60 Fun Facts About Pearl Jam

Pearl Jam formed in 1990 in the largest city of which U.S. state?

Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament had just lost their previous band, Mother Love Bone, when singer Andrew Wood died.

Under what name did Pearl Jam briefly perform before settling on their permanent name?

They borrowed it from an NBA point guard, and when they were forced to change it they named their debut album after his jersey number.

Which basketball player's jersey number gave Pearl Jam's debut album its title?

Blaylock, a Nets and Hawks point guard, wore number 10, hence Ten.

The 'Jam' half of Pearl Jam's name was inspired by a concert by which musician?

Jeff Ament came up with 'Pearl'; the band later backed Young on his 1995 album Mirror Ball.

Gossard and Ament's earlier band, Mother Love Bone, ended when Andrew Wood died of what?

He died days before the band's debut album Apple was due out; A friend from another Seattle band formed Temple of the Dog in his memory.

Before Mother Love Bone, Gossard and Ament played in which Seattle band, often called the first grunge band?

Mark Arm and Steve Turner went on to form Mudhoney; the band's name was linked to the Green River Killer.

Eddie Vedder was born in Evanston, Illinois, under what name?

He later took his mother's maiden name; he grew up in San Diego and was working at a gas station when he got the demo tape.

Vedder won his spot in the band by recording vocals for a three-song 'mini-opera' he called what?

The songs became Alive, Once and Footsteps; Gossard had written the Alive music as an instrumental called Dollar Short.

Pearl Jam's debut album Ten was released on which date?

It stayed on the Billboard 200 for nearly five years and has been certified 13 times platinum.

Ten peaked at number 2 on the Billboard 200. Which artist's album kept it from the top?

Some Gave All held Ten off for four weeks in 1992.

Which drummer played on Ten?

Abbruzzese took over for Vs., Irons for Vitalogy, No Code and Yield, and Cameron from 1998.

Who produced Ten at Seattle's London Bridge Studio?

Brendan O'Brien remixed the whole album for the 2009 reissue and produced Vs. and Vitalogy.

Ten opens and closes with a two-part hidden instrumental. What is it called?

The reissue campaign in 2009 gave the album a full remix by Brendan O'Brien.

'Jeremy' was inspired by a report about a teenager who shot himself in front of his class in which state?

Jeremy Wade Delle died in Richardson, Texas, in January 1991; the band barely made videos again after the one for this song.

Who directed the 'Jeremy' video, which won Video of the Year at the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards?

MTV made him crop out the gun at the end, which led many viewers to think the boy had shot his classmates.

After 'Jeremy', Pearl Jam did not release another music video until which 1998 animated clip?

Todd McFarlane's animation earned a Grammy nomination for Best Short Form Music Video.

Vs. sold how many copies in its first week in 1993, a record that stood for five years?

It outsold the rest of the Billboard top ten combined that week; the working title had been Five Against One.

What animal appears on the cover of Vs.?

Jeff Ament took the black-and-white photo; the band said it captured how penned-in they felt at the time.

Which company did Pearl Jam unsuccessfully sue in 1994, accusing it of monopolising concert ticketing?

The band spent years playing venues outside the company's control, and Ament and Gossard testified before Congress.

Vitalogy came out on vinyl on November 22, 1994. How long did CD buyers have to wait?

The packaging copied an old medical book Vedder had found; the CD and cassette arrived December 6.

Which Vitalogy single won Pearl Jam their first Grammy, for Best Hard Rock Performance?

It was also their first song to crack the Billboard Hot 100, reaching number 18.

On the Vitalogy track 'Bugs', Vedder plays which instrument, bought at a thrift shop?

Another track was built from looped recordings of psychiatric patients; drummer Dave Abbruzzese was fired during the sessions.

Vedder wrote 'Better Man' as a teenager for which San Diego band?

His bandmates first rejected the song for Vs. as too poppy; it then spent eight weeks atop the Mainstream Rock chart without a commercial single.

Which former Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer joined Pearl Jam in 1994?

He had earlier passed the band's demo to his friend Eddie Vedder; he left during the Yield tour for health reasons.

Temple of the Dog, the 1990 tribute project to Andrew Wood, was conceived by which singer?

Its single 'Hunger Strike' was Vedder's first featured vocal on a record; the group toured for the first and only time in 2016.

In Cameron Crowe's 1992 film Singles, Vedder, Ament and Gossard play members of which fictional band?

Matt Dillon fronts the group; Crowe later directed the documentary Pearl Jam Twenty.

The 1996 album No Code came packaged with how many Polaroid photos?

It debuted at number one but slid quickly; the band said it saw the record as a chance to experiment.

What was the lead single from Yield (1998)?

Wishlist followed as the second single; the yield sign on the cover was shot on a road near Jeff Ament's home.

Matt Cameron joined Pearl Jam in 1998 after drumming for which band since 1986?

He was invited to fill in on the Yield tour and stayed 27 years, announcing his departure in July 2025.

Pearl Jam's 1999 cover of 'Last Kiss' reached what position on the Billboard Hot 100, their best ever?

Vedder found the old record at Seattle's Fremont Antique Mall; proceeds raised about $10 million for Kosovo relief.

How was Pearl Jam's 'Last Kiss' first released, before its wider 1999 issue?

The song was written by Wayne Cochran in 1961 and was a 1964 hit for J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers.

Which producer, known for two-microphone binaural recording, made Pearl Jam's 2000 album Binaural?

The technique creates a 3-D stereo effect and was used on tracks like 'Of the Girl'; it was the first album with Matt Cameron on drums.

The cover of Binaural is a Hubble Space Telescope image of which nebula?

The lead single 'Nothing as It Seems' reached number three on the Mainstream Rock chart.

How many official live 'bootleg' albums did Pearl Jam release from the 2000-2001 tour?

They set a record for the most albums debuting on the Billboard 200 at the same time.

How many fans died in the crowd crush during Pearl Jam's set at the Roskilde Festival on June 30, 2000?

The band stopped the show and asked the crowd to step back; the tragedy reshaped festival safety across Europe.

Which 2002 Pearl Jam song, a satirical jab at George W. Bush, stirred controversy on tour?

It appeared on Riot Act, the album that also added a keyboardist to the lineup and was their last of new material for Epic.

Which keyboardist debuted on Pearl Jam's Riot Act after jamming with Vedder in Hawaii?

'I Am Mine', the lead single, was written in a hotel room before the band's first show after Roskilde.

Pearl Jam's self-titled 2006 album is nicknamed after the fruit on its cover. Which fruit?

Pitchfork put it among the 25 worst album covers of the year; it was their only release on J Records.

Eddie Vedder's first solo album was the soundtrack to which 2007 Sean Penn film?

'Guaranteed' won a Golden Globe, and 'Hard Sun' is a cover of a song by Indio.

Which unusual instrument gave Eddie Vedder's 2011 solo album its title?

His third solo record, Earthling, followed in 2022.

Backspacer (2009) was released on the band's own label. What is it called?

Target was the exclusive big-box retailer in the US, and a political cartoonist spent six months on the cover art.

Which editorial cartoonist drew the cover of Backspacer?

Dan Perkins, who works under that pen name, hid the nine images across websites for a fan contest before release.

Pearl Jam Twenty, the 2011 anniversary documentary, premiered at which film festival?

Director Cameron Crowe sifted through 12,000 hours of footage; the film later aired on PBS's American Masters.

Lightning Bolt (2013) won Pearl Jam a Grammy in which category?

Jeff Ament, an art-school trained designer, has now won two Grammys for album packaging.

Which Pearl Jam album, released March 27, 2020, ended a gap of more than six years between records?

Its lead single was 'Dance of the Clairvoyants' and the cover is a Paul Nicklen photograph.

Pearl Jam's twelfth studio album, Dark Matter (2024), was produced by whom?

Most of it was cut in about three weeks at Shangri-La in Malibu; the title track was Grammy-nominated for Best Rock Performance.

In which year was Pearl Jam inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, its first year eligible?

By 2012 the band had sold more than 100 million albums worldwide.

Guitarist Mike McCready has spoken publicly about living with which condition, diagnosed at 21?

He plays benefit shows in a UFO tribute band called Flight to Mars for the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation.

Which Alice in Chains singer fronted Mad Season, Mike McCready's 1990s side project?

McCready cites Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix as his main influences.

Which Pearl Jam song, co-written by McCready, has become the band's regular set closer?

It was the B-side of Jeremy and never appeared on a studio album.

Jeff Ament, the first of 12 children, grew up in Big Sandy in which state?

His Montana Pool Service Foundation has helped build more than 30 skateparks in the state, many on reservations.

How many of the eleven tracks on Ten were musically written or co-written by Stone Gossard?

They include Alive, Even Flow and Black; Gossard also runs Studio Litho in Seattle and released the solo album Bayleaf in 2001.

Eddie Vedder is a famously devoted fan of which baseball team?

He was born in Evanston, just north of Chicago, and married model Jill McCormick in 2010.

Which No Code single reached number one on the Modern Rock chart in 1996?

The new drummer gave the track its tribal drum sound; the album itself sold 366,500 copies in its first week, well down on Vs. and Vitalogy.

Which drummer left Pearl Jam after a handful of 1991 shows to join the Saturday Night Live band?

He had played with Edie Brickell & New Bohemians and appeared in the 'Alive' video before recommending Abbruzzese as his replacement.

Pearl Jam backed Neil Young on which 1995 album, uncredited as a band for contractual reasons?

Two leftover tracks, 'I Got Id' and 'Long Road', became Pearl Jam's own EP Merkin Ball.

Which director asked Pearl Jam for an original song for Big Fish, resulting in 'Man of the Hour'?

It was the band's first release without a label, sold with Amazon, and earned a Golden Globe nomination.

Which label head announced in 2006 that Pearl Jam had signed with J Records?

Like Epic, J Records sat under Sony; it has since been folded into RCA.

Who inducted Pearl Jam into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2017?

Later that year the band released Let's Play Two, filmed at Wrigley Field.

What is the name of the 5,404-song digital collection of concerts released to Ten Club members in 2021?

It gathers nearly 200 shows from 2000 to 2013.