Have you ever heard of the genre of music call Grunge? If you ask anyone who is a fan then you would most likely hear mention of “Pearl Jam”. Pearl Jam is a band, but not just any band. It’s probably the most ionic Grunge band ever. Their album titled “Ten” which is now over 20 years old is still very relevant in today’s music culture. Personally I started listening to it as a kid because of my Dad, who enjoyed listening to them very much.

I will say that before I initiated those childhood memories almost a year ago, it had been a good decade since I had heard most of the album. I downloaded the album and realized why they had such a following for a couple of pretty average guys from Seattle. “Ten” was released on August 27, 1997. It essentially started the grunge movement style of music, but since then the album has gone 13x platinum or 13 million copies sold.  It inspired people with the ballad of “Jeremy” and let people rock out to an intense song “Alive”. But by far the most widely popular song on the album was “Even Flow”. The amount of variation in the album is truly amazing and still relates to the same issues that people are dealing with today.

Pearl Jam’s lead singer, Eddie Vedder, has a distinct voice that is low and is very distinct. I think that some of the songs musically comes just from the sound of his voice and the way he sings it. I think that anyone of any age can enjoy this album because it includes many musical elements. “Ten” inspired a generation of young adults and the band inspired almost a whole decade of people. It let people let loose and address social problems like bullying or support of events happening when they were writing the ballots for the album. 

While Nirvana and other bands were too raw for the mainstream and radio, Pearl Jam was the right mix of alternate and rock to appeal to a wide range of audiences and “Ten” was the first grudge album to get national public radio play time in the U.S. It opened new doors to the rock industry where other bands were taking from their style of music and adding to it. It influenced many of the bands that are making music today. Some of the kids that listened to Pearl Jam, back in the 90’s, grew up to write songs of their own and inspire a whole other generation.