BIOGRAPHY: PEARL JAM

Of the four juggernauts that came to represent the Seattle scene of the '90s, Pearl Jam started off with the sound that was the most overtly commercial. Where Nirvana had punk influences, Soundgarden were metalheads, and Alice in Chains began as a glam band, Pearl Jam never gave the impression that they wanted anything other than to headline arenas, which they did within a year of San Diego surfer Eddie Vedder hooking up with the remains of Seattle's Mother Love Bone. Their debut album, Ten, was a runaway success, they were MTV favorites, and ticket sales set off the kind of hysteria not seen in rock since the Beatles. Success happened so quickly the band faced an immediate backlash: Nirvana's Kurt Cobain labeled them "careerists" (true, but it's not as though he wasn't himself), and critics described them as the '90s' Aerosmith, when they really wanted to be the '90s' Who.

Their early albums are better than those first reviews suggest, perhaps because only a band gunning to be the best in the world can play with the kind of narcissism and conceit that is needed to fuel such arena anthems as Ten's "Jeremy," "Even Flow," and "Alive." Released a month before Nirvana's Nevermind, Ten is the more derivative album, but it does showcase Vedder's unique, driving vocal style and the delicate interplay between guitarists Stone Gossard and Mike McCready.

Vs. was a far better example of what Pearl Jam could do live, and by this second album the group was already consciously unplugging from the trappings of fame by refusing to make videos and starting to battle with Ticketmaster. As a result, riff-heavy songs like "Animal," "Daughter," and "Dissident" sound large without being bombastic, perhaps because they were never in regular MTV rotation. Still, the band's songwriting skills left something to be desired: Tracks like "Rats" and "Leash" come off as arrogant experiments by a band with a fan base that can't be disappointed.

By Vitalogy PJ hit their apex, combining their driving brash sound with the level of songwriting that keeps tunes on classic radio for decades to come. Stripped a bit from icon status, Vedder turns in vocal performances on "Better Man," "Spin the Black Circle," and "Not for You" that seem possessed. Vitalogy was the band's creative zenith, finding them doing a Led Zeppelin III on acoustic tracks like "Corduroy" and turning in a Tom Waits-like weird attack on "Bugs."

Both No Code in 1996 and Yield in 1998 were minor disappointments. No Code did contain the classic single "Who You Are" and the ferocious "Lukin," but the band seemed adrift, remembered more for off-album political battles with Ticketmaster and for testifying before Congress. On Yield the band shared songwriting duties, but when Vedder sang some of the other players' tunes, he seemed to be dialing in his performance. Additionally, Vedder's voice is mixed too low on most of Yield's songs, almost as if he appeared on the album grudgingly, perhaps at gunpoint.

The best Pearl Jam album of the mid-'90s wasn't a Pearl Jam album: In 1995 they teamed with Neil Young and did service as his backing band on Mirror Ball. Although songwriting takes a backseat to spontaneous riffing, the results here are inspired and searing rock. An EP titled Merkin Ball is credited to Pearl Jam, and the two songs it includes, "I Got ID" and "Long Road," were the band's best work of the year.

In 1998, PJ released Live on Two Legs, their first live album. Although Pearl Jam has always been better in concert than on record, this tour highlighted tunes from the Yield album, which made it less powerful than some of the fan-produced bootlegs from earlier tours. By 2000's Binaural, the band had upgraded drummers, wisely grabbing Matt Cameron from the ashes of Soundgarden. Vedder also began playing guitar with more intent, and songs like "Breakerfall" and "Insignificance" suggested the kind of enthusiasm found on the band's first records. Pearl Jam took a break but came back together for 2002's Riot Act, a solid effort that contained the hit "I Am Mine," their first FM smash in years.

Pearl Jam has always allowed fans to tape their shows, and Vedder has openly admitted he's a fan of bootleg recordings himself. But in 2000 Pearl Jam took that enthusiasm farther than any band had before by releasing 72 different shows -- every concert from their world tour of that year. The sound quality on these shows was first-rate, and the tour found the band playing at their best. For casual fans, the three best live sets are shows in Poland; Washington, D.C.; and the one that ended the tour, in hometown Seattle. Pearl Jam mix up their set every night, but the Seattle show in particular found the band experimenting during the course of their 30-song set. Mixing rarely performed classics like "Alive" with energetic covers of the Who's "The Kids Are Alright" and "Baba O'Riley," Pearl Jam for a moment sounded like the most important band in the world again. (CHARLES R. CROSS)

From the 2004 The New Rolling Stone Album Guide