Eddie Vedder’s Journey to a Rock Icon in Pearl Jam

It goes without saying that the '90s gave us so much rich music. From Pearl Jam to Nirvana to Soundgarden to Radiohead and everything else, it's hard to compare the 1990s to any other decade in music. We even got Tupac and Biggie, along with all the grunge and alternative music of the decade. It was a glorious mix of distortion, angst, beauty and life, wrapped up into some headphones.

While all of the bands from the 1990s who helped create the grunge genre are special, Pearl Jam has its own flavor. Eddie Vedder, sadly, is one of the only big grunge vocalists still living today. We have to keep him safe, right? This is about legacy, longevity, and the unique soul that Pearl Jam and Vedder brought, and continues to bring, to rock music.

When Ten dropped in 1991, it was a gut-punch. Not just because of Vedder’s once-in-a-lifetime voice, that haunting baritone that sounded like it had lived five lives and seen it all by the age of 27, but because the songs were incredible. “Alive,” “Black” and “Jeremy” all meant something. They had the meaning that people were yearning after the hair metal scene was getting old and a bit shallow.

Pearl Jam was here to stay, too. When Vs. came out in 1993, it didn’t sound like Ten. Pearl Jam wanted to prove that they weren't going to just repeat what worked. They were going to create something new and exciting with every single release. And then, Vitalogy didn’t sound like Vs. They evolved, deliberately but always honestly.

Musically, the band never got stuck in their own formula,, which is a beautiful thing. Mike McCready’s blistering solos, Stone Gossard’s chunky rhythm riffs and Jeff Ament’s melodic basslines kept expanding the band’s sound, bringing in new elements and, at the same time, new fans. And Vedder? He kept writing lyrics like he was bleeding them onto the page.

Vedder and Pearl Jam grew up with their listeners. They didn’t flame out or chase trends. They didn't write about the same stuff at 40 that they did at 20. They got older, wiser. Their songs tackled fatherhood, aging, politics and mortality. And they kept filling arenas. They became the kind of band where three generations can stand side by side seeing them.

Back in 1990, Eddie Vedder was just a regular guy living in San Diego. He was working at a gas station, surfing and figuring things out. As American Songwriter states, he was even a security guard. That sounds like a typical pre-grunge singer, right?

Meanwhile, up in Seattle, Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament, two guys from the band Mother Love Bone, were starting a new project after their lead singer Andrew Wood tragically passed away of a drug overdose. They had recorded some instrumental demos but needed the right singer to bring the songs to life.

That’s where Vedder enters the picture. The demo tape found its way to Vedder through a friend, Jack Irons, who had played with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Eddie was instantly inspired when he heard the music. While out surfing, he wrote and recorded vocals for three of the songs, which became “Alive,” “Once,” and “Footsteps,” now famously known as the "Mamasan Trilogy."

As American Songwriter describes, "when Vedder unexpectedly got tasked with writing lyrics for a then-unknown Seattle rock band, he knew he needed to make it count. Though, he didn’t do so by diligently trying. Instead, the lyrics just came to him while surfing in the Pacific."

The band was blown away by his voice and the raw emotion he brought. Of course, America was blown away, too, and the rest is grunge history.

In a piece for the Seattle Times by Bill Reader, he notes that "a lot of Seattle bands practiced in a lot of Seattle basements, but that "in the short time from Vedder’s arrival in Seattle on Oct. 8, 1990, to the release of Ten on Aug. 27, 1991, Pearl Jam relied on hard work and talent to set itself apart in an exploding Seattle music scene."

Pearl Jam went on to be the voice of a generation. "With angry stadium-style rock highlighted by Vedder’s impassioned baritone vocals, Pearl Jam joined Nirvana as the musical voice of Generation X," Britannica notes. "The group also earned a reputation for resisting the mainstream music industry, notably refusing to produce music videos for any of the songs on the band’s second album, Vs., and canceling a tour in 1994 as a result of a heated battle over ticket prices. Instead, the band scheduled concerts at venues that were much smaller than the stadiums the group usually played and experimented with unorthodox ticket distribution techniques."

During an interview with CBS Sunday Morning, Vedder talked about the moment he thought of the lyrics that would land him an audition for Pearl Jam. "I went for a surf in the morning, and I remember it being super foggy,” Vedder said. “I had the music in my head, the instrumental, and just kind of wrote it."

The band loved it. “I remember I left and went and got a cup of coffee,” Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament said. “And then came back and I listened to it again, and I remember calling Stone and I said, ‘You need to come over here right now.’”

What makes Vedder so great isn’t just how he sounds, but how he feels. Whether he’s belting out something loud like “Alive” or getting soft and sad on “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter…,” there’s always real heart behind it. It's why we're so glad the band is still touring today and celebrating all of their songs.

He’s not a flashy singer, and that’s kind of the point. He’s raw, honest and totally himself. His voice has this gritty, smoky tone that makes everything he sings feel more personal, like he’s telling you a story only you were meant to hear. Whether it’s with Pearl Jam or a solo moment with just a ukulele, Eddie Vedder has that rare thing: a voice that sticks with you.