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 twelve 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 the studio for separate sessions with Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron and former Shadow drummer Chris Friel 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 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 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 eleven 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 stepfather (his real father having died long ago), 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.

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 rock bands of the 1970s.

Ten features a two-part track entitled "Master/Slave" that both opens and closes the album. The first part begins the album, before "Once" starts, and the second part closes the album, after "Release". It begins about ten seconds after the album's closer "Release" as a hidden track, but both count as one track on the CD. The song is entirely instrumental (except for random unintelligible words Vedder utters throughout) and a dominant bass line persists in the song, along with some guitar and sounds that seem to come from the drums. In 2002, producer Rick Parashar discussed the song, stating, "As I recall, I think Jeff had, like, a bass line...I heard the bass line and then we kind of were collaborating on that in the control room, and then I just started programming on the keyboard all this stuff; he was jamming with it and it just kind of came about like that." The 1992 Japanese 13-track release of Ten follows "Release" with a cover of The Beatles' "I've Got a Feeling", then "Master/Slave" as a separate track.

Imagery and design

Album artwork

File:PJ-Ten2.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 taken from 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.

Alternate versions

A limited edition yellow digipak was released in the UK with "Alive" (live), "Wash", and "Dirty Frank" as bonus tracks.

Reception

Ten produced three hit singles, "Even Flow", "Alive", and "Jeremy", all of which had accompanying music videos. (The "Oceans" video was released only 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. After being released almost a year prior, the album finally broke into the top ten of the Billboard 200 chart on the date issued May 30, 1992, reaching number 8. It would eventually peak at number two. 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.

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 March 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 self-titled album in order mid-way through their set.

Track listing

All information taken from All Music Guide.

1. "Once" (Eddie Vedder, Stone Gossard) – 3:51
2. "Even Flow" (Vedder, Gossard) – 4:53
3. "Alive" (Vedder, Gossard) – 5:40
4. "Why Go" (Vedder, Jeff 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, Mike McCready, Dave 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, Dave Abbruzzese) – 5:38

Japanese bonus tracks

All information taken from All Music Guide.

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

Outtakes

The album's singles featured two B-Sides recorded during the album's recording sessions but not included on the album itself - the songs "Wash" and "Yellow Ledbetter". "Yellow Ledbetter" eventually became a radio hit in 1994. Both were included on their Lost Dogs collection of rarities, although "Wash" appeared in a different form. The song "Alone" was also originally recorded for Ten. The song was re-recorded in 1992 and eventually found its way on to the band's "Go" single. An alternate version of the song also appears on Lost Dogs. Other songs that were rejected from the album but included on Lost Dogs include "Hold On" and "Brother", the latter of which was turned into an instrumental. Both "Breath" and "State of Love and Trust" were recorded with the intention of the two songs possibly appearing in the film Singles. The versions heard in the film and on its soundtrack were recorded a year later in 1992.

Chart positions

All information taken from various sources.

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1991	Top Heatseekers	2
1992	US Billboard 200	2
	German Albums Chart	15
	UK Albums Chart	18
1994	New Zealand Albums Chart	18

Singles

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1992	"Alive"	Australian Singles Chart	9
	"Alive"	Irish Singles Chart	13
	"Alive"	UK Singles Chart	16
	"Alive"	US Mainstream Rock Tracks	16
	"Alive"	US Modern Rock Tracks	18
	"Alive"	German Singles Chart	44
	"Even Flow"	US Mainstream Rock Tracks	3
	"Even Flow"	US Modern Rock Tracks	21
	"Even Flow"	Australian Singles Chart	22
	"Even Flow"	UK Singles Chart	27
	"Jeremy"	US Mainstream Rock Tracks	5
	"Jeremy"	US Modern Rock Tracks	5
	"Jeremy"	Irish Singles Chart	10
	"Jeremy"	UK Singles Chart	15
	"Jeremy"	German Singles Chart	93
1993	"Black"	US Mainstream Rock Tracks	3
	"Black"	US Modern Rock Tracks	20
1995	"Jeremy"	New Zealand Singles Chart	38
	"Jeremy"	US Billboard Hot 100	79

Personnel

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
• Pearl Jam, Rick Parashar – production
• Tim Palmer – mixing
• Dave Hillis, Don Gilmore, Adrian Moore – additional engineering
• Bob Ludwig – mastering
• Jeff Ament – art direction/concept
• Risa Zaitschek, Lisa Sparagano – design
• Lance Mercer – photos
• Steve Pitstick, Eddie Vedder – additional art

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