PEARL JAM(PJ)

Pearl Jam

Pearl Jam in 2006, left to right: Mike McCready, Jeff Ament, Matt Cameron, Eddie Vedder and Stone Gossard
Background information
Also known as
Mookie Blaylock
Origin
Seattle, Washington, USA
Genres
Alternative rock, grunge, hard rock
Years active
1990–present
Labels
Epic, J, Monkeywrench, Universal Music Group
Associated acts
Green River, Soundgarden, Bad Radio, Mother Love Bone, Temple of the Dog, Brad, Wellwater Conspiracy, Mad Season, Three Fish, The Rockfords
Website
http://www.pearljam.com/
Members
Jeff AmentStone GossardMike McCreadyEddie VedderMatt Cameron
Former members
Dave KrusenMatt ChamberlainDave AbbruzzeseJack Irons
Pearl Jam is an American rock band that formed in Seattle Washington in 1990. Since its inception, the band's line-up has included Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, guitar), Jeff Ament (bass guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), and Mike McCready (lead guitar). The band's current drummer is Matt Cameron, formerly of Soundgarden, who has been with the band since 1998.
Formed after the demise of Ament and Gossard's previous band Mother Love Bone, Pearl Jam broke into the mainstream with its debut album, Ten. One of the key bands of the grunge movement in the early 1990s, Pearl Jam was criticized early on—most notably by Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain[1]—as being a corporate cash-in on the alternative rock explosion. However, over the course of the band's career its members became noted for their refusal to adhere to traditional music industry practices, including refusing to make music videos and engaging in a much-publicized boycott of Ticketmaster. In 2006, Rolling Stone described the band as having "spent much of the past decade deliberately tearing apart their own fame."[2]
Since its inception, the band has sold over thirty million records in the U.S.,[3] and an estimated sixty million worldwide.[4][5] Pearl Jam has outlasted many of its contemporaries from the alternative rock breakthrough of the early 1990s, and is considered one of the most influential bands of the decade.[6] Allmusic calls Pearl Jam "the most popular American rock & roll band of the '90s."[7]