Pearl Jam: Undervalued Grunge

Well, forgotten may be a slightly exaggerated term but Pearl Jam often doesn't get their due when it comes to good Grunge music.  When people think of grunge now and when they talk about the innovation involved, its always Nirvana.  They were the first Grunge band to make it big but Pearl Jam was right on their heels.  Some will say that Pearl Jam would never sold as well as they did if it wasn't for Nirvana but its just not true. Nirvana definitely helped their popularity, but you cannot mention what grunge did without mentioning Pearl Jam or Nirvana.





If you want a song that encapsulates what grunge, I would say "Alive" may be the best in the genre at showing what true grunge can be at its best.  Its also one of the best examples of how awesomely powerful Eddie Vedder's voice is, in fact, it was vocalizing this song that led to his inclusion in Pearl Jam.   Great vocalization became much of a part of Grunge through vocalists such as Vedder, Layne Staley (Alice in Chains) and Chris Cornell (Soundgarden).  What makes this song and makes Pearl Jam is Vedder.  This song is also one of the better songs guitar-wise out there when it comes to Grunge, its not just Vedder.  The guitar in the song shows a lot of versatility and is far from simple.

This next couple I threw in for fun to show versatility, the first being "Off He Goes".  If I had to put my finger on the style, I would say its a little bit more hard and serious version of the R.E.m. style.  Its very Alternative, but with a dash of folk,  kind of like if R.E.m. combined with a bit of Neil Young.  Eddie Vedder also showed he could do something more than his classic vocal growl and his voice is very melodic and soft.

The last song is Red mosquito.  This one is an interesting one that is a mix of a few different things, classic grunge with a twist.  The song has a bit of a bluesy feel to it that you don't often see a lot of in grunge.  They also use a Weissenborn Guitar which isn't used all that often and gives it a bit of a world music feel at times.  Both songs are off their album No Code which is considered their big experimental album.

The thing I like about Pearl Jam is that they are willing to experiment.  To keep me interested in your career, if you don't try to incorporate other styles and stick in your "comfort zone", you better just nail it every time, like AC/DC. Pearl Jam experiments, something I like, and they are definitely very Classic Rock influenced