PEARL JAM, one of the bands that went successfully mainstream in the grunge era. The bands line-up, Eddie Vedder on vocals, Stone Gossard rhythm guitar, Jeff Ament on bass, and Mike McCready on lead guitar, and Matt Cameron on drums.
Gossard and Ament were in a band, 'Green River', until an incident happened that one of the band member had died from a tragic heroin overdose. After a few months Gossard had been playing with McCready. McCready encouraged Gossard to get Ament to form another group, and as well, he did. The trio made a demo tape, so they could find a drummer and vocalist. They gave former Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Jack Irons the demo to see if he would be interested in joining the band and to send the demo to anyone he felt might fit the lead vocal position. Irons the passes on the demo to Eddie Vedder. Later Vedder came up with his own lyrics and sent the demo to the trio. Impressed, they flew Vedder to Seattle for an audition. A week later he was officially the bands vocalist.
The band played at the Off Ramp Café in Seattle on October 22, 1990, known as Mookie Blaylock, short after the band signed to Epic Records. But the record company insisted that the band changed their name, and soon became Pearl Jam. In March of 1991, the band released their album 'Ten'. The album instantly became a success bringing grunge more mainstream with their songs 'Evenflow', 'Alive', and 'Jeremy'. The band got plenty of hatred, Kurt Cobain claimed that the band was a "commercial sellout" due to their "prominent guitar leads".
The band members grew uncomfortable with their success, with much of the burden of Pearl Jam's popularity falling on frontman Vedder. While Pearl Jam received four awards at the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards for its video for "Jeremy", including Video of the Year and Best Group Video, the band refused to make a video for "Black" in spite of pressure by the label. This action began a trend of the band refusing to make videos for its songs, despite it being common knowledge that music videos were one of the most vital sales tools any band had in its arsenal. However, Vedder felt that the concept of music videos robbed the listener from creating their own interpretation of the song stating that "Before music videos first came out, you’d listen to a song with headphones on, sitting in a beanbag chair with your eyes closed, and you’d come up with your own visions, these things that came from within. Then all of a sudden, sometimes even the very first time you heard a song, it was with these visual images attached, and it robbed you of any form of self-expression.". "Ten years from now," Ament said, "I don't want people to remember our songs as videos."
Pearl Jam's 2000 European tour ended in tragedy on June 30, with an accident at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark. Nine fans were crushed underfoot and suffocated to death as the crowd rushed to the front. After numerous requests for the crowd to step back, the band stopped playing and tried to calm the crowd when the musicians realized what was happening, but it was already too late. The two remaining dates of the tour were canceled and members of the band contemplated retiring after this event.
The band released albums such as Ten, Vs., Vitalogy, No Code, Yield, Binaural, Riot Act, Pearl Jam, and Backspacer. To this day, the band is still known for their hatred of mainstream and for their exquisite live performances.
Although they haven't released any albums lately, the band still tours.
Gossard and Ament were in a band, 'Green River', until an incident happened that one of the band member had died from a tragic heroin overdose. After a few months Gossard had been playing with McCready. McCready encouraged Gossard to get Ament to form another group, and as well, he did. The trio made a demo tape, so they could find a drummer and vocalist. They gave former Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Jack Irons the demo to see if he would be interested in joining the band and to send the demo to anyone he felt might fit the lead vocal position. Irons the passes on the demo to Eddie Vedder. Later Vedder came up with his own lyrics and sent the demo to the trio. Impressed, they flew Vedder to Seattle for an audition. A week later he was officially the bands vocalist.
The band played at the Off Ramp Café in Seattle on October 22, 1990, known as Mookie Blaylock, short after the band signed to Epic Records. But the record company insisted that the band changed their name, and soon became Pearl Jam. In March of 1991, the band released their album 'Ten'. The album instantly became a success bringing grunge more mainstream with their songs 'Evenflow', 'Alive', and 'Jeremy'. The band got plenty of hatred, Kurt Cobain claimed that the band was a "commercial sellout" due to their "prominent guitar leads".
The band members grew uncomfortable with their success, with much of the burden of Pearl Jam's popularity falling on frontman Vedder. While Pearl Jam received four awards at the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards for its video for "Jeremy", including Video of the Year and Best Group Video, the band refused to make a video for "Black" in spite of pressure by the label. This action began a trend of the band refusing to make videos for its songs, despite it being common knowledge that music videos were one of the most vital sales tools any band had in its arsenal. However, Vedder felt that the concept of music videos robbed the listener from creating their own interpretation of the song stating that "Before music videos first came out, you’d listen to a song with headphones on, sitting in a beanbag chair with your eyes closed, and you’d come up with your own visions, these things that came from within. Then all of a sudden, sometimes even the very first time you heard a song, it was with these visual images attached, and it robbed you of any form of self-expression.". "Ten years from now," Ament said, "I don't want people to remember our songs as videos."
Pearl Jam's 2000 European tour ended in tragedy on June 30, with an accident at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark. Nine fans were crushed underfoot and suffocated to death as the crowd rushed to the front. After numerous requests for the crowd to step back, the band stopped playing and tried to calm the crowd when the musicians realized what was happening, but it was already too late. The two remaining dates of the tour were canceled and members of the band contemplated retiring after this event.
The band released albums such as Ten, Vs., Vitalogy, No Code, Yield, Binaural, Riot Act, Pearl Jam, and Backspacer. To this day, the band is still known for their hatred of mainstream and for their exquisite live performances.
Although they haven't released any albums lately, the band still tours.