PEARL JAM - BLACK

BLACK

PEARL JAM

SONGWRITERS: EDDIE VEDDER & STONE GOSSARD

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: TEN

LABEL: EPIC RECORDS

GENRE: GRUNGE

YEAR: 1991

Pearl Jam is an American rock band formed in 1990 in Seattle, Washington. The band's lineup consists of founding members Jeff Ament (bass guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar), and Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, guitar), as well as Matt Cameron (drums), who joined in 1998. Keyboardist Boom Gaspar has also been a touring/session member with the band since 2002. Drummers Jack Irons, Dave Krusen, Matt Chamberlain, and Dave Abbruzzese are former members of the band.

Formed after the demise of Gossard and Ament's previous band, Mother Love Bone, Pearl Jam broke into the mainstream with its debut album, Ten, in 1991. One of the key bands in the grunge movement of the early 1990s, its members often shunned popular music industry practices such as making music videos or giving interviews. The band also sued Ticketmaster, claiming it had monopolized the concert-ticket market. In 2006, Rolling Stone described the band as having "spent much of the past decade deliberately tearing apart their own fame."

The band sold nearly 32 million albums in the United States by 2012, and by 2018, they had sold more than 85 million albums worldwide. Pearl Jam outsold many of its contemporary alternative rock bands from the early 1990s, and is considered one of the most influential bands of the decade. AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine referred to Pearl Jam as "the most popular American rock & roll band of the '90s". Pearl Jam was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 7, 2017, in its first year of eligibility. They were ranked at no. 8 in a reader poll by Rolling Stone magazine in its "Top Ten Live Acts of All Time" issue.

"Black" is a song by the American rock band Pearl Jam. The song is the fifth track on the band's debut album, Ten (1991). Featuring lyrics written by vocalista Eddie Vedder and music written by guitarist Stone Gossard.

After Ten became a commercial success in 1992, Pearl Jam's record label Epic Records urged the group to release the song as a single. The band refused, citing the song's personal nature. Despite the lack of a commercial single release, the song managed to reach number three on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. Remixed versions of the song were included on Pearl Jam's 2004 greatest hits album, Rearviewmirror, and the 2009 Ten reissue. It has gone on to become one of the band's most popular songs, as well as a fan favorite.

The song originated as an instrumental demo under the name "E Ballad" that was written by guitarist Stone Gossard in 1990. It was one of five songs compiled onto a tape called Stone Gossard Demos '91 that was circulated in the hopes of finding a singer and drummer for Pearl Jam. The tape made its way into the hands of vocalist Eddie Vedder, who was working as a San Diego gas station attendant at the time. Vedder recorded vocals for three of the songs on the demo tape ("Alive", "Once", and "Footsteps"), and mailed the tape back to Seattle. Upon hearing the tape, the band invited Vedder to come to Seattle. On his way to Seattle, Vedder wrote lyrics for "E Ballad", which he called "Black".

Sheets of empty canvas

Untouched sheets of clay

Were laid spread out before me

As her body once did

All five horizons

Revolved around her soul

As the earth to the sun

Now the air I tasted and breathed

Has taken a turn

Oh, and all I taught her was everything

Oh, I know she gave me all that she wore

And now my bitter hands

Chafe beneath the clouds

Of what was everything

Oh, the pictures have

All been washed in black

Tattooed everything

I take a walk outside

I'm surrounded by some kids at play

I can feel their laughter

So, why do I sear?

Oh, and twisted thoughts that spin round my head

I'm spinning, oh, I'm spinning

How quick the sun can drop away?

And now my bitter hands

Cradle broken glass

Of what was everything

All the pictures have

All been washed in black

Tattooed everything

All the love gone bad

Turned my world to black

Tattooed all I see

All that I am

All that I'll be, yeah

I know someday you'll have a beautiful life

I know you'll be a star

In somebody else's sky, but why? Why? Why

Can't it be, oh, can't it be mine?