Pearl Jam

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Pearl Jam

Pearl Jam is an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington in 1990.
Their first name was Mookie Blaylock, after the basketball player who was with the New Jersey Nets at the time. Their first album is named after his number, 10.
Ament and Gossard were in the band Mother Love Bone when the lead singer died of a heroin overdose. They formed a new band with McCready and Krusen, with Vedder joining after he heard their instrumental demo tape and put lyrics to it.
In an early promotional interview, Vedder said that the name "Pearl Jam" was a reference to his great-grandmother Pearl, who was married to a Native American and had a special recipe for peyote-laced jam. In a 2006 Rolling Stone cover story however, Vedder admitted that this story was "total bullshit" (even though he indeed had a great-grandma named Pearl). Ament and McCready explained that Ament came up with "pearl", and that the band later settled on "Pearl Jam" after attending a concert by Neil Young, in which he stretched up his songs as improvisations of 15-20 minutes in length, a practice known as jamming.
Ten stayed on the Billboard charts for more than two years, and has gone on to become one of the highest-selling rock records ever, going twelve times platinum.
Pearl Jam toured relentlessly in support of Ten. In 1992, Pearl Jam made television appearances on Saturday Night Live and MTV Unplugged and took a slot on that summer's Lollapalooza tour with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Soundgarden, and Ministry, among others
The song "Spin the Black Circle", a homage to vinyl records, won a Grammy Award in 1996 for Best Hard Rock Performance.