Pearl Jam

Pearl Jam is a band born from death.

Rising from the ashes of Seattle hard-rock hopefuls Mother Love Bone—whose flamboyant frontman, Andrew Wood, succumbed to an overdose in 1990—guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament built their next group around singer Eddie Vedder, a California-based gas-station attendant with whom they had become demo-trading penpals through their mutual friend Jack Irons (formerly of the Red Hot Chili Peppers).

After the Wood tribute project Temple of the Dog effectively served as Vedder’s public audition, Pearl Jam’s 1991 debut, Ten—alongside Nirvana’s Nevermind, released a month later—transformed the grungy sound of Seatte’s underground into a global phenomenon.