Pearl Jam's "Ten" turns 21!!!!

Wow. For some reason, that makes me feel old... and I was only 5 years old when it came out. haha! But I still remember the first time I heard/saw Pearl Jam. Good ol' MTV. It was their video for "Alive". I knew, even at age 5, that the music world was about to change. No teazed hair/hairspray, no makeup, it wasn't happy/fluffy pop/rock music... hell, the video for "Alive" wasn't even in color, it was in black and white. They weren't pretty boys with pouty looks (although Eddie and Stone were absolutely gorgeous), doing synchronized guitar twirls or engaging in synchronized 'rock out' moments... this was something entirely new. I saw flannel. I saw jeans, shorts, t-shirts, and combat boots. I saw guys with shoulder-length hair, who could care less about their appearance. They were doing their own thing on stage, feeling the music in a way that didn't look forced or scripted. I was hearing alternative rock... I was hearing grunge. It was dark, gloomy... and somewhat powerful. Eddie Vedder's voice was unlike anything I had ever heard at that time... but then again, so was Pearl Jam. And when "Even Flow" came out... oh, it was ON!! It was SO ON!! We knew right then and there, that our beloved hair bands probably weren't going to be around for much longer...

So that brings us to Pearl Jam's debut album, Ten... which was released on August 27, 1991. It's finally legal, let's buy it a drink! Or two... or three, because gawd knows this album needs a few beers. The lyrical content on this album deals with subjects like depression, suicide, loneliness, and murder. The album also takes on social concerns: homelessness can be heard in the lyrics to "Even Flow", the use of mental hospitals in "Why Go", and "Jeremy" was based on a true story. 
Now, I'm pretty sure my Mother went out and bought Ten on cassette right around the time it came out, but I could be wrong? I, however, didn't purchase it on my own, until I was 14 years old. (Hey, I wasn't even allowed to watch the "Jeremy" video until I was like 12. haha!) I pretty much wore that CD out, and became massively obsessed with them. Okay, maybe not massively obsessed, but I did become an even bigger fan of them. They will forever be a top 10 band for me. I appreciated it a little more than I did when I was 5... but that would be pretty much a given. At 14, I felt (and related to) the angst of Eddie Vedder's voice... the lyrics and the music just spoke to me. Ten was my go-to album whenever I needed to let out a little frustration, however, listening to it changed my mood to a much happier one. Yes, their dark, angsty, melancholy tunes made me happy... go figure. The 3 previous sentences still hold up to this day. And now, at age 26, I think I can safely say that I appreciate this album to the absolute fullest. Ten will always be one of my favorite albums of all-time. Always.

I could do a track-by-track analysis like I did when Def Leppard's 'Hysteria' turned 25... but I won't. I won't do another novel... haha! So instead, I'll leave you with some random facts about the album!

* Ten features a two-part track titled "Master/Slave" that serves as both the opener and the closer for the album; part one starts before "Once", and part two starts 10 seconds after "Release" (the album's closer). Even though it has two parts, it's counted as one track on the CD... listed as a 'hidden track'. The song is instrumental, but features random, mumbling of words from Eddie Vedder. A dominant fretless bass line makes up the core of the song (I'm a big fan of that!), along with a bit of guitar, and tribal sounding drums.
* They named the album Ten after Mookie Blaylock's jersey number. Pearl Jam's original name was Mookie Blaylock, as they are avid basketball fans.
* "Alive" and "Once" formed part of a song cycle, and Eddie refers to it as a "mini-opera" entitled Momma-Son. The third song, "Footsteps" appeared as a B-Side on the "Jeremy" single. The lyrics tell a story of a young man whose father died ("Alive"), which caused him to go on a killing spree ("Once") which then leads to his capture and execution ("Footsteps").
* The band hates the way this album sounds. Not lyrically or musically... but the mixing. Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard weren't too happy with all of the reverb, they'd like to eliminate some of it.

  
*Pearl Jam Ten - full album*

Peace, Love, Music, & Pearl Jam forever,

~Lizzy Lepp