PEARL JAM - BLACK

BLACK

PEARL JAM

SONGWRITERS: EDDIE VEDDER & STONE GOSSARD

WHERE: MTV UNPLUGGED; HOW: LIVE

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: TEN

LABEL: EPIC RECORDS

GENRE: ALTERNATIVE ROCK

YEAR: 1991

 

       Pearl Jam is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. The band's line up 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. Pearl Jam outsold many of their contemporary alternative rock bands from the early 1990s, and are considered one of the most influential bands of the decade, being dubbed as "the most popular American rock & roll band of the '90s".

         Formed after the demise of Gossard and Ament's previous band, Mother Love Bone, Pearl Jam broke into the mainstream with their debut album, Ten, in 1991. Ten stayed on the Billboard 200 chart for nearly five years, and has gone on to become one of the highest-selling rock records ever, going 13x platinum in the United States. Released in 1993, Pearl Jam's second album, Vs., sold over 950,000 copies in its first week of release, setting the record for most copies of an album sold in its first week of release at the time. Their third album, Vitalogy(1994), became the second-fastest-selling CD in history at the time, with more than 877,000 units sold in its first week.

         One of the key bands in the grunge movement of the early 1990s, Pearl Jam's members often shunned popular music industry practices such as making music videos or participating in 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."

          TeN is the debut studio album by American rock band Pearl Jam, released on August 27, 1991, through Epic Records. Following the dissolution of their previous band Mother Love Bone in 1990, bassist Jeff Ament and guitarist Stone Gossard began rehearsing with guitarist Mike McCready. The group recorded a five-song instrumental demo tape with Matt Cameron on drums. Copies of the demo were eventually given to drummer Dave Krusen and vocalist Eddie Vedder, both of whom were invited to audition for the band in Seattle. Many of the songs on Ten were instrumental jams or reworked Mother Love Bone songs for which Vedder composed new melodies and lyrics.

      Despite its reputation as a quintessential grunge record, Ten is often noted for displaying a stronger classic rock influence than other contemporary grunge releases. In a review for AllMusic, Steve Huey asserts that the album's "intricately arranged guitar textures and expansive harmonic vocabulary... especially recalled Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin" and characterizes the album as having an "anthemic" and "warm, rich sound". Huey also praises Vedder for the "highly distinctive timbre" of his vocals and for the "passionate commitment of his delivery".

        Ten was not an immediate success, but by late 1992 it had reached number two on the Billboard 200. The album produced three hit singles: "Alive", "Even Flow", and "Jeremy". "Jeremy" became one of Pearl Jam's best-known songs, and received nominations for Best Rock Song and Best Hard Rock Performance at the 35th Grammy Awards. The video for "Jeremy" was heavily rotated by MTV, and received four awards at the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards, including Video of the Year and Best Group Video.

          Beyond its role in consolidating the mainstream success of grunge rock in the early 1990s, Ten is generally considered to have been instrumental in the rise and dominance of alternative rock throughout the decade. The album has since been ranked by several publications as one of the greatest albums of all time. By February 2013, it had sold 13 million copies in the US, becoming the 22nd record to do so in the Nielsen SoundScan era and has been certified 13× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, (RIAA). Ten remains Pearl Jam's most commercially successful album.

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?