Written by Marlee Price
“Music’s great everywhere, man.”
These words were spoken by Eddie Vedder to a friend of my father’s as he was standing outside after Pearl Jam’s performance at Little Rock’s Barton Coliseum on November 22, 1993. Vedder, having just randomly rolled up on a skateboard, was responding to the friend’s comment about how great the show was. Vedder didn’t waste any time hanging around after this – he simply dropped his skateboard back down and rode off into the night.
Now, 35 years after the release of Pearl Jam’s debut album Ten, it would be harder for Vedder to get away with casually skating outside of a venue after having just performed there. Ten stands as the group’s most popular album, having sold over 20 million pure copies since its issuing on August 27, 1991. To commemorate this anniversary, I thought it would be appropriate to sit down with two PJ fans who got to witness the band’s uprising firsthand: my parents.
My dad recalls the moment he first heard Ten on his friend’s brand-new CD player. In the midst of 80s hair bands ruling the rock scene, he could immediately tell that rock and roll was on its way elsewhere:
“My friend goes, ‘You’ve gotta hear these new bands I just heard. They’re gonna change everything,’ and he handed me both Mother Love Bone and Pearl Jam’s Ten…right when he turned it on and started playing it, I thought ‘Uhhh…music’s changing. It’s not going to go back to Bon Jovi.’”
Such early alternative albums, like Alice in Chains’ Facelift and Stone Temple Pilots’ Core, were very popular among college students at the time. During the 1992-93 school year, my dad recounts hearing some neighbors in his dorm at Ouachita Baptist University raising their windows after class on Fridays to blast “Even Flow” from a huge speaker.
My dad was also at the 1993 Barton Coliseum concert, where PJ performed songs from both Ten and their second studio album, Vs.: “Eddie Vedder walked out as they were playing ‘Release,’” my dad states. “And the stage was glowing pink, and he was holding a rose. And he walked out and it was just kind of chill, and he bent down and gave the rose to someone on the front row…and then they kicked it in with ‘Rearviewmirror.’ It was incredible.”
My mom, who saw them in 2003 at Little Rock’s Alltel Arena, vividly remembers their outspoken support for the infamous West Memphis Three. “He talked a lot about them during the performance,” she states. This recount jogged my dad’s memory of when he saw them for a second time, actually in Memphis, in 2000:
“At the end of the concert they came out when the lights had been turned on, and Eddie Vedder and the band stood up there and he got on the microphone and chanted ‘Free Memphis Three! Free Memphis Three!’ and the whole place started yelling it with him…the arena workers had to come get them off stage.”
One thing about PJ is that they aren’t afraid to “go there.” Their “Jeremy” music video, which depicted the true story of a 15-year-old committing suicide in front of his classmates, faced backlash from the public as well as from the family of the boy. However, it won four MTV Video Music Awards and raised awareness about adolescent suicide. Then there’s the lesser-known concept of the “Alive,” “Once,” and “Footsteps” trilogy, which tells the story of a teenager dealing with the death of an abusive father, fighting the urge to become just like him. In “Alive,” the son is realizing he’s still alive despite the loss. In “Once,” the boy has inevitably given into the pain and become a serial killer. “Footsteps” is the final ballad, which isn’t on Ten, but was released earlier that year alongside “Jeremy.” In this song, the killer is now on death row for his crimes, blaming his mother and his past: “If there was a reason/Oh, it was you.”
35 years after its release, Ten stands as one of the best rock albums of all time, and Pearl Jam is remembered as a pioneer of the Seattle grunge movement, forever altering rock and roll. It has been one of my favorites since my parents played it for me in the car growing up. Not only because of its wicked, hard-hitting instrumentals, but because of Vedder’s powerful lyricism. When he sings, he’s not only telling the story, but also feeling it.
Favorite Tracks: “Release,” “Black,” “Once”
Rating: 10/10
https://www.giventorock.com/2025/05/jeremy-pearl-jam-story-behind-song.html
https://www.riversoarrecords.com/en-us/blogs/news/pearl-jam-the-legend-of-the-momma-son-trilogy