Pearl Jam

Pearl Jam is a Seattle-based rock band, who are considered to be one of the most popular and influential artists of the 1990s. They, along with Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains, helped popularize the grunge movement of the early 90's. Moreover, they are also the only grunge band that has remained active since the atrophy of their aforementioned contemporaries, despite the band's abandonment of their early sound to favour an ever evolving one that defies categorization.

Pearl Jam's Beginnings: 1990

Pearl Jam was born from the bosom of Mother Love Bone. With the death of Mother Love Bone frontman Andrew Wood and the disintegration of the band in 1990, Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament set out to create their next band. They recruited guitarist Mike McCready and recorded a 3 song demo tape. This tape made it to ex-Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Jack Irons, who passed it on to Eddie Vedder during one of their hiking trips. Eddie listened to the tape shortly before going surfing. While he was out in the water, the music played in his head and the lyrics came to him. He rushed back home and in one flurry of creativity recorded the vocals to three songs (Alive, Footsteps, and Once). The songs were what Eddie would later describe as a mini-opera. They formed a story of incest, madness and murder that became known to fans as the "Mamasan trilogy". He sent the tape with his vocals back to the band and they were so impressed that they had Vedder fly to Seattle to try out for the band. Eddie and the band hit it off and, with the addition of Dave Krusen on drums, Mookie Blaylock was formed. After being signed to Epic Records, there was some concern from record executives about the band being named after a professional basketball player who was still playing, so the band brainstormed on new names. After briefly considering Reenk Roink, they settled on Pearl Jam.

Related Topics:
Mother Love Bone - Andrew Wood - Red Hot Chili Peppers - Jack Irons - Alive - Dave Krusen - Mookie Blaylock - Epic Records

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The band came up with their peculiar name while congregated at B&O Espresso, a Seattle coffeehouse. Eddie Vedder has claimed that the name Pearl Jam is an inside joke having to do with a hallucinogenic, peyote-laced jam that Eddie's grandmother Pearl was famous for. Many people, however, consider that story to be nothing more than a joke. These people point out that it is probably not a coincidence that the phrase "pearl jam" had been in usage for some time as a euphemism for semen.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Pearl Jam's drummer, Dave Krusen, left the band shortly before the launch of their debut album. He was replaced by Matt Chamberlain, who had previously played with Edie Brickell and New Bohemians. After playing only a handful of shows - at least one of which was filmed and became the "Alive" video - Chamberlain received an offer to join the Saturday Night Live band, which he accepted. Before he left, he suggested a drummer named Dave Abbruzzese as his replacement. Abbruzzese joined shortly after, playing the rest of Pearl Jam's live shows supporting the Ten album and continuing on to record with the band for the next two albums.

Related Topics:
Dave Krusen - Matt Chamberlain - Edie Brickell and New Bohemians - Saturday Night Live - Dave Abbruzzese - Ten

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~