PEARL JAM 4 THINGS YOU PROBABLY DON'T KNOW ABOUT PEARL JAM

PEARL JAM 4 THINGS YOU PROBABLY DON'T KNOW ABOUT PEARL JAM they weren't called Pearl Jam. the band was originally named Mookie Blaylock, after the NBA player. they only changed it after signing to Epic, and then named the album Ten because that was his jersey number. the whole debut is a tribute to a basketball player. Vedder wrote Alive while surfing. he got a tape of the band's instrumental demos, listened that night, and wrote the lyrics in his head the next morning out in the water. he said he was literally writing words as he paddled against the waves. on Even Flow, gossard plays in open D tuning while mccready plays the leads in standard. two different tunings, same song, at the same time. that's a big part of why it sounds the way it does. and the whole "Pearl Jam is named after Vedder's great grandma's hallucinogenic jam story? made up. he admitted it years later. the real answer is Jeff Ament came up with "pearl," and "jam" came after they watched Neil Young play three hours of 20 minute jams in New York. © Lance Mercer