Pearl Jam example essay topic

The early '90's alt-rock rebellion, which spewed from the underground like a geyser and saved rock-n-roll from hair bands, exacted a serious toll. Band break-ups, career nosedives, sell-outs and drug abuse death are as much a legacy of that dramatic period as the music. Pearl Jam is still standing - arguably the only band from the age that still matters. "I'm totally excited about still being around", said Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready. While the group is still blessed with a sizeable mass of diehard fans, Pearl Jam's overall fame has declined over the years.

Ten was their 1991 debut. It was sold nearly 10-million copies. When Pearl Jam lifted a real press embargo to promote the albums of last year's Riot Act, music scribes couldn't oppose taking jibes at the band's sinking recognition. Also it was all those years of being shut out of interviews.

That was a beginning of counter-cultural transformation. But their take was way off. Except for maybe Ten, Pearl Jam has always made the music they wanted to make, without much deliberation of market forces. You only need to listen to make this statement. Through the years of development, their sound has become less and less commercial, more experimental (at times self-indulgent) and introspective. Away from the group, members have each taken free rein in seeking out whatever mysterious side projects may interest them.

Were Pearl Jam smart in using MTV and Lollapalooza to rabidly break their first record and turning right around and dumping videos and big tours (once they had an audience in the ma zillions to buy their records and pay for those tax, o' course) because they couldn't abide the ethical quandary they presented? Of course, they fudged most the old indie / mainstream lines and made millions! Sheer genius that was pillaged by countless bands. Rage Against the Machine very nearly did the same thing. In fact, Eddie Vedder got to keep all of his cake and is still eating it, although his pieces keep getting smaller every year. Now all Pearl Jam has left to do is fade away.

Nirvana rather famously burned out and became legends, which made them a far different animal from Pearl Jam. Of course now we can get a Pearl Jam anywhere. The white warmth of early recognition really obscured Pearl Jam, especially charismatic front man Eddie Vedder, who got slapped on the cover of Time and was heralded as the voice of a new generation. So much of Vedder's coping involved hiding. Also Pearl Jam stopped doing video releases when video clips were still an essential tool of the deal. To short-circuit their celebrity, Pearl Jam weaken the commercialism of their sound moving towards counter-cultural side.

What began as huge and raging became lean and seething, or reflective and acoustic, or just plain odd. And while hip-hop and acid influences have permeated rock in the last ten years, the band has proved particularly resistant to fads, preferring instead to stick with its massive guitars-bass-and-drums attack. The X generation factor, of course, is Vedder's brawny, passionate baritone, the most imitated voice in. Like just about any band that's been around a last decade, there were times when Pearl Jam almost shut down. "In '95 we didn't know what Eddie wanted to do", McCready says. "There was real tension within the band.

We were traveling by plane and he was traveling in a van doing a radio show in his van after the shows. We had to sit down and reevaluate. Did we still wanna be a band? Did Ed wanna be in the band? Fortunately, he did.".