Biography for Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam is undoubtedly one of the most popular rock bands to emerge during the early '90s. The band, which then consisted of Eddie Vedder (Vocals), Stone Gossard (Guitars), Mike McCready (Guitars), Jeff Ament (Bass) and Dave Krusen (drums), released their multi-platinum debut album, Ten, in 1991, and they were soon ruling the airwaves with hook-laden tunes such as "Jeremy," "Evenflow," and "Alive." In 1993, they released a second album, Vs., this time with Dave Abbruzzese replacing Krusen on drums. It was another enormous success, debuting at number one and selling almost a million copies during its first week. A third album, Vitalogy, was released in 1994, first as a limited edition vinyl record. Despite this unconventional move, the new record hit the Top 60, and once the album became available on cassette and CD, it, like the two preceding albums, went multi-platinum. In the midst of their enormous success, some band members found the time to complete various side-projects (Vedder toured with wife Beth's band Hovercraft in the Spring of '94 and McCready released an album with his band Mad Season) and in early 1995, Pearl Jam (with a new drummer, Jack Irons) recorded an album, Mirror Ball, with legendary singer/songwriter Neil Young. A fourth album, No Code, was released in 1996, debuting at number one. The new album, with its world/experimental influences, proved a musical departure for the band and was favorably reviewed by critics. A return to hard rock yielded the 1997 album, Yield, which was greeted with enthusiastic acclaim. The album reached number two, and was supported in 1998 by a full-scale tour. It was at this time that the band, once again, enlisted a new drummer, Matt Cameron of Soundgarden. A concert LP, Live on Two Legs, was also released at the end of the year. In 1999, a rare, fan-club-only single "Last Kiss" (a cover of a J. Frank Wilson song) became a surprise radio hit--hitting number two on the charts and going gold. In 2000, Binaural was released which was followed by another unconventional move--the release of 72 volumes of double CD-sets comprised of live concert recordings ("official bootlegs") of their European tour during that year. A world tour was launched in 2003 and another in 2006 to support the May release of their latest album, Pearl Jam.
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