The History of Pearl Jam

In 1991, Eddie Vedder (former lead singer of Bad Radio) was given a tape from his good friend Jack Irons, called the "Gossard Demo 88". With a set of headphones and his surfboard, Eddie went to a beach nearby his San Diego home, surfed in the early morning hours, and upon emerging from the water, sat down and wrote the Mamason trilogy. Eddie promptly mailed the demo off to the rest of the band, and was soon flying to Seattle to record the album Ten. Pearl Jam, operating under the name Mookie Blaylock, recorded the album in less than two weeks. (Ironic, isn't it, that one of the definitive albums of the nineties was made with such little attention to every detail?) The album was released in 1991, but made little impact upon the Billboard charts. Dave Krusen, the drummer on Ten, was no longer in the band when their popularity boomed in 1992.

With the advent of such "alternative" bands as Nirvana, Pearl Jam became widely recognized as the voice of the disillusioned "Generation X". (It should be noted that Pearl Jam's Ten outsold Nirvana's Nevermind by several million.) Songs such as Alive, Evenflow, and Jeremy were in constant rotation on every major rock station. Pearl Jam made music videos for these three songs, enlisting director Mark Pellington to film the stark and disturbing video for Jeremy. Pearl Jam won a 1993 MTV Video Music Award (Best Video of the Year) for Jeremy. Pearl Jam played at the Second Annual Lolapalooza. Life seemed to be going great for them.

Pearl Jam hit the studio again to record Five Against One, the album slated to fulfill the sophomore slum. Dave Abbruzzese replaced Krusen as the band's drummer in studio. Shortly before the album was supposed to hit stores in 1993, however, the band decided to change the title of the album to Vs.. The first records purchased in the store were without title, and only on later copies of Vs was the title actually printed on the jacket. Quite a few of those albums without titles were sold, as the album sold over 900,000 copies in the first weekend alone. This broke Billboard records, and still has not been broken today. (The band closest to doing so was Metallica, with their Fuel album.) Pearl Jam refused to commercialize themselves further by making mainstream videos for MTV. Also, the band launched their attack on Ticketbastard around this time, citing their extraordinary ticket prices, service charges, and virtual monopoly on the ticket market as illegal business practices. Originally supported by bands like REM and Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam soon found themselves fighting alone when the other bands realized the effect on their own profits. Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard appeared in front of Congress to plead the case against Ticketbastard, but the case was eventually dismissed. (Yeah, like the Republican fucks in Washington were ever going to take the side of some rebellious band and knock down the TB titan!)

In 1994, the entire music community was struck by the suicide of Kurt Cobain. Eddie Vedder was particularly hurt by Cobain's death, because the two men has finally patched the schism which magazines had dubbed the "war between alternative bands". Eddie became despondent and aloof (well, even more than before, if possible). During concerts he would randomly walk off the stage. There was tension between the members of the band while recording Vitalogy, and many speculated the end of Pearl Jam. In fact, Dave Abbruzzese was fired after recording the album. Eddie was exuding exorbitant amonts of control over the album, and the other band members were worried about his mental state.

In late 1994, Eddie married his long-time girlfriend and lover, Beth Liebling (lucky bitch!). His spirits seemed to improve, and Vitalogy was released at the end of the year. Pearl Jam continued to stand by their policy of "no videos" and tried to tour through the EMT Ticket Agency. Many concerts had to be postponed, rescheduled, or outright cancelled because of out-of-the-way venues, storms, and reluctant officials. Vitalogy was nominated for several Grammies, however, including (the first time for an "alternative" band) Album of the Year. Of their three nominations, Pearl Jam won one: Best Hard Rock Performance with Spin the Black Circle. Their acceptance speech was less than satisfying for many people ("This award means nothing. . ."), and caused further separation with fans. Much of the fan base had been lost between Vs and Vitalogy, for several reasons. The lack of videos and touring were obviuosly factors, as well as the fact the Vitalogy was originally released on vinyl, to be followed by tapes and CDs two weeks later. Also, many perceived Eddie to be some whiney-baby with pretentius airs.

The band members began to work on their side projects: Eddie on soundtracks (Dead Man Walking with Nusrat Fateh Ali Kahn), Stone Gossard with his side band Brad and his new label Loosegrove Records, etc. Jack Irons, the man who brought the band together, became the new drummer for the band. The band also showed up in Neil Young's Mirror Ball.