They’re Still Alive

In 1996, the Chicago rock band Local H asked, “If I was Eddie Vedder / Would you love me any better?” It was a rhetorical question. For most of the 1990s, the charismatic singer and his bandmates in Pearl Jam were one of the most popular and acclaimed acts in rock, releasing five hit albums and spawning countless imitators. Although their cultural relevance faded with the 20th century, they still thrive as a touring band, becoming grunge’s answer to the Grateful Dead. In Long Road: Pearl Jam and the Soundtrack of a Generation, rock critic Steven Hyden provides a deep and engaging analysis of Pearl Jam’s remarkable career, and particularly what he considers its definitive identity as a live act.

Pearl Jam’s story starts with the end of Mother Love Bone, a Seattle band whose lead singer died of a heroin overdose shortly before its first album was released. MLB bassist Jeff Ament and guitarist Stone Gossard connected with Stevie Ray Vaughan acolyte Mike McCready to record a demo tape that made its way to Vedder, then a gas station attendant in San Diego. Vedder returned the favor with a demo of his own—including two songs that would appear on the band’s first album, 1991’s Ten. Album sales took off in 1992, thanks to MTV’s heavy rotation of “Jeremy.”

With that, Pearl Jam joined Nirvana as the most popular acts in the grunge scene. Kurt Cobain’s group is still seen as the cooler band, but Pearl Jam’s songs are more interesting and more varied, and Vedder’s voice more versatile and powerful than Cobain’s, even if it did contain the seeds of rock’s destruction by inspiring the likes of Creed’s Scott Stapp and Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger. Hyden puts it well when he explains that Nirvana “was the outsider band” while Pearl Jam “offered … community.” Then again, Nirvana’s video for “Smells Like Teen Spirit” has high schoolers partying in a gym, while “Jeremy” shows a student killing himself in front of his classmates.

Pearl Jam’s second record, Vs., set a record for first-week sales, but Cobain’s suicide in April 1994 disrupted the band’s momentum and sense of purpose. Vitalogy was released later that year, and on it Vedder’s discomfort with popularity and commercial success is evident. That same year, the band began its battle against Ticketmaster’s allegedly monopolist practices but ended up having to cancel its 1995 tour. Hyden laments that this “depressingly futile” fight, not