[歌手简介]

　　Pearl Jam rose from the ashes of Mother Love Bone to become the most popular American rock & roll band of the '90s. After vocalist Andrew Wood overdosed on heroin in 1990, guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament assembled a new band, bringing in Mike McCready on lead guitar and recording a demo with Soundgarden's Matt Cameron on drums.

　　Thanks to future Pearl Jam drummer Jack Irons, the demo found its way to a 25-year-old San Diego surfer named Eddie Vedder, who overdubbed vocals and original lyrics and was subsequently invited to join the band (then christened Mookie Blaylock after the NBA player).

　　Dave Krusen was hired as the full-time drummer shortly thereafter, completing the original lineup. Renaming themselves Pearl Jam, the band recorded their debut album, Ten, in the beginning of 1991, although it wasn't released until August; in the meantime, the majority of the band appeared on the Andrew Wood tribute project Temple of the Dog. Ten didn't begin selling in significant numbers until early 1992, after Nirvana made mainstream rock radio receptive to alternative rock acts. Soon, Pearl Jam outsold Nirvana, which wasn't surprising -- Pearl Jam fused the riff-heavy stadium rock of the '70s with the grit and anger of '80s post-punk, without ever neglecting hooks and choruses; "Jeremy," "Evenflow," and "Alive" fit perfectly onto album rock radio stations looking for new blood.

　　Krusen left the band shortly after the release of Ten; he was replaced by Dave Abbruzzese. Pearl Jam's audience continued to grow during 1992, thanks to a series of radio and MTV hits, as well as successful appearances on the second Lollapalooza tour and the Singles soundtrack (Stone Gossard also embarked on a side project called Brad, which released the album Shame in early 1993). Despite their status as rock & roll superstars, the band refused to succumb to the accepted conventions of the music industry. The group refused to release any videos or singles from their second album, 1993's Vs. Nevertheless, it was another multi-platinum success, debuting at number one and selling nearly a million copies in its first week of release. On their spring 1994 American tour, the band decided not to play the conventional stadiums, choosing to play smaller arenas, including several shows on college campuses. Pearl Jam cancelled their 1994 summer tour, claiming they could not keep ticket prices below 20 dollars because Ticketmaster was pressuring promoters to charge a higher price. The band took Ticketmaster to the Justice Department for unfair business practices; while fighting Ticketmaster, they recorded a new album during the spring and summer of 1994. After the record was completed, the group fired Dave Abbruzzese, replacing him with former Red Hot Chili Peppers and Eleven drummer Jack Irons.

　　Vitalogy, the band's third album, appeared at the end of 1994. For the first two weeks, the album was only available as a limited vinyl release, but the record charted in the Top 60. Once Vitalogy was available on CD and cassette, the album shot to the top of the charts and quickly went multi-platinum. Pearl Jam continued to battle Ticketmaster in 1995, but the Justice Department eventually ruled in favor of the ticket agency. In early 1995, the band recorded an album with Neil Young. Meanwhile, Vedder toured with his wife Beth's experimental band Hovercraft in the spring of 1994 as Stone Gossard founded an independent record company; Mad Season, Mike McCready's side project with Layne Staley of Alice in Chains, released their first album, Above, in the spring of 1995.

　　In late summer of 1996, Pearl Jam released their fourth album, No Code. Although the album was greeted with fairly positive reviews and debuted at number one, its weird amalgam of rock, worldbeat, and experimentalism dissatisfied a large portion of their fan base, and it quickly fell down the charts. The record's performance was also hurt by Pearl Jam's inability to launch a full-scale tour, due both to their battle with Ticketmaster and a reluctance to spend months on the road. The band spent most of 1997 out of the spotlight, working on new material; Gossard also released a second album with his side project Brad, titled Interiors. By the end of the year, Pearl Jam had completed a new, harder-rocking record entitled Yield. The album was greeted with enthusiastic reviews upon its February 1998 release, but its commercial fortunes weren't quite as clear cut.

　　While their sizable cult embraced the album, sending it to number two its first week of release, Yield quickly slipped down the charts. Pearl Jam supported the record with a full-scale arena tour in the summer of 1998, issuing the concert LP Live on Two Legs at the end of the year; Jack Irons did not participate due to poor health, and was replaced by ex-Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron. In 1999, Pearl Jam scored an unlikely pop radio smash with their cover of the J. Frank Wilson oldie "Last Kiss," originally released as the seventh in a series of fan-club-only singles which had also featured several incongruous covers in the past. Demand from fans and radio programmers resulted in the nationwide release of "Last Kiss," and it eventually became the band's highest-charting pop hit to date, peaking at number two and going gold.

　　Pearl Jam的前身是九十年代初著名Grunge乐队Mother Love Bone，该乐队主唱Andrew Wood服用毒品过量身亡后，吉他手Stone Gossard和贝司手Jeff Ament和新加入的吉他手Mike McCready、鼓手Dave Krusen、主唱Eddie Vedder一起组建了新乐队Pearl Jam。1991年，乐队录制了第一张专辑《Ten》，它在开始并未取得很好的成绩，但在涅磐的经典专辑《Nevermind》的带动下，另类摇滚开始主流化。1992年，《Ten》最终超越了《Nevermind》的销量，成为九十年代极少的几张多白金处女作之一。

　　Pearl Jam华丽高雅的贵族化Grunge音乐风格在当时自成一派，更加讲求整体音乐素养和对后朋克博大精深的摇滚流派的参悟。

　　鼓手Krusen不久后离队，新鼓手Dave Abbruzzese加入进来。1992年，Pearl Jam的知名度在各大电台、MTV的大力宣传下迅速提高，并且参加了第二届Lollapalooza摇滚音乐节的演出。Pearl Jam在圈内的怪脾气一直是很出名的，在第二张专辑《Vs》上市前，他们不惜和唱片公司翻脸，拒不接受发行关于他们新专辑的任何录影带和单曲。尽管没有进行前期宣传，1993年的《Vs》还是很顺利的成为了多白金唱片，发行一周后销量即超过100万张，创造了另类摇滚的又一奇迹。1994年夏天，Pearl Jam因不满组织方一再提高票价而取消演出计划，并以不正当商业行为为由向司法部门起诉组织方。与此同时，第三张专辑《Vitalogy》正在紧张的筹备中。不久，乐队开除鼓手Dave Abbruzzese，其位置由Red Hot Chili Peppers和Eleven乐队的前鼓手Jack Irons接替。

　　1994年底《Vitalogy》上市。在最初的两周内，老谋深算的Epic Associate唱片公司仅仅只发行了数量有限的老式黑胶唱片版的新专辑，但就是这样，新专辑还是打入了排行榜前60名，并在全美范围内形成了巨大的需求市场。不久后，CD和卡带版上市，疯狂的抢购潮让它迅速爬上了排行榜榜首，成为了乐队的第三张多白金唱片。1995年，乐队和Neil Young合作了专辑《Mirror Ball》，但由于法律问题，乐队的名称并未出现在专辑封套上。

　　1996年，Pearl Jam推出了第四张专辑《No Code》，这张专辑一改以前的曲风，以世界音乐节拍、实验音乐、怪异的合成摇滚作为基调。这张概念性专辑虽然因其大胆的创新和丰富的想象力得到了业内人士的极高评价，但乐队先前的支持者却感到十分失望。失去了支持者的《No Code》很快在排行榜上消失了。1998年，乐队重整旗鼓后的新专辑《Yield》在发行一周后升至排行榜第二位，但很快跌了下来，成绩不是非常得理想。2000年，乐队录制完成了最新专辑《Binaural》。

[上一页]　[1]　[2]　[3]　[下一页]