That Pearl Jam often worked against their fame (refusing to make music videos, turning down TV appearances, suing Ticketmaster, not living the “rock star life”) is perhaps not up for debate, but why they would act so self-destructive is. The band’s attempt to keep things low-key didn’t – they were remembered as the greatest American rock band of the 90s.
If you automatically reject this idea, it’s probably because when you think “greatest”, you think “best” or “most legendary”, and you object because this the biggest group is clearly Nirvana. As noted in Steven Hyden’s entertaining 2016 book on musical rivalries, Your favorite band is killing me, the two groups were largely opposed to each other as adversaries. The rivalry boiled down to a contest between the cool and dangerous outsiders Nirvana and the overexposed and safe mainstream Pearl Jam. The thing they had in common, other than falling under the grunge umbrella, was, it seems, a sort of aversion to fame.
In fact, inasmuch as Pearl Jam and Nirvana vied for dominance in grunge, and inasmuch as grunge defined a decade of rock, Kurt Cobain and Eddie Vedder’s rejection of stardom could be seen as signifying a change. more prominent compared to the claiming fame of the 80s. While there were certainly exceptions, grunge as a whole was far more wary of mass adoration than 80s favorites. like glam rock and hair metal.
While Cobain’s loathing coincided with his own infamous personal demons and made him seemingly allergic to fame in any package, Vedder’s revulsion had a specific target: he wanted nothing to do with the kind of fame that beset him. away from his fans. It’s impossible to talk about Vedder’s allegiance to his fans and his insistence on being intimately connected to them, without considering the metamorphosis of the underlying meaning of Pearl Jam’s 1991 heartbreaker “Alive.”
The first single from their 1991 debut album, Ten, “Alive” tells the story of a boy who discovers that his father is not really his father and whose mother initiates a sexual relationship with him because of the resemblance to his deceased “real dad”. Thematically, it’s one of the darkest songs on an album that also descends into depression, suicide and murder. As Vedder wrote, the song’s oft-repeated line “I’m still alive” is the narrator’s way of expressing that he is cursed.
As Vedder wrote, “Alive” is a rejection of the “whatever doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger” narrative. By refusing to treat issues such as a broken family and sexual assault as fodder for character development, he takes the position that sometimes anything that doesn’t kill you makes you wish he had. had. The song is unwavering and wildly honest in the face of pain. You might even say it’s subversive for the way it takes a historically jubilant and courageous motto and turns it into a mournful foreboding. With a giant hook.
Vedder has publicly stated that the part of the story about a boy finding out his father is actually his stepfather is autobiographical. “Alive” wasn’t just a melodic grunge rant. It was Vedder grappling with events that struck him in the vulnerability of his adolescence. It was personal.
Hans, however, did not hear “Alive” as he intended. They heard the most popular translation of his key phrase. For them, the message of the song was: “Nothing less than death can reach me”. If Vedder wrote it as a cry for mercy, his fans sang it to him as a battle anthem.
When he learned of this, Vedder did not try to correct people’s supposed misinterpretation. He liked the fan take enough to adopt it as the song’s official meaning. If living had been a curse in the song as Vedder had written it, the audience at Pearl Jam had “lifted the curse”.
It may be a stretch to say fans also lifted a personal veil of darkness for the Pearl Jam frontman, or maybe not. Clearly, Vedder learned, early in the band’s run, that it was possible for fans to add to and elevate his work. It does not seem illogical to conclude that he has come to regard their interpretation as a necessary cog in the creative machinery. It also doesn’t seem completely romantic to assume that it led to a self-perpetuating cycle of respect between Pearl Jam and Pearl Jam fans.
Looking at the band through this lens, many of the supposedly anti-fame stances they’ve taken throughout their career are trivial. For example, after the music video for “Jeremy” was released, the band fended off pressure from the label to do more music videos. In his 1998 book, Five Against One: The Pearl Jam Story, Kim Neely quotes Vedder reminiscing about the days when people first heard songs with only their imaginations to provide visuals. He celebrated fans’ creation of their own visions as a form of self-expression.
If Pearl Jam turned down an impressive number of interviews and TV appearances, it’s probably because they weren’t interested in becoming personalities. Once the band cultivated a one-on-one creative relationship with the fanbase, what did they care if the general public had a chance to like them because of “who they are.” were” as unveiled by the journalists? If they didn’t want their music videos to distort fans’ perception of the songs, it stands to reason that they didn’t want a slew of media appearances to distort fans’ perception of Pearl Jam’s work. It’s also hard to view Pearl Jam’s band-wide moratorium on idiot “rock star behavior” as unrelated to this loyalty they consistently demonstrated to their fan base.
While it suited the grunge era well enough not to constantly show off their wealth and women—the 80s had crashed hard—Pearl Jam became known for their moderation. It is something difficult to communicate. They didn’t spend or party out of control or drive crowds into a dangerous frenzy at shows, and fans took notice. It’s as if Foo Fighters fans today can’t help but notice Dave Grohl’s obviously fatherly demeanor. Fans of both bands had reason to feel respected and safe, and perhaps part of that reason propelled Pearl Jam and Foo Fighters to stratospheric commercial success.
There is a light in which the indestructible popularity of bands like these is simple to explain. A moderately behaving rock star is better off liking and even attaching your identity, than one you suspect of sleeping with underage women and launching into outbursts of aholic rage and generally taking all he can from anyone that is.
If the nice guy can jam, why can’t he win? At least that seems to be the public opinion to a large extent in these times. Foo Fighters music is not as good as Dave Grohl’s. He wins because you would take your daughter to his concert. While in some circles one of the worst things you can call an artist is “safe” – musically or, for that matter, in demeanor – many people are clearly “safe”. Whether there’s anything wrong with that is beyond an essay on Pearl Jam’s supposed efforts to crush their fame, but it’s worth considering. Is it a travesty for the Foo Fighters to be as commercially dominant as they are when, say, Jack White makes controversial headlines?
Jack White vs. Foo Fighters isn’t one of the matchups Hyden talks about in his book, but it’s a kind of modern-day rivalry, between two men who are inclined to back other musicians but whose defining bands basically backed bands . On one side you have Grohl from Foo Fighters, who always does great reviews. The media reaction to him is a brotherly pat on the back. On the other side, you have Critics’ darling White, ready to fail big to win big. The media reaction to him is indifferent about who he is as a person, but respectful of his music. Musically, White is courageous; of character, he is not what you would call cuddly. Musically, Grohl is damn good; of character, I would trust him to run into a burning house to save someone.
In the 90s, there was no greater musical rivalry in American rock than that between Nirvana and Pearl Jam. Both were grunge stars. Both exuded emotional torture, Pearl Jam through their music and Nirvana otherwise.
Musically, Pearl Jam was and remains a mixed bag. “Alive” and “Even Flow” are in the crochet hall of fame. The “Last Kiss” cover belongs to the same grave as most of the songs Tim McGraw wrote after becoming husband and father. As a guitarist, Mike McCready remains simple but burning. Depending on who you ask, Vedder vocally sounds like Jim Morrison or Dave Matthews. Musically, Nirvana turned the world upside down.
Nirvana also burned at a billion degrees, and its surviving beacon of star power went on to craft the safest non-Christian rock band in the world. He had witnessed the ravages of being ‘cool’, ie dangerous, and wanted nothing more to do with it. Even people who don’t give a fuck about rock know enough to look sad when Kurt Cobain’s name comes up.
There are a lot of things you have to think about when you wonder why Pearl Jam achieved such fame and kept it despite turning down many exposure opportunities and refusing to live the very enviable life that people used to. see rock stars live. Singles from their debut album, Ten, benefited from a strong marketing push. Musically, they gave fans enough grunge flavor to make them feel like they’d been let into the ’90s era, but with melodies familiar enough to keep the price of admission low. And they put on quite a show.
Another thing to consider is that since their first single, “Alive”, which preceded the release of Ten, Pearl Jam recognized that their fans played a valuable, almost editorial role in their creative process, and respected them accordingly. When Pearl Jam sued Ticketmaster, it was because they didn’t want their fans to get ripped off. When they’ve stepped away from the spotlight, they seem to have preserved the purity of fans’ connection to their music. They cared about the safety of fans at concerts and weren’t known for enjoying the adoration they received. For better or worse, they were the safe and respectful group people flocked to.
I say were, passed, only to stipulate their 90s iteration. The band are still together — they gave gig dates as recently as late 2021 — and Vedder are touring this year in support of his solo album, earthling, which is slated for release in February. After all this time, Pearl Jam is still alive.
Mentioned works
Billboard staff. “Pearl Jam tells her ‘story’ at VH1 Taping”. Billboard.com. June 2, 2006.
Hyden, Steven. Your favorite band is killing me: What Pop Music’s Rivalries Reveal About the Meaning of Life. Back Bay Books. 2016.
Neely, Kim. Five Against One: The Pearl Jam Story. Penguin books. 1998.