Pearl Jam
Ten

THE REVIEW

Once upon a time, there was Seattle. The Green River and the Mother Love Bone. The Temple Of The Dog and Pearl Jam. And Ten, formally the debut of a group of musicians. In reality, a culmination and a starting point. Ten remains in many ways an unsurpassed record, an absolute symbol of Seattle’s sound and of that movement commonly referred to as grunge. In it, the "old" and the "new" aspects of that sound merge. Assuming we can use these terms, as Seattle's era only began a few years earlier: around 1983, with the historic Sub Pop label. But in it, some of the most active names in the city's music scene play. The "new" is Eddie Vedder who arrives from San Diego. But the "new" is also the energy the new formation can bring to American rock.

Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament had already played together in Mother Love Bone, whose singer Andrew Wood died of an overdose in March 1990. A death that came on the eve of the band's debut album, Apple, and after the reception of the LP Shine had suggested good possibilities for success for the band. Already in 1990, Stone Gossard had recorded demos with the instrumental bases of some songs that would later become Alone, Once, Alive, Black, and Footsteps. The tape reached Jack Irons, the future drummer of Pearl Jam, who was then in the band of former Clash Joe Strummer. Irons passed it to Eddie Vedder, whom he had met during the tour. Vedder is a Chicago boy who moved to San Diego, knowing almost nothing of Seattle's scene. He writes the lyrics for some songs, sings them, and sends the tape back. He is then called to Seattle to try out with the band. While rehearsing with his future bandmates, Vedder duets with Chris Cornell in Temple Of The Dog. But Temple Of The Dog was something sporadic, a celebration. Instead, Mookie Blaylock, a name borrowed from a basketball player, was intended to become a stable band. Gossard, Ament, McCready, and Vedder continue to play together. They look for a drummer, who initially will be Dave Krusen. The name is then changed to Pearl Jam, and Ten is recorded, always with Rick Parashar, a few months later, in the spring of 1991. It will be released at the end of the summer.

The explosion of the movement, and with the success of the record, is not immediate, however. The great period becomes the summer of 1992, when the names of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and of course, Temple Of The Dog are on everyone's lips. A film, Singles, directed by Cameron Crowe, consecrates this moment. They appear, among others, both Soundgarden and Pearl Jam.

Ten, however, is a great record not only for the past it generated but also for the future it created. In its sound, its electric drives, its psychedelic ballads, and the angry and epic tones of Vedder's voice is contained all the best that Seattle's rock can express. Grunge has often been identified with Generation X and its disillusionment. Surely Ten is a record that contains despair; at times it is marked by a great desire to let out everything that is wrong. But it is limiting to make this coincide with the stereotypes of this movement. Anyway, to get a taste of the band's energy, it is enough to listen to the chorus of "Once", which tells of a serial killer loading a prostitute into his car. Autobiographical hints are not lacking. Like the most famous track, "Alive", based on a memorable guitar riff by Stone Gossard, the song speaks of Eddie's difficult childhood. In three verses, Eddie summarizes one of the dramas of his life: never having known his real father. But despite everything, in the chorus, he says "I’m still alive." The theme will return in other tracks, like in "Betterman." The theme of a denied childhood reappears in "Jeremy", although no longer in an autobiographical key. Another track that musically is one of the keys of the record, speaks of a boy suffering physical and psychological abuse from his parents and who commits suicide in class. The story is narrated with Eddie’s typically fragmented style, made of images and ellipses that let something unsaid seep through. In fact, in the piece, the suicide is never named. The song is released as a single and accompanied by a clip that wins several important awards. But the misunderstandings created by the video, which depicts a class of children, was one of the reasons that pushed Pearl Jam to not shoot more for some time.

It’s very easy to think of Ten and associate the record with its more driven tracks, where McCready's and Gossard's guitars chase each other, with Ament’s bass not only giving rhythm but often suggesting melody. In reality, Ten is also remembered for its epic and psychedelic ballads like "Garden" and "Release". But above all, the wonderful "Black", very cryptic in its lyrics, with a few nods to despair, has become one of the most beloved songs by fans, despite Pearl Jam having had a conflicted relationship with this track, refusing to release it as a single.

In short, although Ten is the Seattle Album, even more so than Nevermind or those by Soundgarden, it is not the record of grunge nor of Generation X. Simply, it’s a masterpiece that tells stories of outsiders and does so with anger. But Vedder does not belong to any movement of this kind. His songs are the mirror of the already inherently distorted American society. Ten represents the social malaise and American anger, with memorable songs that have made rock history.