Written By Braddon S. Williams
Pearl Jam: Ten
Although it was both recorded and released before Nirvana’s Nevermind, Pearl Jam’s Ten (1991) took a little longer to find its audience initially.
Of course, by the following year Ten indeed found its tribe and eventually reached 13x platinum in sales and spent 5 years in the charts, making it one of the best selling albums in history. Pearl Jam also began a career-long reputation as one of the best live bands in rock, and one that stands up for their beliefs, which has made their fan base exceptionally loyal.
Ten featured the singles Alive, Even Flow, and Jeremy, all gaining lots of radio and MTV exposure.
Additionally, there were a bunch of awesome songs with one word titles, including Once, Black, Porch, Deep, Release, Oceans, and Garden.
Eddie Vedder wrote intense and mysterious lyrics and sang them with passion in his distinctive melodic crooning style.
The music of Ten was recorded beautifully, a truly rich blend of guitars, bass, and drums, owing as much to Led Zeppelin and perhaps a bit less of what was becoming the template for the stereotypical grunge sound.
