The 500 - #209 - Ten - Pearl Jam

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: #209
Album Title: Ten
Artist: Pearl Jam
Genre: Hard Rock, Alternative Rock, Grunge
Recorded: London Bridge Studio (Seattle, U.S.A.) & Ridge Farm Studios (Surrey, England)

Released: August, 1991
My age at release: 26
How familiar was I with it before this week: Very

Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, at #160, up 49 spots
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Black

When I wrote about Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magic by Red Hot Chili Peppers (#310 on The 500), I related the story of a kitchen co-worker nick-named 'Boog' who introduced me to much of the alternative rock music that would become part of the mainstream zeitgeist in 1992. My favourite two discoveries in the spring of that year were, without a doubt, BadMotorFinger from Soundgarden and this week’s feature, Pearl Jam's Ten. Both were among the "Big Four" bands from Seattle who rocketed from small club obscurity to mega-stardom in 1992 -- Nirvana and Alice in Chains occupying the other two slots. Collectively, they have six records on The 500 list. It turned out that Boog, despite his unfortunate sobriquet, was a pretty good judge of music.

Around that time, my future wife and I moved from London, Ontario, to Brampton -- then a smallish city in the Greater Toronto area. As it turned out, I picked up a job with the same restaurant chain I had been the bartender and night manager of in London. However, it was 40 kilometres from Brampton in Oakville. A cassette recording of my Ten CD accompanied me on many of my daily commutes to work. It was also a "go-to" record when we entertained. At the time, my social circle was obsessed with the board game Scrabble and numerous word-battles dominated our evenings -- as we guzzled coffee and poisoned ourselves smoking cigarettes. Being a non-smoker now for more than 30 years, I can't imagine how awful our small Brampton apartment must have smelled – but, it was the ‘90s, we all just accepted that cigarette smoke was everywhere.

Our first "smoky" apartment. "Scrabble Table" at right, coffee maker
visible in kitchen - surprisingly not in use.

Pearl Jam, considered by some to be the most popular American band of the ‘90s, formed as a result of tragedy. Founding members Stone Gossard (guitars) and Jeff Ament (bass) were previously members of Mother Love Bone. However, shortly after the release of Love Bone’s debut record, the group's charismatic lead singer, Andrew Wood, overdosed on heroin.

Devastated by the loss, Gossard and Ament began writing darker, edgier music. Eventually, they connected with fellow Seattle guitarist Mike McCready, whose band Shadow had just broken up. The trio created a five-song demo cassette, hoping it would help them find a drummer and a lead singer. The cassette made its way to San Diego-based vocalist Eddie Vedder who was singing with the band Bad Radio and working part-time at a gas station. Vedder loved what he heard and began recording vocal tracks for three of the songs - Alive, Once and Footsteps. Vedder intended them to be included in a dark, mini-opera he called Mamasan. The themes from that mini-opera canl be heard in the lyrics to Alive and Once (which appear on Ten).  However,, the group opted against making their first record a concept album. The song Footsteps was shelved and eventually released as the B side for the single, Jeremy.

Pearl Jam (1991) (l-r) McCready, Ament, Vedder, Gossard and 
Dave Krusen (drums).

Gossard, Ament and McCready were so impressed with Vedder's vocal and lyrical efforts that they paid to fly him to Seattle to rehearse with the band, which in the meantime had recruited drummer Dave Krusen. A week later, 11 songs were crafted and the band was signed to Epic Records. Ten months later, Ten was released. Originally, the band wanted to be called Mookie Blaylock – the name of a point guard who was playing for the New Jersey Nets in the National Basketball League in 1991. However, the record company insisted they change their name. Blaylock’s jersey number is 10, so the name of their debut album is a nod to him and their original moniker. Over the years, band members have offered several stories about the origin of the name Pearl Jam. It seems the group enjoys fan speculation far more than solving the mystery.

Pearl Jam (1991).

My Ten album is one that I loaded in my CD player hundreds of times in the early ‘90s, and I bought their second record, Vs., the day it came out in 1993. At that time, I suspected Ten might be shuffled to the back of my CD cabinet, retrieved occasionally for a nostalgic spin. Such is the fate of many albums in my collection -- and I don’t think I am alone in doing that.

Another shot of my Brampton apartment - one of my three CD 
racks can be seen - I am sure the Pearl Jam record is in the left column.

However, in the autumn of 1995, I began my Teachers' College studies at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay and, unexpectedly, my listening habits gave Ten an auditory renaissance. The 14-hour drive necessitated a litre of coffee and plenty of cassette tapes. I made a number of "mixed cassettes" to keep me occupied, but I also dug through my old collections and Ten found its way into the cassette player in my gray 1990 Chevy Cavalier.

A 1990 Chevrolet Cavalier.

This coincided with what, at the time, seemed like an end to my 10-year romantic relationship when we decided to take a break. The fifth track on Ten was the emotionally heavy ballad, Black. The lyrics, penned by Vedder, reflect on a break-up he had experienced. In the bridge, he sings the emotional lyric:

"I know someday you'll have a beautiful life, I know you'll be a star in somebody else's sky, but why? Why?
Why can't it be, oh, can't it be mine?"

In retrospect, I can understand how this might sound a bit maudlin. But, as I drove through the night, on a lonely stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway toward an expensive academic risk that I desperately hoped was the right decision, the song was an emotional gut punch. I won’t say I sang along with the "doo-doo-doo-do-doo-doo-doo" chorus as I cut my way through the Canadian Shield landscape north of Lake Superior -- but I won’t say I didn't. 

The drive from London, Ontario to Thunder Bay.

Because of those long drives, Ten has a special place in my heart. I can lose myself in the incredible guitar solos on songs that include Alive, Even Flow or the tremendously underrated Porch. The lyrics to Jeremy, which were inspired by the tragic death of a high school student who shot himself in front of his English class in 1991, are powerfully prescient and I'll always get a little wistful when I hear Black -- despite the fact that everything worked out. Teachers' College was a smart idea and I reconnected with the girl of my dreams and she is still "a star in my sky".