Within a year, 13x platinum-selling debut Ten was stacked high on record store shelves. Andrew’s death from a heroin overdose in early 1990 rattled bonds and drove Stone’s writing into darker, heavier territory, but the introduction of second six-stringer Mike McCready, and an inspired response to their five-track demo from Illinois-born, San Diego-based singer Eddie Vedder (who’d written lyrics for Alive, Once and Footsteps while out surfing) saw the band take shape. Guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament joined proto-grungers Green River in the mid-’80s, before forming Mother Love Bone with vocalist Andrew Wood towards the decade’s close. The band’s current drummer is Matt Cameron, also of Soundgarden. Since its inception, the band’s line-up has included Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, guitar), Jeff Ament (bass guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), and Mike McCready (lead guitar). A musicologist might argue there isn’t much meat on this two-minute vignette (even Gossard admits it’s just two fingers that come on and off to create the whole thing). Rated 16 in the best albums of 1991, and 978 of all time album. Pearl Jam’s Jeff Ament: my life in 10 albums.
Genres: Grunge, Alternative Rock, Hard Rock.
Perhaps the tribulations and inspirations of their coming-together prepared them for that. Pearl Jam is an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. Released 27 August 1991 on Epic Associated (catalog no.
#Best songs by pearl jam full#
Their first three LPs, of course – spanning the pomp of the grunge scene, and full of its revolutionary excitement – still hold a special place in listeners’ hearts, but rather than trying to cling to past glories or fading into irrelevance, their eight albums (and countless other releases) since have solidified one of the most innovative, important reputations in all of rock. They have always been an outfit interested in everything they do.
Compared to the vast majority of their platinum-rated rock contemporaries, Pearl Jam’s back catalogue does not easily stack into a defined hierarchy of hit singles, ‘underrated’ fan-favourites and forgotten album tracks.