Rolling Stone Australia - May 2016

Rolling Stone | 68 | May, 2016

PEARL

JAM

his new hometown crowd in the eyes just 10

months earlier.

“Edturnedintoananimal,”Gossard

laughs.“Hestartedlosinghismind.We’d

have sections of the songs where it was just

this chaotic, ritualistic, transporting noise,

andEdwouldlosehimselfinthatsound,

and just go insane. Watching him discov-

er himself as a singer, and watching the

crowdbeingjustcompletelytransfixedby

him, was amazing.”

OnJanuary11th,1992,thedayNirva-

na’sNevermindalbum displaced Michael

Jackson’sDangerousfrom the top of the

Billboard 200,Tencreptontothechart

at number 155, while “Alive”, its lead-of

single, entered the Hot Mainstream Rock

Trackschartatnumber32.ByMay5th,Ten

was certified platinum for one million cop-

iessold:threeweekslaterithadclimbed

into the Billboard Top 10. When MTV put

Mark Pellington’s haunting video for “Jer-

emy”–basedonthetruestoryof15-year-

old Texan schoolboy Jeremy Wade Delle,

who shot himself in front of his teacher

andclassmates–intorotationinAugust,

the album gained renewed traction, begin-

ning to sell at a rate out-stripping even Nir-

vana.Mobbedwhenevertheyappearedin

public – “you couldn’t go anywhere without

causing a scene,” recalls Ament – the young

musicians began to fret as to where their

spontaneous, unselfconscious debut album

might ultimately lead them. In a bid to slow

down their dizzying ascent, Pearl Jam re-

fused to let Epic release the ballad “Black”

as a single, and asked for a time-out – no

more interviews, no more photo shoots, no

more videos. Regardless, the record kept

selling, appearing in Bill-

board’s Top 15 best-selling

albumsoftheyearinboth

1992 and 1993. WhenTime

magazine chose a photo of

Vedder as the cover image

of their October 25th, 1993

issue (with the tagline

“Angryyoungrockerslike

PearlJamgivevoicetothe

passionsandfearsofagen-

eration”) their coronation

asthebiggestnewbandin

rock music was confirmed.

Itwouldtakeadecadeforthegrouptoad-

just to this new reality.

“Itwasstressful,”admitsGossard.“For

mepersonallythestresscamefrombeing

huge but feeling like you were kinda crap.

We couldn’t live up to the bands that we

thoughtwerethegreatest.Idon’teverre-

member any thoughts like, ‘Wow, we’ve

just made the best album ever.’ I just re-

member thinking that I was looking for-

ward to making our next one.”

“In our entire 25 years of being a band

we’ve always been surprised when any-

thingdoeswell,”laughsAment.“Butwhen

opportunities came we were going to make

sure we were ready, because we had al-

readywitnessedhoweasilythiscanallgo

away.Wewantedtoensurewehadnore-

gretsattheendofthis,butwecertainly

didn’t expectTento be a huge deal. I guess

it kinda became one.”

“Mixing the album was a very pleasant
experience,”headds.“Becauseitwasthe
first album from a new band, there were no
great expectations, so we were very much
left to work from our gut. And because
therecordwasprimarilylikealiveperfor-
mance, there was a lot of space for me to
be creative, and to have fun with it. With
‘Oceans’, for instance, I felt like I wanted to
getalittlebitmoremove-
ment,butbeingmiles
away from the nearest
musicstoreIdidn’twant
tositaroundwaitingfor
adeliveryfromLondon,
soIwentstraighttothe
RidgeFarmkitchenand
grabbedmyselfapepper
shakerandIusedthatto
addtotherhythm.There
was one more thing that I
wanted to try, which was
like an ambient cowbell,
butagain,Ididn’thaveacowbell,sothis
timeIjusttookafireextinguisherofthe
wall,gotacoupleofdrumsticksandused
that.Itworkedoutprettywell,andgave
akindofeeriequalitytothesong.Some-
times necessity is the mother of invention,
and the band were very appreciative of any
inputthatIadded.”
TenwasreleasedintheU.S.onAugust
27th, 1991. Intense, dramatic and dynamic,
it leaned upon the influence of Led Zeppe-
lin,theWhoandJimiHendrixasmuchas
‘alternative’ rock figureheads (Black Flag,
the Stooges, Fugazi), with Vedder’s dark,
poeticlyricsgivingthealbumauniquely
brooding, existential edge. Sales were ini-
tially sluggish –Tensold just 25,000 cop-
iesinweekone–butontheroadthesongs
begantotakeonatranscendentquality,el-
evatedbyafrontmanunrecognisablefrom
the shy, sensitive soul who could barely look

“IT WAS STRESSFUL,” SAYS

GOSSARDOFTHESUCCESSOF‘TEN’.

“FOR ME IT CAME FROM BEING

HUGE BUT FEELING LIKE

YOU WERE KINDA CRAP.”

Metallica, ‘Metallica’

Snooty rock critics may

have sneered at the Spinal

Tap-esque ‘none more

black’ cover, but Metal-

lica had the last laugh,

selling 16 million copies

of their stripped-down,

punishingly-direct fi fth

album in America alone.

Massive Attack

‘Blue Lines’

Soulful, symphonic, hazy,

hypnotising and haunting,

the debut album from

Bristol DJ collective Mas-

sive Attack introduced the

world to the concept of

‘trip-hop’, billed as ‘dance

music for the head’.

Guns N’Roses

‘Use Your Illusion’

Two albums and a massive

statement of cock-swing-

ing braggadocio from LA’s

most dysfunctional hard

rock outfi t. Sadly, guitarist

Izzy Stradlin quit upon its

completion, taking Gn’R’s

soul with him.

Primal Scream

‘Screamadelica’

The Scottish indie band

entrusted their album

to a clutch of maverick,

bugged-out DJs who

spiked it with house

beats, gospel choruses,

spoken word samples and

punk rock attitude.

Spin Doctors

‘Pocket Full of

Kryptonite’

A hideously self-satisfi ed

mesh of white boy funk-

rock, soul-free blues and

jam band noodling, the

Spin Doctors’ debut stu-

dio album sold 10 million

copies worldwide.

1991:AREVOLUTIONINSOUND

In addition to Ten and Nirvana’s Nevermind, the middle months of 1991 saw the release of a

number of landmark albums. Here’s four of the best, and one huge-selling stinker best forgotten.