Needless to say, Ten was gigantic success, becoming one of the biggest selling albums of all time and for a time it made Pearl Jam the biggest band in the world. I will not go into too much detail about Ten as I will get to it with entry #208. The band would begin recording their debut album Ten in early 1991. The band liked the way the words went together, and they would now be known as Pearl Jam. Vedder had recently gone to a Neil Young concert and saw Neil jamming with his band on a bunch of over 15 minute-long songs, which caused the word “jam” to pop in this head. It was suggested by the label that they change the name of the band to avoid any copyright issues that might arise from the real Mookie Blaylock (who, it should be said, has stated that he is a big fan of the band.) Ament mentioned that the name “Pearl” would make a good band name, the rest of the band thought it needed something more. Mookie Blaylock played their first concert in November of 1990, and due to the recognition the members already had from Mother Love Bone and Temple of the Dog, they were quickly signed by Epic Records. They were all big basketball fans and they named themselves after one of their favorite basketball players, Mookie Blaylock. The five guys got together to come up with a name for the band. Once the Temple of the Dog recordings were finished, the unnamed band of Gossard, Ament, McCready, Krusen, and Vedder started writing songs together, preparing to play on the Seattle club circuit. Cornell liked his voice and musical acumen, and so he asked Eddie to duet with him on one of the album’s best songs, “ Hunger Strike.” When Vedder got to Seattle, they were in the middle of recording Temple of the Dog, and they asked Vedder to sing backing vocals on the album. After hearing the tape, Ament and Gossard invited Vedder to move to Seattle to join their band. Vedder listened to the instrumental demo tracks and wrote lyrics and recorded himself singing with the music on the demos and sent the tape back to Ament. Vedder had just left the band Bad Radio and was looking to join up with a new band. He was living in San Diego and regularly played pick up basketball with another musician named Eddie Vedder. One tape wound up in the hands of former Red Hot Chili Peppers’ drummer, Jack Irons. They began bringing in drummers during late 1990, settling on a veteran of several Seattle-area bands, Dave Krusen. They had put together a three song demo tape to send out to possible lead singers and drummers. They went looking for a drummer and a lead singer. Ament would be on bass and Gossard on rhythm guitar. The band was never intended to be more than a one time thing and Gossard and Ament were already putting together a new band while the Temple of the Dog recording was going on. But Soundgarden is great, so that is not a problem. It is a very good album, too, though I don’t hear much of what would become Pearl Jam in there, as it sounds no different really than Soundgarden. They released their self titled album in April 1991. They named the band Temple of the Dog, after a Mother Love Bone lyric, and went into the studio to record the songs that Cornell had written about Wood during Soundgarden’s last tour. He asked Soundgarden’s drummer Matt Cameron to join them. Once he started feeling like playing again, he called an old high school buddy, Mike McCready, to jam with him.Ĭornell had been Andrew Wood’s close friend and roommate, and he was wanting to put together a tribute band in honor of their departed friend. The remaining members decided to go their separate ways.Īfter the death of Wood, Gossard spent a few months away from music. While the delay curbed some of the hype about the album, the main issue was that the band had lost both their friend and lead singer. The album’s release was pushed back until Summer of 1990. However, just a few days before the album was to be released, lead singer Wood overdosed on heroin and passed away a few days later. The album’s release date was scheduled for March of 1990. I have no doubt, that the band would have been huge, had circumstance not gotten in their way. It is a very good album and Wood was a great frontman, sounding similar to both Robert Plant and Axl Rose at times. There was a lot of advance hype by the music press and already people were saying this band would change music. After touring for the next year, the band went into the studio to record their debut LP. Shine was the first major label release by any of the bands from the Seattle grunge rock scene. After playing around Seattle for about a year the band signed to Polygram Records and quickly released an EP, Shine.
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