Pearl Jam is an American rock band, formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. Since its inception, the band's line-up has comprised Eddie Vedder (lead vocals), Mike McCready (lead guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar) and Jeff Ament (bass). The band's fifth member is drummer Matt Cameron (also of Soundgarden), who has been with the band since 1998. Boom Gaspar (piano) has also been a session/touring member with the band since 2002. Drummers Dave Krusen, Matt Chamberlain, Dave Abbruzzese and Jack Irons 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, over the course of the band's career, its
members became noted for their refusal to adhere to traditional music
industry practices, including refusing to make proper music videos or
give interviews, and engaging in a much-publicized boycott of Ticketmaster. In 2006, Rolling Stone described the band as having "spent much of the past decade deliberately tearing apart their own fame."[1]
To date, the band has sold nearly 32 million records in the U.S.[2] and an estimated 60 million worldwide.[3][4]
Pearl Jam has outlasted and outsold many of its contemporaries from the
alternative rock breakthrough of the early 1990s, and is considered one
of the most influential bands of that decade.[5] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic referred to Pearl Jam as "the most popular American rock & roll band of the '90s."[6]
Compared with the other grunge bands of the early 1990s, Pearl Jam’s style is noticeably less heavy and harkens back to the classic rock music of the 1970s.[142] Pearl Jam has cited many punk rock and classic rock bands as influences, including The Who, Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, Kiss and the Ramones.[143][144]
Pearl Jam’s success has been attributed to its sound, which fuses "the
riff-heavy stadium rock of the '70s with the grit and anger of '80s
post-punk, without ever neglecting hooks and choruses."[6] Gossard's rhythm guitar style is known for its sense of beat and groove,[145] while McCready's lead guitar style, influenced by artists such as Jimi Hendrix,[146] has been described as "feel-oriented" and "rootsy."[147]
Pearl Jam has broadened its musical range with subsequent releases.
As he had more influence on the band's sound, Vedder sought to make the
band's musical output less catchy. He said, "I felt that with more popularity, we were going to be crushed, our heads were going to pop like grapes."[1] By 1994’s Vitalogy, the band began to incorporate more punk influences into its music.[148] The band’s 1996 album, No Code, was a deliberate break from the musical style of Ten. The songs on the album featured elements of garage rock, worldbeat, and experimentalism.[6] After 1998’s Yield, which was somewhat of a return to the straightforward rock approach of the band's early work,[57] the band dabbled with experimental art rock on 2000’s Binaural and folk rock elements on 2002’s Riot Act. The band’s 2006 album, Pearl Jam, was cited as a return to the band’s early sound.[88][89] The band's 2009 album, Backspacer, contains elements of pop and new wave.[110]
Critic Jim DeRogatis describes Vedder's vocals as a "Jim Morrison-like vocal growl."[149]
Greg Prato of Allmusic said, "With his hard-hitting and often
confessional lyrical style and Jim Morrison-esque baritone, Vedder also
became one of the most copied lead singers in all of rock."[150]
Vedder's lyrical topics range from personal ("Alive", "Better Man") to
social and political concerns ("Even Flow", "World Wide Suicide"). His
lyrics have often invoked the use of storytelling and have included themes of freedom, individualism, and sympathy for troubled individuals.[151]
When the band started, Gossard and McCready were clearly designated as
rhythm and lead guitarists, respectively. The dynamic began to change
when Vedder started to play more rhythm guitar during the Vitalogy
era. McCready said in 2006, "Even though there are three guitars, I
think there's maybe more room now. Stone will pull back and play a
two-note line and Ed will do a power chord thing, and I fit into all that."[152]
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