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?