In the 1980s and -90s Seattle was an absolute mecca for grunge bands: The city in the US state of Washington has brought us the likes of Alice in Chains, Nirvana, Soundgarden - and Pearl Jam.
Pearl Jam: Band History
In 1987, Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament combined forces with Andrew Wood to form the band Mother Love Bone. It didn't take long before their first success came about - Sadly, only four months after the release of their debut, Wood died from a heroin overdose. For Ament and Gossard their search for a new lead singer later led to their meeting with Eddie Vedder, It was from then on that Pearl Jam became sort of therapy to cope with their loss of Andrew Wood.On August 27th 1991 the debut album TEN was released, including eleven dark tracks about depression, suicide and solitude. "Jeremy" for example tells the real story of a high school student who shot himself in front of his classmates. After little start-up difficulties, TEN became a huge success - As of today it has been certified platinum 13(!) times.But even with growing success Pearl Jam withdrew from public eye. Denying shooting any new music videos because they wanted the listener to make up their own visuals when listening to their songs. They also hardly did any interviews in that time or appeared on any TV shows. In 1994 they even cancelled a whole tour after disputes with Ticketmaster.
The Roskilde Incident
In 2000, Pearl Jam's euro tour ended tragically: At the Danish Roskilde Festival nine fans were crushed in the crowd and suffocated to death - Even though the band had demanded people to stop pushing several times (On the count of three, three steps back - please!). When Eddie Vedder had realised what happened and stopped the show, it was already to late. The remaining dates were instantly cancelled, several band members even thought about quitting the band. Eddie Vedder later said about the first shows that Pearl Jam played after the incident: "Playing, facing crowds, being together— It enabled us to start processing it."Incidents like these thankfully didn't stop Pearl Jam from making music much to their fans enjoyment.
