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 Rise In Popularity: 1991-1995

Pearl Jam became a key member of the Seattle grunge explosion, along with Nirvana, Alice in Chains, and Soundgarden. Kurt Cobain at one point angrily attacked the group because he saw them as commercial "sell outs"; however Kurt and Eddie Vedder later reconciled and reportedly became friends. (See Green River). The one-sided feud allegedly ended at the 1992 MTV Music awards when Eddie Vedder slowdanced with Courtney Love and later Kurt Cobain to Eric Clapton's Tears in Heaven.

Related Topics:
Seattle - Grunge - Nirvana - Alice in Chains - Soundgarden - Kurt Cobain - Green River

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Their debut album Ten (after Mookie Blaylock's jersey number, since they could not name the band after him), contains eleven tracks, many of them dealing with dark subjects like depression, suicide, loneliness, and murder. The album, released in 1991, produced three smash hits that propelled them into the music scene- "Even Flow", "Alive", and "Jeremy". Their video for "Jeremy" was a huge hit on MTV and won several video music awards including Video of the Year and Best Group Video.

Related Topics:
Ten - Jeremy - MTV - Video music awards

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Pearl Jam's first three albums were huge, commercially and critically. Their second album Vs. set an all time record for copies sold in the first week of release in 1993 (950,000) and included the hits, "Daughter", "Dissident", and "Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town". Vs. was originally titled Five Against One (taken from the lyrics of "Animal"), but was changed to Vs. soon before release of the album. The song "Go" won a Grammy award in 1993 for "Best Hard Rock Performance". The third album Vitalogy became the second quickest selling album in history with more than 877,000 units sold in its first week in 1994. Vitalogy also holds another distinction: the vinyl version of the album was released two weeks before the cd and cassette versions. The song "Spin The Black Circle" - an homage to the seven-inch single - from their third album, won a Grammy award in 1995. Vitalogy included the hits "Not For You", "Spin The Black Circle", "Corduroy", and "Tremor Christ".

Related Topics:
Vs. - Grammy - Vitalogy - 1994 - 1995

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In 1994, Pearl Jam fired Dave Abbruzzese due to artistic differences. They announced his replacement in 1995 - the returning from obscurity Jack Irons, former drummer of Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Irons was the person who originally introduced Vedder to the band, so it was fitting for him to end up being the new drummer.

Related Topics:
Jack Irons - Red Hot Chilli Peppers

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In 1995, Pearl Jam backed up longtime idol Neil Young on his album Mirror Ball. Contractual obligations prevented the use of the band's name anywhere on the album, but the members were all credited individually in the album's liner notes. Young then returned the favor by playing with Pearl Jam on their two-song EP, Merkin Ball.

Related Topics:
Neil Young - Mirror Ball

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