Ten (Pearl Jam album)

Untitled

Ten is the debut studio album of Seattle-based rock band Pearl Jam, released on August 27, 1991 through Epic Records. Ten took over a year to become a success, but by late 1992 it had reached number 2 on the Billboard charts. Ten produced three hit singles: "Even Flow", "Alive", and "Jeremy". While Pearl Jam were accused of jumping on the grunge bandwagon at the time, Ten was instrumental in the rise of alternative rock in popular music. As of 2007, Ten has been certified 12 times platinum in the United States and remains Pearl Jam's most successful album.

Background

Guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament had played together serving in grunge pioneers Green River as well as the more career-minded Mother Love Bone during the 1980s. Mother Love Bone's career was cut short when singer Andrew Wood died of a drug overdose in 1990, shortly before the group's debut album was to be released. Devastated, it took months before Gossard and Ament agreed to play together again. The duo started jamming with fellow Seattle guitarist Mike McCready, building up material. The three then went into a studio with Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron and recorded some instrumental demos. Five of the songs recorded—titled "Dollar Short," "Agytian Crave," "Footsteps," "Richard's E," and "E Ballad"— were compiled onto a tape called Stone Gossard Demos '91 that was circulated in the hopes of finding a singer and drummer for the trio.

The demo found its way into the hands of San Diego musician Eddie Vedder in September of 1990, which was given to him by former Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Jack Irons. Vedder listened to the demo, went surfing, and wrote lyrics the next day for "Dollar Short," "Agytian Crave," and "Footsteps". "Dollar Short" and "Agytian Crave" would later be retitled "Alive" and "Once", respectively. Gossard and Ament heard the demo with Vedder's vocals and lyrics, and were impressed enough to fly Vedder out to Seattle for an audition. In the meantime Vedder had also written lyrics for "E Ballad," now called "Black." Vedder arrived on October 13th and rehearsed with the band (now joined by drummer Dave Krusen) for a week, writing eleven songs in the process. Vedder was soon hired as the band's singer.

Recording

The band, then called Mookie Blaylock, entered London Bridge Studios in Seattle in March of 1991 to record their debut album. A few tracks were previously recorded at London Bridge in January, but only "Alive" was carried over from that session. The album sessions were quick and lasted only a month, mainly due to the band having already written most of the material for the record.

"Porch," "Deep," "Why Go," and "Garden" were first recorded during the album sessions, everything else had been previously recorded during demo sessions at some point. The album was mixed in June in England by Tim Palmer, who was joined by the band. Palmer decided to mix the album at Ridge Farm Studios in Dorking, a converted farm that according to Palmer was "about as far away from an L.A. or New York studio as you can get." Palmer made a few additions to the already-recorded songs, including having Mike McCready finish up the guitar solo to "Alive" and tweaking the intro to "Black".

Music and lyrics

The album's 11 tracks deal with dark subjects like depression, suicide, loneliness, and murder. Many interpreted "Alive" as an inspirational anthem due to its decidedly uplifting instrumentals and chorus. Vedder has since revealed that the song tells the semi-biographical tale of a son discovering that his father is actually his step-father, while his mother’s grief turns her to sexually embrace her son, who strongly resembles the biological father. The song "Jeremy" and its accompanying video were inspired by a true story in which a high school student shot himself in front of his classmates.

The three songs "Alive", "Once", and "Footsteps" (the last of which was not included on the album, but appeared as a b-side on the "Jeremy" single) formed a song cycle Vedder called the Mamasan trilogy. Vedder explained that the lyrics told the story of a young man whose father dies ("Alive"), causing him to go on a killing spree ("Once") which leads to his capture and execution ("Footsteps"). It was later revealed that Vedder's lyrics were inspired by Vedder's long-held hurt in discovering at age 17 that the man he thought was his father was not, and that his real father had already died.

Imagery and design

File:PJ-Ten.JPG

The unfolded Ten cover art.

Bassist Jeff Ament is credited for the album's artwork and art direction, and it is also Ament's hand that is making the pointing gesture on the cover art. Lance Mercer receives credit for photography, and both Lisa Sparagano and Risa Zaitschek are credited for design.

Album title

Pearl Jam's original name was was taken from after the professional basketball player Mookie Blaylock. It was changed after the band signed to Epic Records, as record executives were concerned about intellectual property and naming rights following Blaylock's inking of an endorsement deal with Nike. In commemoration of the band's original name, the band titled their first album Ten after Blaylock's jersey number.

Reception

Ten produced three hit singles, "Even Flow", "Alive", and "Jeremy", all of which had accompanying music videos. (The "Oceans" video was only released outside of the U.S.) The song "Black" hit #3 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, despite never actually being released as a single. "Once" and "Why Go" have since received considerable airplay as Pearl Jam's popularity has endured. The album's meditative closer, "Release", has become one of the band's most popular concert openers. "Jeremy" became one of Pearl Jam's best-known songs, and received Grammy nominations for Best Rock Song and Best Hard Rock Performance in 1993. The video for "Jeremy" was put into heavy rotation by MTV and became a huge hit, going on to win four video music awards, including Video of the Year and Best Group Video.

Ten has become one of the biggest-selling rock records ever and remains a constant presence on rock radio. Ten stayed on the Billboard charts for more than two years. As of April 2006, Ten has sold 9.4 million copies in the U.S. alone, and has been certified 12x Platinum by the RIAA.

As mentioned above, Ten dealt with dark subject matter but is almost universally considered to be a high water-mark of the early 1990s alternative rock sound, with Vedder's unusually deep and strong (and later much imitated) voice alternating between solidity and vibrato against the unrestrained, guitar-heavy, pure rock sound that harkened back to Led Zeppelin and other metal bands of the 1970s, eschewing any hint of the muted electronic sound associated with the 1980s.

Ten is generally considered to be an exemplary album of the early 1990s. With the success of Ten, Pearl Jam became a key member of the Seattle grunge explosion, along with Nirvana, Alice in Chains, and Soundgarden. Template:RS500 Readers of Q magazine voted Ten as the 42nd greatest album ever; however, three years later the album was listed lower at 59th. In 2003 the TV network VH1 placed it at number 83 on their list of the 100 greatest albums of rock & roll.

On June 13 1992 at the Munich, Germany show, Pearl Jam played the entire album in order as part of their set. They later did a similar feat on September 19, 2006 at the Torino, Italy show, when they played their eponymous album in order mid-way through their set.

Track listing

All information taken from All Music Guide.

1. "Once" (Vedder, Gossard) – 3:51
2. "Even Flow" (Vedder, Gossard) – 4:53
3. "Alive" (Vedder, Gossard) – 5:40
4. "Why Go" (Vedder, Ament) – 3:19
5. "Black" (Vedder, Gossard) – 5:43
6. "Jeremy" (Vedder, Ament) – 5:18
7. "Oceans" (Vedder, Gossard, Ament) – 2:41
8. "Porch" (Vedder) – 3:30
9. "Garden" (Vedder, Gossard, Ament) – 4:58
10. "Deep" (Vedder, Gossard, Ament) – 4:18
11. "Release" (Vedder, Gossard, Ament, McCready, Krusen) – 9:04
    • Contains the hidden track "Master/Slave"

UK/German bonus tracks

All information taken from All Music Guide.

12. "Alive" (Live) (Vedder, Gossard) – 4:54
13. "Wash" (Gossard, Ament, McCready, Krusen, Vedder) – 3:33
14. "Dirty Frank" (Vedder, Gossard, Ament, McCready, Abbruzzese) – 5:38

Japanese bonus tracks

All information taken from All Music Guide.

12. "I've Got a Feeling" (Lennon/McCartney) – 3:42
13. "Master/Slave" (Vedder, Ament) – 3:50

Chart positions

All information taken from various sources.

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1991	Heatseekers	2
1992	The Billboard 200	2
1992	German Albums Chart	15
1992	UK Albums Chart	18

Singles

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1992	"Alive"	Australian Singles Chart	9
1992	"Alive"	Irish Singles Chart	13
1992	"Alive"	UK Singles Chart	16
1992	"Alive"	US Mainstream Rock Tracks	16
1992	"Alive"	US Modern Rock Tracks	18
1992	"Alive"	German Singles Chart	44
1992	"Even Flow"	US Mainstream Rock Tracks	3
1992	"Even Flow"	US Modern Rock Tracks	21
1992	"Even Flow"	Australian Singles Chart	22
1992	"Even Flow"	UK Singles Chart	27
1992	"Jeremy"	US Mainstream Rock Tracks	5
1992	"Jeremy"	US Modern Rock Tracks	5
1992	"Jeremy"	Irish Singles Chart	10
1992	"Jeremy"	UK Singles Chart	15
1992	"Jeremy"	German Singles Chart	93
1993	"Black"	US Mainstream Rock Tracks	3
1993	"Black"	US Modern Rock Tracks	20
1995	"Jeremy"	US The Billboard Hot 100	79

Credits

All information taken from All Music Guide.

• Dave Krusen – drums
• Jeff Ament – bass
• Eddie Vedder – vocals
• Mike McCready – lead guitar
• Stone Gossard – guitar
• Rick Parashar – piano, organ, percussion
• Walter Gray – cello
• Tim Palmer – fire extinguisher, pepper shaker
• Produced by Pearl Jam and Rick Parashar
• Mixed by Tim Palmer
• Additional Engineering by Dave Hillis, Don Gilmore, Adrian Moore
• Mastered by Bob Ludwig

References

• Crowe, Cameron. "Five Against the World". Rolling Stone. October 28, 1993.
• Pearlman, Nina. "Black Days". Guitar World. December 2002.

External links

• Ten information and lyrics