit of the doubt,” says Vedder. “If not…” His voice trails off for a moment, but comes back strong. “Well, I’ve gotten a lot, and I appreciate it all. But I could also see myself trading it all in.”
Which is precisely what Vedder did on June 24, 1995, at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. “It was amazing to me how unsympathetic some people were to the situation,” recalls Ament. “Neil [Young] happened to be there; we were making a record together so we knew a bunch of songs. He dragged us back out there. We had our heads down, we were like, ‘Oh my God, this is the worst fucking day.'”
Ament, of course, is referring to the nadir of their ill-fated 1995 tour, when, due to a mix of food poisoning and general exhaustion, Vedder walked offstage after only seven songs, leaving Neil Young and the four remaining members of Pearl Jam to finish off the set. Two days later, physically and emotionally drained, they canceled the remainder of the tour. “I think we all agreed that it had gotten insane, that it was no longer about the music,” says Vedder.
What had supplanted the music was a furious battle with the nation’s dominant ticketing agency, Ticketmaster, and the band’s subsequent attempt to tour the U.S. without playing Ticketmaster-controlled venues. A 1994 squabble over service charges snowballed into an obsession that nearly tore the band apart.
“We were trying to keep our ticket prices low,” recalls Kelly Curtis, Pearl Jam’s manager since their inception, “and we were finding that in a lot of cases, the service charge was changing randomly. Sometimes it would be five bucks, sometimes it would be eight, and we didn’t understand why. And the response was a very cocky Fred Rosen [president of Ticketmaster] saying, ‘If you guys are stupid enough not to make what you’re worth, then I’m going to make what you’re worth.’ They wouldn’t even print their service charge on the tickets. It looked like we were charging, say, 26 bucks for a ticket when we were really only charging 18. My brother, who’s a lawyer, turned me on to another lawyer, and he thought it was all very interesting, and the next thing I know the Justice Department is calling…”
In May 1994, Pearl Jam officially asked the United States Department of Justice to investigate Ticketmaster on antitrust charges, alleging that the company’s 1991 buyout of Ticketron resulted in a Ticketmaster monopoly over ticket distribution in the country’s arenas and stadiums. When Pearl Jam tried to mount a summer 1994 tour using non-Ticketmaster facilities, they claimed that Ticketmaster had used its influence to successfully pressure promoters to boycott the low-cost tour. Instead of appearing before thousands of moshing fans, Ament and Gossard found themselves appearing before the far more sedate House subcommittee on Information, Justice, Transportation, and Agriculture, testifying that they “should have the freedom to go elsewhere if Ticketmaster is not prepared to negotiate terms that are acceptable to both of us.” (In July 1995, the Justice Department dropped its investigation; analysts believe that because venue owners and promoters willingly entered into the exclusive contracts, the Justice Department had no choice but to clear Ticketmaster.)
Unwilling to back down from their now very-public stand and still hoping to tour the U.S. on some scale, Pearl Jam began employing upstart ticketing agency ETM Entertainment Network on their summer 1995 tour, impressed by the company’s system, which included tickets printed with the purchaser’s name and an individual bar-code to prevent scalping, 8,000 phone lines to ensure responsive service, and a service fee of only two dollars. “Their service is so much better [than Ticketmaster’s],” attests Curtis. “You don’t have to have a credit card to order by phone. You don’t have to have advertising on the ticket. It wasn’t the ticketing that fucked that tour up.”
The real problems were the still-scarce number of feasible alternate venues and the intense scrutiny the band was now under. The tour’s opening show in Boise, Idaho, had to be relocated to Casper, Wyoming, after a ticketing dispute with Boise State University. On June 5, less than two weeks before the tour’s kickoff, the San Diego Sheriff’s Department demanded that the band move two shows scheduled for the Del Mar Fairgrounds to the Ticketmaster-controlled San Diego Sports Arena, citing fears of insufficient security. On June 17, yet another show was canceled, this time due to torrential rain and hail. By the time Pearl Jam reached San Francisco on June 24, they had just four completed concerts to show for their considerable efforts. A rancid room-service tuna-fish sandwich was the last straw.
“I needed a sick day,” says Vedder, “and you can’t necessarily do that in this job. There are 50,000 people, and they’ve all come to this place, and—oh, it was just brutal.” The band had had enough windmill-tilting, and they called an end to the tour.
But less than 48 hours later, having cast off the pressure of having to play, Pearl Jam realized that they still wanted to play. “Two days later we were calling each other on the phone,” says Vedder. “There were songs that I was really excited about playing, that everyone was excited about playing.”
“We needed to regroup,” adds McCready. “We sat and talked for a good four hours about all kinds of things.”
“Within a week,” finishes Vedder, “we had rescheduled every one of those shows.” And it was after the band’s July 11 makeup gig in Chicago that they quietly booked time in a local studio and began laying down tracks for what would become No Code. Why begin making a new record so soon after flirting with disaster? “The theory is that rather than meet up after you’ve been away for two months and don’t recognize each other, you go in while everyone’s fingers are flexible and our voices are warm,” says Vedder.
But how did the emotional baggage from the tour play itself out on No Code? The answer can be found in the humble, almost New Age meditations of tracks such as “Sometimes” (“Seek my part / Devote myself / My small self / Like a book amongst the many on a shelf”) and “In My Tree” (“Up here in my tree / I’m trading stories with the leaves… / Wave to all my friends / They don’t seem to notice me”). With nowhere else to turn, Pearl Jam turned within.
“I learned to, what’s that martial arts phrase, Jeet Kune Do,” says Vedder. “You know, where someone comes at you with a whole bunch of energy and you just use that energy to let that thing knock itself down. Don’t get in there and try to wrestle those things that are so much bigger than you; just divert that whole energy and let that thing trip over itself.”
Did recording with such renowned Zen masters as Ali Khan and Young provide any shelter from the storm?
“Singing with Nusrat was pretty heavy,” says Vedder. “There was definitely a spiritual element. I saw him warm up once, and I walked out of the room and just broke down. I mean, God, what amazing power and energy.”
“And we learned so much from Neil,” says McCready.
“Yeah, he’s got a really quiet wisdom,” says Ament. “He’s not beating you over the head with his, um, big book of wisdom.”
“I’d never felt, for lack of a better word, as high as when I’d look over and see Neil playing lead on ‘Down by the River,'” says McCready.
“We get along like old neighbors when we’re in the studio,” says Vedder. “It’s as comfortable as can be. But when you’re on stage playing with Neil, well—it’s one thing to be at the zoo and watch an animal pace around its cage. It’s another to be in the cage with him.”
So, I ask Vedder, seeing that you’re hobnobbing with rock stars, not to mention basketball divas, are we really supposed to buy that bit about you being “a book amongst the many on a shelf?”
“You know, you people have given me so much shit for that line. Like, ‘yeah, fucking right, you’re that guy.’ But you know what?” Vedder looks me straight in the eye. “I am that guy.” Then he motions around the room. “We are that guy.”
On the night before the Torwar show, Vedder wanders into the hotel bar at about 6 P.M., notebook in hand, eager to share with me a song he had just written. His face is flush with pride, his eyes beaming. I rub my hands in anticipation, hoping for a scene like the one in Don’t Look Back where Bob Dylan unveils “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” to a stunned and select few.
“This is called ‘Room Service Tray,'” Vedder announces, his eyes buried deep in his own handwriting. “And it’s from the point of view of one of those room-service trays, and the tray, it always feels left out because people eat off it and then just cruelly leave it outside for the maid to pick up, wash off, and send to yet another room.” Vedder glances up and tosses me a wide, knowing smile. “I think that this proves that I can find the pain in anything.”
Ambrosía.
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Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por henchman 02.09.21 9:47
Hoy hace 15 años del bolaco en el Azkena.
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Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por Heaven 02.09.21 10:02
El Ten es un album que me marco, pero gracias a a No Code mi mente se abrió a más sonidos y músicas . Recuerdo expectante la salida de ese discos y sacarle el jugo durante meses.
Hoy me he encontrado esto en Spotify
No Code Live
Hoy me he encontrado esto en Spotify
No Code Live
Heaven- Mensajes : 5918
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Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por Breath 02.09.21 12:58
henchman escribió:
Hoy hace 15 años del bolaco en el Azkena.
Concierto favorito de la historia.
Breath- Mensajes : 25962
Fecha de inscripción : 15/10/2009
Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por Humpty Dumpty 02.09.21 13:07
Breath escribió:henchman escribió:
Hoy hace 15 años del bolaco en el Azkena.
Concierto favorito de la historia.
CORRECTO
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Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por rearviewmirror 02.09.21 13:17
Concierto favorito de la historia.
Lo mismo pero con el que dieron un par de días después en Madrid.
rearviewmirror- Mensajes : 33252
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Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por bottleofdenial 02.09.21 13:46
rearviewmirror escribió:Concierto favorito de la historia.
Lo mismo pero con el que dieron un par de días después en Madrid.
Ese fue enorme también...Qué gran día...
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Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por Breath 02.09.21 14:41
bottleofdenial escribió:rearviewmirror escribió:Concierto favorito de la historia.
Lo mismo pero con el que dieron un par de días después en Madrid.
Ese fue enorme también...Qué gran día...
Fue maravilloso también, vive Dios.
Breath- Mensajes : 25962
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Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por henchman 18.09.21 12:13
Hoy vuelven a actuar. Primer concierto desde 2018.
Prueba de sonido:
Long Road
The Rising /My city of ruins (w/choir )
DOTC
C Numb
Satan's Bed
Release
7 O'Clock
Superblood Wolfmoon
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Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por Caffeine 18.09.21 16:27
Y si no es superblood que sea supersonic
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Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por Intruder 18.09.21 16:40
Debut de Seven O'Clock!
Si han ensayado la dupla de Springsteen debe ser que el concierto es en NYC....
Si han ensayado la dupla de Springsteen debe ser que el concierto es en NYC....
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Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por Breath 18.09.21 16:46
Intruder escribió:Debut de Seven O'Clock!
Si han ensayado la dupla de Springsteen debe ser que el concierto es en NYC....
Es en Asbury Park.
Breath- Mensajes : 25962
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Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por henchman 18.09.21 17:34
Parece que no han ensayado the rising. Solo my city in ruins con el coro.
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Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por Intruder 18.09.21 23:14
Pues alta probabilidad de tener un invitado especial en el escenario.....
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Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por Oker 18.09.21 23:29
Que va a subir Bruce con ellos al escenario lo sabe hasta Fran Blanco.
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Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por henchman 19.09.21 9:19
Pues acerté en mi pronóstico sobre esta gira. Bienvenido Josh Klinghoffer. Desde ahora un miembro más en los directos. Guitarras, coros, teclados, samplers, percusión,...
01. Dance Of The Clairvoyants-(live debut)
02. Quick Escape-(live debut)
03. Seven O’Clock-(live debut)
(Thanks Patty Smith. Nervous about Covid and playing for the first time in three years.)
04. Corduroy
(introduces Josh Klinghoffer who is playing with the band on this tour)
05. Present Tense
06. Never Destination-(live debut)
07. Even Flow
(Feeling sad about the people we lost. Mentions Charlie Watts and Norm Macdonald)
08. Wishlist (outro of song is Waiting on a Friend-Jagger, Richards. played for 46 seconds. Changes lyric to “wishing on a friend”. ) {{Mid song Ed stops to check on audience. They pick up and finish the song}
09. Superblood Wolfmoon-(live debut)
10. Red Mosquito (with Danny Clinch-harmonica)
11. Daughter/WMA (plays WMA for 2:22)
12. Take The Long Way-(live debut)
13. Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town
14. Given To Fly
15. State Of Love And Trust
(Bruce Springsteen can tell a pretty good story+police ticket)
16. Better Man/People Have The Power-(Smith, Smith) Patty Smith cover. People have the power lasts 1:31 seconds)
17. Porch
Encore Break
18. My City Of Ruins-(Springsteen) with vocal quartet
19. Alive
20. Rockin’ In The Free World-(Young) with Lenny Kaye
01. Dance Of The Clairvoyants-(live debut)
02. Quick Escape-(live debut)
03. Seven O’Clock-(live debut)
(Thanks Patty Smith. Nervous about Covid and playing for the first time in three years.)
04. Corduroy
(introduces Josh Klinghoffer who is playing with the band on this tour)
05. Present Tense
06. Never Destination-(live debut)
07. Even Flow
(Feeling sad about the people we lost. Mentions Charlie Watts and Norm Macdonald)
08. Wishlist (outro of song is Waiting on a Friend-Jagger, Richards. played for 46 seconds. Changes lyric to “wishing on a friend”. ) {{Mid song Ed stops to check on audience. They pick up and finish the song}
09. Superblood Wolfmoon-(live debut)
10. Red Mosquito (with Danny Clinch-harmonica)
11. Daughter/WMA (plays WMA for 2:22)
12. Take The Long Way-(live debut)
13. Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town
14. Given To Fly
15. State Of Love And Trust
(Bruce Springsteen can tell a pretty good story+police ticket)
16. Better Man/People Have The Power-(Smith, Smith) Patty Smith cover. People have the power lasts 1:31 seconds)
17. Porch
Encore Break
18. My City Of Ruins-(Springsteen) with vocal quartet
19. Alive
20. Rockin’ In The Free World-(Young) with Lenny Kaye
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henchman- Mensajes : 16490
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Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por guede 19.09.21 9:42
No son suficientes en la banda para tocar? O sustituye en cierto modo a boom gaspar??henchman escribió:Pues acerté en mi pronóstico sobre esta gira. Bienvenido Josh Klinghoffer. Desde ahora un miembro más en los directos. Guitarras, coros, teclados, samplers, percusión,...
Última edición por guede el 19.09.21 9:45, editado 2 veces
guede- Mensajes : 7722
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Re: Pearl Jam, actualidad de la banda. Gigaton
por scabbed wings 19.09.21 9:44
guede escribió:No son suficientes en la banda para tocar? O sustituye a boom gaspar??henchman escribió:Pues acerté en mi pronóstico sobre esta gira. Bienvenido Josh Klinghoffer. Desde ahora un miembro más en los directos. Guitarras, coros, teclados, samplers, percusión,...
Si eso ha de que eddie suelte la guitarra, bienvenido
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