Pearl Jam – Classic Songs
Given their fractured beginning, who would have suspected that Pearl Jam would be the last Grunge band standing?
Just as Seattle’s Mother Love Bone looked like it was going to be big news, lead singer Andrew Wood overdosed on heroin. Stone Gossard (guitar) and Jeff Ament (bass) pulled themselves from the ruins. They added Mike McCready (guitar) and Dave Krusen (drums).
In an inspired move, they linked with vocalist Eddie Vedder, who was in San Diego. Vedder was told to write lyrics and lay them over pre-recorded music. Obviously, he passed this unusual long-distance audition.
Ten Classic Pearl Jam Songs (music video posted if available):
#10. Wreckage
From the band’s tenth studio album, “Dark Matter,” the song reached #1 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock and Adult Alternative Airplay charts.
#9. Given To Fly
With lyrics by vocalist Eddie Vedder and music written by guitarist Mike McCready “Given To Fly was on the band’s fifth studio album, “Yield” (1998) and proved to be the album’s most popular single.
#8. Yellow Ledbetter
The song was an outtake from the band’s debut album, “Ten” (1991). Later, the song was selected by the band to be on the B-side of the 1992 single “Jeremey” and eventually garnered radio airplay.
#7. Do The Evolution
“That song is all about someone who’s drunk with technology, who thinks they’re the controlling living being on this planet,” noted Vedder. “It’s another one I’m not singing as myself.”
Despite the lack of a commercial single release, the song managed to chart on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart (#33).
#6. Better Man
Vedder wrote the song while he was in high school. “Sometimes I think of how far I’ve come from the teenager sitting on the bed in San Diego writing ‘Better Man’ and wondering if anyone would ever even hear it.”
#5. Alive
Written by guitarist Stone Gossard, the song originated as an instrumental titled “Dollar Short” and was included on a demo tape circulated in hopes of finding a singer. Vedder’s lyrics described a somewhat fictionalized account of the time when he was told that the man he thought was his father was not actually his biological parent.
#4. Black
“It’s about first relationships,” offered Vedder. “The song is about letting go. It’s very rare for a relationship to withstand the Earth’s gravitational pull and where it’s going to take people and how they’re going to grow. I’ve heard it said that you can’t really have a true love unless it was a love unrequited. It’s a harsh one, because then your truest one is the one you can’t have forever.”
#3. Daughter
“When we were originally working on ‘Daughter’ I did a lot more stuff on the toms,” recalled drummer Dave Abbruzzese. “But when we went in to record it, producer Brendan (O’Brien) suggested trying something different, to just use the kick and snare. It actually brought out a whole new dimension of the song for me, and it felt really fresh to me to play it like that.”
#2. Jeremy
The song was inspired by a newspaper article Vedder read about Jeremy Wade Delle a high school student who shot himself in front of his English class on in 1991.
After the original video for “Jeremy” was rejected by the band’s label, Epic Records, another video, directed by Mark Pellington was released in 1992 and received heavy rotation on MTV.
In 1993, the “Jeremy” video was awarded four MTV Video Music Awards, including Best Video of the Year.
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#1. Even Flow
Written by Vedder (lyrics) and Gossard (music) the track peaked at #3 on Billboard‘s Mainstream Rock Tracks. Even so, there was some dissatisfication with the result.
“I knew it was a great song all along, and I felt that it was the best song that we got the worst take of on the first record,” claimed bassist Jeff Ament. ” There were a hundred takes on that song, and we just never nailed it.”
“We did ‘Even Flow’ about 50, 70 times,” added guitarist Mike McCready. “I swear to God it was a nightmare. We played that thing over and over until we hated each other. I still don’t think Stone (Gossard) is satisfied with how it came out.”
An alternate version of the song was recorded in 1992 while the band was recording songs for the “Singles” soundtrack. This version was used for the music video.
Pearl Jam – Current Members
Eddie Vedder – lead vocals (1990–present), rhythm guitar (1993–present)
Jeff Ament – bass, backing vocals (1990–present), keyboards (2017–2020)
Stone Gossard – rhythm guitar, backing and occasional lead vocals (1990–present), lead guitar (1993–present), keyboards (1993–1996)
Mike McCready – lead guitar (1990–present), backing vocals (1993–1994, 2009–present)
Matt Cameron – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1998–present)
Former Members:
Dave Krusen– drums, percussion (1990–1991)
Matt Chamberlain – drums, percussion (1991)
Dave Abbruzzese – drums, percussion (1991–1994)
Jack Irons – drums, percussion (1994–1998)
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