Ep. 8 | Pearl Jam - Ten

Beyond The Beat

As debuts go, Ten was uncommonly intimate, dragging the listener through an array of emotions. Lyric topics range from incest, murder, growing up without a father, war and greed, suicide and bullying. Singer Eddie Vedder wore his heart on his songwriting sleeve. He was a happy-go-lucky surfer guy on the outside, but obviously was dealing with a lot personal issues internally.

The songs moved people, showed them a new style of commitment that had been increasingly absent in rock. They were able to tow that line between offering an escape from the real problems in the world, and making the listener feel like they're not alone with those very same problems. Of getting a generation of kids singing a rallying cry about incest, “Oh, I’m Still Alive.”.

As Eddie would later say, it was kind of a bummer all these songs about dark life issues were so relatable. But when you sell that many copies of a record, you know you’ve touched on something special….you’ve connected with an untold amount of people. While the lyrics touched on a variety of important topics, the music on Ten is groundbreaking. It combines the excitement of classic arena rock, the what-the-f*ck attitude of punk, high-speed psychedelic guitar virtuosity, and Vedder’s truly distinct vocals to create an absolute powerhouse of a listening experience.

Ten would eventually be considered alongside Nirvana’s Nervermind as the dawn of the grunge movement. With a front-lines look at seeing what was popular in the 80’s nearing it’s end, Eddie wrote in RollingStone magazine’s 1991 Year In Review issue, “Finally, music gets to the point. Ian sings, ‘We’re all here’, Perry sings ‘These are the days’, Cornell sings, ‘The wreck is going down’, and he’s right. Wake up, or die in your sleep.”