12 November 2013    |    

Pearl Jam

Who remembers grunge?! Pearl Jam do. Starting in the Seattle area of Washington State in The US, the movement was driven by bands like Nirvana, Soundgarden and Alice In Chains. The scene was at its peak when Pearl Jam released their classic debut album back in ’91 and it’s easy to see how they got caught up in it. But if you listen to ‘Ten’ now, it’s quite apparent that they had a different sound right from the start. So much so that Kurt Cobain of Nirvana accused them of selling out to the mainstream at the time…
However, the less-grunge-more-classic-rock (sometimes with a country, jazz or punk twist) approach has served them well, with them the sole survivors of that era. And with 10th album ‘Lightning Bolt’, they’re not showing any signs of stopping. Or even slowing down. Quite to the contrary, they continue to serve up whole albums of varied and sometimes surprising music. And like the wine that frontman Eddie Vedder is partial to, they only appear to get better with age.
If you need to do some catching up, the ‘Pearl Jam Twenty’ documentary (available on dvd) should fill in any gaps but you can also visit here to see for yourself that 2013 was a good year.
Cheers! at https://pearljam.com