The pivotal decision Pearl Jam believes is why “we’re still around today”
In 1991, Pearl Jam released their debut album, Ten, which received acclaim from critics and fans alike and is still considered one of the band’s most exciting musical outings three decades later. The moment the album was released, it was clear that Pearl Jam was onto something special and that the musical world at the time was privy to the rise of new stars.
Today, Pearl Jam is still together, constantly touring and selling out stadiums around the world. They have an infectious and undeniable sound, holding exciting elements of rock close to their chest to put on great gigs and make music that continues to connect people. They have defied the odds, are still together, and are happily making music 30 years later, so what’s that secret?
It’s not uncommon for bands to split up shortly after seeing success. Sometimes, when bands are successful, that high becomes the foundation of the whole group. If they can’t maintain that popularity, fingers are pointed, blame distributed and the unity of the group crumbles. Pearl Jam, who have had varying levels of success throughout their career, have managed to stay together, and at the very heart of that triumph is not letting the success go to their heads.
Once Ten was released, naturally, media outlets and magazines were keen on speaking to the band, treating them like kings, and projecting their faces across every publication that would have them. The band made the conservative decision to limit their exposure to the limelight, and in doing so, they ensured that the fame didn’t go to their heads and that they remained humble and grounded.
“I felt that with more popularity we were going to be crushed, our heads were going to pop like grapes,” said Eddie Vedder when discussing the decision to limit exposure, “I knew it wasn’t graceful, the way we were handling it. At the same time, it’s like being graceful in an alley fight. You’re just trying to get out of there alive. We held tight to each other and held tight to music.”
Guitarist Mike McCready wasn’t sure about the decision at first. He reminded the band that success is what they’ve worked hard for, and it doesn’t make sense not to embrace it. However, now he reflects on the decision and knows that it was the right thing to do.
“They said: ‘No, we’ve got to, because this is all gonna fall apart if we don’t’,” he said, recalling the band’s reaction to him suggesting they embrace their success, “And I think they were right… I feel like we’re still around today because of that first major decision to try to do it our own way. We made a lot of decisions that were counter to what the record label wanted us to do.”
