Pearl Jam consists of Boom Gaspar (keyboards), Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Jeff Ament (bass guitar, backing vocals), Matt Cameron (drums), Mike Mccready (lead guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar, backing vocals).
Pearl Jam is a Seattle, Washington-based rock band which is considered to be one of the most popular and influential artists of the 1990s. Along with Nirvana, Alice in Chains and Soundgarden (often cited collectively as the "big four of grunge"), Pearl Jam helped popularize the grunge movement of the early 1990s. Moreover, they are also one of the few mainstream grunge bands that has remained active since the atrophy of their contemporaries. Pearl Jam largely draws influence from such acts as Neil Young, The Who, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Ramones, and The Rolling Stones. Pearl Jam was named #21 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock.
Pearl Jam was born from the ashes of Mother Love Bone. With the death of Mother Love Bone frontman Andrew Wood and the disintegration of the band in 1990, Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament set out to create their next band. They recruited guitarist Mike McCready and recorded a three song demo tape. This tape made it to ex- Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Jack Irons, who passed it on to his friend Eddie Vedder during one of their hiking trips. Vedder listened to the tape shortly before going surfing. While he was out in the water, the music played in his head and the lyrics came to him.
He rushed back home and in one flurry of creativity recorded the vocals to three songs (" Alive", "Once", and "Footsteps"). The songs were what Vedder would later describe as a mini-opera. They formed a story of incest, madness and murder that became known to fans as the "Mamasan trilogy". He sent the tape with his vocals back to the band, and they were so impressed that they had Vedder fly to Seattle to try out for the band. Vedder and the band hit it off. With the addition of Dave Krusen on drums, they had a complete band. The group was known for a time as Mookie Blaylock, after the basketball player, but concerns about trademark issues necessitated a change after the group was signed to Epic Records. The band eventually settled on Pearl Jam as their new name.
