Pearl Jam then and now Still ‘Alive,’ the 27-year-old group is Seattle’s grunge survivor

Photo of PEARL JAM; 14-02-1992 Amsterdam, Pearl Jam (Photo by Paul Bergen/Redferns) Photo of PEARL JAM; 14-02-1992 Amsterdam, Pearl Jam (Photo by Paul Bergen/Redferns) Photo: Paul Bergen/Redferns Photo: Paul Bergen/Redferns Image 1 of / 92 Caption Close Pearl Jam then and now 1 / 92 Back to Gallery

"'Is something wrong? she said."

"Of course there is."

"'You're still alive,' she said."

"Oh, and do I deserve to be? Is that the question? And if so.. if so, who answers?"

It's been more than a quarter-century since Seattle, then the world at large, was introduced to these lines, penned by Eddie Vedder, in "Alive," the first single off Pearl Jam's multi-platinum debut album "10."

That song, and others from the record such as "Evenflow" and "Jeremy," featured the frenetic energy and expert musicianship -- not to mention Vedder's oft-imitated, but never duplicated baritone -- that set the group apart from its contemporaries in the grunge scene, which helped "10" become one of the best-selling records in the 1990s, selling more than 13 million units in the United States alone.

Along with groups like Nirvana, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam came to define a period of cultural influence never before seen from the Northwest, and while tragedy and the inevitable passage of time took their toll on other artists from the scene, Pearl Jam continues to be a relevant, creative force.

Twenty-seven years after its debut, the group is still very much alive. Pearl Jam deserves to be, and it is about to be immortalized with induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland on Friday.

Out of the ashes

The band was born from tragedy. Rhythm guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament had played together since the mid-1980s and were members of up-and-coming group Mother Love Bone until the death of charismatic frontman Andrew Wood from a heroin overdose days before their debut album "Apple" was to be released in March 1990.

Several months after Wood's death and the ensuing breakup of Mother Love Bone, Gossard and Ament connected with lead guitarist Mike McCready, a childhood friend of Gossard's, and the trio started working on material, eventually adding Vedder -- who had been working part time as a gas station attendant in San Diego -- and drummer Dave Krusen to form Pearl Jam's original lineup under the name Mookie Blaylock. (Drummer Matt Cameron became the group's fifth and longest-tenured drummer in 1998.)

Longtime Seattle P-I pop music critic Gene Stout attended the band's first show at the Off Ramp, where he remembers seeing Vedder wearing a T-shirt featuring another local band, which he found indicative of the yet-to-be-labeled scene at the time.

"They really kind of all identified with each other," Stout said. "Before everything became a big commercial phenomenon, they were all sort of tied together doing something very special that had been born in the garages and basements of Seattle."

The real deal

The band changed its name before the release of "10" in August 1991, and the album wasn't yet a hit by the time Matt Vaughn first saw the group. Vaughn knew Gossard and McCready from his childhood days growing up on Capitol Hill. He worked at and eventually bought what would become the beloved West Seattle mainstay Easy Street Records as a teenager, and was managing the band Gruntruck in January 1992 when the group was slated to open for Pearl Jam at the Moore Theater on Jan. 17.

Vaughn recalled an apologetic Vedder walking into Gruntruck's dressing room and dropping off a case of beer for having to open the show. He didn't immediately impress the group as a future rock legend.

"He walked out of the closet-like dressing room that we had, and we were all thinking, 'That guy's going to get eaten alive,'" Vaughn realled. "He was just so nice."

Then Vaughn and Gruntruck saw Pearl Jam play.

"I just kind of remember my guys in Gruntruck were kind of like, 'Oh (expletive). This is the real deal.' And it really was," Vaughn said. "At that moment, it was like, 'OK, this is the best band in Seattle. This is the beginning of an explosion.' I really felt it. To this day it's one of my most favorite shows."

The band had its detractors from the very beginning. Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain famously called them "corporate puppets that are just trying to jump on the alternative bandwagon" in 1992, but Stout rejects that characterization.

"There were some accusations when they first formed that they were contrived, they were put together by record label people, and to a degree they were, but that doesn't make them inauthentic," Stout said. Vedder, Stout says, was a "creative force looking for a fertile situation," and he found it by partnering with McCready, Gossard and Ament.

Biggest band on the planet

By the end of 1992, "10" was a hit, reaching certified gold status. Along with Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and Mudhoney, Pearl Jam came to define the "grunge" movement. Once considered America's last frontier culturally, Seattle became a Mecca for rock musicians looking to move past what they saw as the artificiality of the '80s.

Pearl Jam released successful follow-up albums in 1993's "Vs." and 1994's "Vitalogy," but became uncomfortable with its own success, breaking with its hard rock sound to release the more experimental, ballad-heavy "No Code" in 1996. The stylistic shift, which continued through the band's next six full-length albums, would become characteristic of the band's second act, which seemed to eschew mainstream success in order to pursue purer artistic motives.

"They were very prolific," Stout said. "They kept at it. Some albums weren't as well received as others, but I think that they were certainly working the creative side as well as they could. There was a lot of inspiration there, even if things didn't always gel the way the public may have wanted it."

"I don't think that the band wanted the immediate meteoric success," local music journalist Travis Hay said. "They didn't anticipate being the biggest band on the planet months after their first album came out, and so that caused them to kind of take a step back and pause."

While the constant changes in style may have had a detrimental effect on the group's commercial success, it built up a loyal following among fans who saw the band's increasingly complex artistic ambitions as a sign of authenticity. The group capitalized on the popularity of its shows by sanctioning bootlegged recordings, further endearing it to its fanbase.

"Each show is different," Hay said. "Each show has a different feeling. Each show has a different set list. Each show is an extremely different experience from city to city. It gives the collectors a lot to collect, and it gives the fans something to hold on to from those moments."

Using its platform

Pearl Jam has always been about more than the music, giving its support to various causes throughout its career, including the pro-choice movement, environmental issues and music education, among others. The members were harsh critics of the George W. Bush administration and took on Ticketmaster in a three-year boycott that hampered its ability to tour in the U.S. and threatened to end its career. The boycott was ultimately unsuccessful, but did force the company to change some of its policies.

"That Ticketmaster suit was really gutsy. I mean, they took on a colossus there and succeeded in making an impact," Stout said. "They've had that crusader side to them ever since the beginning."

Stout believes the activism comes from the same energy that drove the grunge scene in the early-to-mid-'90s, then exploded in the World Trade Organization riots in Seattle in 1999.

"I think it was pretty organic," Stout said. "I think it was a byproduct of their personalities and diverse interests. They were also, even if they may want to deny it, part of that whole Seattle movement, which was anti-establishment."

The group remains musically and politically active -- "Not the brooding, wise-ass, anarchist way anymore, but still call out (expletive) when they see it," Vaughn said -- and Friday's induction to the Rock and Roll Hall likely won't change the artistic, activist m.o. they've built over the last quarter-century.

"I can't wait for the next record, what we're going to get with that," Vaughn, who still owns Easy Street, said. "We'll have a release party for that. I have no idea what it's going to sound like, but I bet it's going to be great, just because you know based off what's happening with our country.

"With the world experience that Pearl Jam has and with them still being top-notch musicians, it's going to be (expletive) great."

Survivors

The group has continued to deal with tragedy throughout its career, including the deaths of Cobain -- who became close with Vedder before his 1994 suicide -- and Alice in Chains frontman Layne Staley, who died from a drug overdose in 2002. It almost disbanded after nine fans were crushed to death during the Roskilde Festival in Denmark in June 2000.

Stout believes the band's early experience with tragedy -- Wood's death in particular -- is a part of what made Pearl Jam what it is.

"I recall conversations with Stone and Jeff, and they were really devastated by the death of Andrew Wood," Stout said. "That was the first major casualty in the Seattle drug connection. They were ready to pop, and the whole thing just imploded, and it was terribly disappointing. So I think there might have been some kind of cosmic forces there that helped them re-emerge as Pearl Jam, not to mention some help from people who wanted these talented guys to get together and do something."

Hay believes the tragedies and the group's music go hand in hand.

"Being together as a band and going through those experiences together and then creating music based off of those experiences has really helped heal them and helped them kind of have that survivor's mentality and helped them get through all of the tragedies they've encountered," he said.

Despite fame, fortune, and death, they're still alive.