After Mother Love Bone singer Andrew Wood died of a heroin overdose, Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament started to put together a new band. Hearing a demo from San Diego singer Eddie Vedder, the band soon formed Pearl Jam. A lot of the instrumental tracks on Ten were written and Vedder added lyrics that dealt with everything from homelessness to bullying. In the end, Ten was a combo of classic rock and punk, and wound up outselling Nirvana’s Nevermind to the tune of 13 million copies. The album featured the video of the year “Jeremy”, as well as other Pearl Jam classics like “Black”, “Even Flow” and “Alive”.
Fun Fact: “Alive”, “Once” and B-side “Footsteps” make a trio of songs that tells a very dark story dealing with incest, murder and the death penalty. Yeah, so maybe this wasn’t really a fun fact.
Learn more about the album:
Pearl Jam’s Ten: 10 Things You Didn’t Know
Pearl Jam’s Ten – The Evolution Of A Classic
How Pearl Jam Overcame Every Obstacle to Complete Ten
Essential video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS91knuzoOA
Listen to the album: