FEATURE:
Ten at Thirty
Revisiting Pearl Jam's Extraordinary Debut Album
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WHEN one celebrates the thirtieth anniversary…
IN THIS PHOTO: Pearl Jam in 1991/PHOTO CREDIT: Lance Mercer
of an album that they loved as a child, they know they are getting old! That is the case with Pearl Jam’s Epic (it was released on that label and, coincidentally, is epic!) debut, Ten. Released on 27th August, 1991, it came out at a time when Grunge was huge. The album was seen as Grunge - though it is more Classic Rock. It is not as instantly intense and grimy as a Grunge record. I can’t believe that we are days from celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of the Seattle band’s amazing debut! Unlike many of their contemporaries from that time, Pearl Jam are still together. Their latest album, Gigaton, was released last year. I wonder whether the band will get involved with the anniversary celebrations. Although Ten was not an immediate and obvious success upon its release in August 1991, it is credited as popularising Classic Rock through the 1990s. The three singles, Alive, Even Flow, and Jeremy are classics. Jeremy became one of Pearl Jam's best-loved songs; it received nominations for Best Rock Song and Best Hard Rock Performance at the 35th Grammy Awards. If you have not got the album, then go and buy a copy. On 24th March, 2009, Ten was reissued in four editions (Legacy, Deluxe, Vinyl and Super Deluxe). It was the first reissue in a planned re-release of Pearl Jam's entire catalogue that led up to the band's twentieth anniversary in 2011. Ten years later and we have a new milestone to celebrate!
I want to bring in a few articles ahead of Ten’s thirtieth anniversary. I have seen a couple of articles marking thirty years of Ten. There will be many more in the days leading up to the anniversary. Last year, Loudwire marked twenty-nine years of Ten and provided some backstory regarding one of the 1990s’ most important debuts:
“Who knew? After toiling for several years in Seattle bands like Green River and Mother Love Bone, bassist Jeff Ament and guitarist Stone Gossard could have taken a step back from playing after the death of Mother Love Bone vocalist Andrew Wood in 1990, but instead the pair were invited by Soundgarden's Chris Cornell to pay homage to Wood in a project called Temple of the Dog. And also during this period, they gathered their bearings and decided to push on by forming a new band, one that would eventually become Pearl Jam.
Rounding out this new group were guitarist Mike McCready, drummer Dave Krusen and a singer named Eddie Vedder from San Diego who was given a Stone Gossard demo tape by former Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Jack Irons and decided he liked what he heard and felt like writing some lyrics and singing over the track. Included on the demo tape was a song called "Dollar Short" that fans would eventually come to know as "Alive." Vedder had the idea that three of the songs told a story like a mini rock opera that could be tied together. He told Rolling Stone, "[It's] based on things that had happened, and some I imagined."
Of those instrumentals, the first would become "Alive," a track penned by Vedder loosely based on the fact that he learned the man who was his stepfather wasn't his real father and that his biological father had passed on. "Everybody writes about it like it's a life-affirmation thing -- I'm really glad about that," said Vedder with a laugh. "It's a great interpretation. But 'Alive' is … it's torture, which is why it's f---ed up for me. Why I should probably learn how to sing another way. It would be easier. It's too much."
The other two songs in the mini-opera derived from Gossard's demos were "Once," a track detailing how the son couldn't deal with the betrayal and became a serial killer, and "Footsteps," a track about his eventual execution. "It's a modern way of dealing with a bad life," Vedder told Rolling Stone, before smiling and adding, "I'm just glad I became a songwriter."
Not long after Vedder wrote the songs and recorded over the demo, the tape made its way back to Gossard and Ament, who were blown away by what they heard. Vedder was invited to Seattle and by the time he arrived in town, he also had the song "Black" that would become a future Pearl Jam favorite, as well. Within a week, the fivesome of Vedder, Gossard, Ament, McCready and Krusen were fully clicking.
The songs were flowing and shortly after Vedder's arrival in Seattle, the band signed a record deal with Epic and entered London Bridge Studio to record their debut disc with producer Rick Parasher. Even before they hit the studio, a majority of the record was already written. Only "Porch," "Deep," "Why Go" and "Garden" were penned during their monthlong stay at London Bridge.
Reflecting on that period, McCready told Spin, "Ten was mostly Stone and Jeff. Me and Eddie were along for the ride at that time." But there was little doubt that Vedder's songwriting expertise helped bring the Gossard and Ament songs to life. "All I really believe in is this f---in' moment, like right now," Vedder stated of his songwriting approach. "And that, actually is what the whole album talks about."
Though the album was good to go, there was still one more obstacle to address before they went on to monster success. Drummer Dave Krusen entered rehab shortly after recording was complete, revealing that liquor had gotten the better of him. In an interview with Punk Globe, Krusen would reflect, "It was a great experience. I felt from the beginning of that band that it was something special … They had to let me go. I couldn't stop drinking, and it was causing problems. They gave me many chances, but I couldn't get it together." With Krusen exiting, the band briefly filled the void with Matt Chamberlain, but he had other obligations and recommended Dave Abruzzese, who sat behind the kit for a majority of the Ten album touring.
On Aug. 27, 1991, Epic released the Ten album, making "Alive" the lead single. The track dropped a few weeks prior to the album release and enjoyed a slow climb. With a familiar almost siren-like guitar opening, listeners began to take notice. And while Vedder had stated that the song was somewhat torture to him, fans interpreted it a different way, taking it as an anthem for self-empowerment. Vedder would later reveal on the band's VH1 Storytellers episode that thanks to the fans, he was later able to view the song differently. "They lifted the curse," said the singer. "The audience changed the meaning for me." As for THAT guitar solo, you know the one that typically gets fans going, Mike McCready revealed in Guitar School that he was inspired by Ace Frehley's work on "She" and The Doors' "Five to One" when coming up with the licks. As an intro to the band, "Alive" would climb to No. 16 on the Mainstream Rock Chart and No. 18 Modern Rock, but would become a classic despite its modest radio play”.
Although some were not completely sold by Ten upon its release, most others were full of praise. Looking back at Ten thirty years later, one can see how it influenced the scene and the role Pearl Jam played. With stunning production from Rick Parashar and Pearl Jam, coupled with stunning tracks brilliantly played by the band (Stone Gossard – rhythm guitar, Jeff Ament – bass guitar, Mike McCready – lead guitar, Eddie Vedder – vocals and Dave Krusen – drums, timpani), it is a masterpiece! Mental Floss provided ten facts one might not known about Ten to mark its twenty-fifth anniversary in 2016. I have selected a few:
“The band began recording Ten with producer Rick Parashar on March 11, 1991 at Seattle's London Bridge Studios, and completed the album within a month. But it wasn't all smooth sailing for the musicians. "Even Flow," in particular, proved to be a tough song to record.
"I don't know why," Dave Krusen said. "Not sure why we didn't use that one from the demo as well, but I know it felt better." McCready estimated that they recorded the song 50 to 70 times. "I swear to God it was a nightmare," he said. "We played that thing over and over until we hated each other."
Vedder successfully protested against Epic Records' insistence that "Black" should get a music video. As bassist Jeff Ament told Rolling Stone, Mark Eitzel—lead singer of the San Francisco-based band American Music Club—told Ament he thought the "Jeremy" video "sucked" because it ruined his vision of the song. Ament admitted that the comment stung, and he told Vedder that, "Ten years from now, I don't want people to remember our songs as videos."
Up until they were recording the album at London Bridge Studios, Pearl Jam was known as Mookie Blaylock, as in the professional basketball player. Since calling themselves Mookie Blaylock would have possibly led to legal problems, they decided to just pay tribute to the point guard by calling their debut album Ten, his jersey number.
"I'd love to remix Ten," Ament told Spin in 2001. "Ed, for sure, would agree with me. Three, four years ago, I picked out a cassette, and it had the rough mixes of 'Garden' and 'Once,' and it sounded great. It wouldn't be like changing performances; just pull some of the reverb off it."
In 2009, Ament said that—unlike their other albums—Ten had a "little bit more of an '80s production." When Gossard was promoting the 2009 reissue of the album, featuring a remix of the original songs, he said that, "I think Ten's still good, but I don't put it on".
I listen to Ten now and it still impacts me greatly. I was eight when Ten arrived - so it had a different effect on me then. I was just becoming aware of Pop music and other genres. I am not sure whether I was too conscious of Grunge and Rock back then. Pearl Jam resonated because their Classic Rock sound was more similar to some of my parents’ records. I could identify with some of the songs and sounds more easily than Grunge artists. Now, I listen to Ten and it stands as a phenomenal album. It has not dated or lost any of its power!
I want to end by sourcing one review for the album. As you can imagine, there is no shortage of love when it comes to Ten! This is what AllMusic said in their review:
“Nirvana's Nevermind may have been the album that broke grunge and alternative rock into the mainstream, but there's no overestimating the role that Pearl Jam's Ten played in keeping them there. Nirvana's appeal may have been huge, but it wasn't universal; rock radio still viewed them as too raw and punky, and some hard rock fans dismissed them as weird misfits. In retrospect, it's easy to see why Pearl Jam clicked with a mass audience -- they weren't as metallic as Alice in Chains or Soundgarden, and of Seattle's Big Four, their sound owed the greatest debt to classic rock. With its intricately arranged guitar textures and expansive harmonic vocabulary, Ten especially recalled Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. But those touchstones might not have been immediately apparent, since -- aside from Mike McCready's Clapton/Hendrix-style leads -- every trace of blues influence has been completely stripped from the band's sound. Though they rock hard, Pearl Jam is too anti-star to swagger, too self-aware to puncture the album's air of gravity. Pearl Jam tackles weighty topics -- abortion, homelessness, childhood traumas, gun violence, rigorous introspection -- with an earnest zeal unmatched since mid-'80s U2, whose anthemic sound they frequently strive for.
Similarly, Eddie Vedder's impressionistic lyrics often make their greatest impact through the passionate commitment of his delivery rather than concrete meaning. His voice had a highly distinctive timbre that perfectly fit the album's warm, rich sound, and that's part of the key -- no matter how cathartic Ten's tersely titled songs got, they were never abrasive enough to affect the album's accessibility. Ten also benefited from a long gestation period, during which the band honed the material into this tightly focused form; the result is a flawlessly crafted hard rock masterpiece”.
A happy thirtieth anniversary to Pearl Jam’s Ten on 27th August. Those who loved the album in 1991 will share their memories. There are younger music fans who may not be aware of the album and how important it is. Ten is one of the 1990s’ greatest album…and, surely, one of the best debuts ever. Happy thirtieth anniversary to an album that still sounds amazing to this day! If you have a copy of Ten, go and get it out and…
PLAY it loud!