When did you first hear Pearl Jam and when became a fan?

TT8270

I guess PJ fans are somewhat passionate about the band and they/we do remember the details about first hearing the band. So please share your stories, I bet this thread will be fun to read.

I heard "Alive" sometime in the fall of 1993 and learned that it was a band called "Pearl Jam" playing the song. Then I noticed a guy in my school wearing a PJ hat.

Actually I remember noticing a certain video @ UK TOP 40 show on MTV in the fall of 1992. I was fastforwarding the video tape which had the show and saw a musicvideo where guy falls to the audience. I had to watch it again in real time but didn't pay attention to the music. (it was "Even Flow" of course)

From the hat-guy I got a copy of Ten (european vesion) along with some VS. tracks on 90 minute tape in january-february 1994 and really liked what I heard. But...then came a period for about a half year that I forgot all about PJ and listened only to my then new-found band, Led Zeppelin.

But when Vitalogy came out in december of 1994 I got it from the library and ever since I've been a fan.

Ahh memories
And please if you share your story, please include your age. I'm 30. But don't feel that way

Better Dan

I became a fan in 2000.

When I was a sophmore in high school (Spring 2000), I bought Ten after previously hearing only a handful of Pearl Jam songs. Loved most of the songs on the album, so bought Binaural when it came out a few months later. Binaural quickly grew on me, and I listened to it many many times over that summer. I remember coming online to look for more information about the band, and reading about the bootleg series. Not knowing most of the songs on the bootlegs, I randomly chose two and bought Hamburg and Kattowice 2. These are the two "albums" that really made me a fan and how I heard many of the songs for the first time. After hearing these concerts, I was hooked!

Daniel

Plankton

I guess it was about 1999, which would have made me 12 I think. I'd just 'discovered' rock music, I think my CD collection was: Nevermind, some Metallica album and an Episode 1 Sountrack... I remember my older brother just saying 'come listen to this' and he puts Ten in a CD player, puts on Even Flow and I immediately thought it was one of the coolest things I'd ever heard. I'll never forget that moment, funny.

After that I bought Ten, Yield, VS, Live on Two Legs, No Code and eventually all the others. Weird order to get them in, but unlike now I wasn't a giant Pearl Jam nerd, so I didn't know any better.

I'm 22 now, so pretty young round here I think.

hitman

Heard 'em in 1992... a friend at school mentioned that he liked them, then that very night I saw Alive on MTV and really dug it... I remember very vividly thinking "this guy's singing is different, he really is doing a lot of low, baritone stuff" whereas most "hair metal" was falsetto in the higher registers....

A friend on the track team had 10, I borrowed it and was super hooked, I loved Jeremy especially (this was before it became a single)

it's been a love affair ever since!!!

cippociappo

Got into PJ when some friends made me listen to Small Town and Daughter...
Was right after Riot Act came out, I was already 23...

Am I the only one that got into PJ with Riot Act??
(imagine how I was blown when I heard the rest!!!!!)

Illridethewave20

I became a fan in 1995 at the age of 15. my cousin knew I liked Nirvana and he let me borrow a tape of VS. I instantantly fell in love and purchased Ten. After that, purchased every forthcoming album. Became a TC member in 1998, (so happy I spent my birthday money and did that!). I went to my First PJ show in 2000 at Mansfield, started at the lawn. As years went on, got closer and closer to the stage, Been in the front row, 2nd and just recently met Ed.

My journey has been a great one, sooo thankful my cousin intorduced me to the great band known as Pearl Jam. It is great watching the band evolve and only ripen with age. The solo projects are increadable as well. It is nice that they are such a close-knit band that they can break off with their own projects, and have no internal problems with that.

I love sharing my love for Pearl Jam with others, and I often make people cd's so they can enjoy and see why I feel the way I do about them and their music.

Life would be very different with out Pearl Jam in it!!!

HeavyHands

I first heard PJ in late summer/early fall of '91. I remember the exact moment. It had to be late August or early September. I don't remember this because I remember having homework or anything specific from school that day. I remember because of the light in the room. It was late afternoon around 4pm (after I was home from school) in a west-facing room as the sun was beginning its slow decent toward the western horizon. This probably seems like a strange detail, but I provide it as evidence of how strongly I remember it to this day.

I was walking across my bedroom and had the radio on my dual tape-deck boombox on. It wasn't on very loud, but that's probably because I remember not being entirely thrilled by what was typically on the radio at that time. I was passing directly in front of the boombox when the opening notes from Alive came out of the speakers. I stopped mid-stride, dead in my tracks, and turned to look at the boombox. It was a completely unique sound to me and I didn't know what to make of it. I honestly wasn't quite sure if I even like the song at first because, in my view, there was no frame of reference by which to judge it. The singularity... the uniqueness of Gossard's writing on that first album was something that was wholly new when it came out. It was vital and anthemic. Familiar like some great riff from the late 60's or early 70's, but more modern, uptempo, and from a fresh musical voice that hadn't been heard yet. I don't think I could possibly state this enough: Hearing Stone Gossard's opening riff from Alive for the first time may be the single greatest musical event that has ever happened in my life.

I took a couple of steps towards the boombox and proceeded to stand there for the remaining four minutes of the song, just staring at the radio and trying to position myself perfectly between the speakers so that I could hear every note in perfect stereo. That song absolutely captivated me. I had never heard anything else like it. I was lucky enough to grow up in a house with the Beatles, Zeppelin, CCR, Pink Floyd, Neil Young/CSNY, and Dylan, but this song was a game changer for me as a listener. I think about this now and again and wonder when the last time was that I stared at a radio for four minutes. I think this has happened only once for me.

I couldn't tell a lick of that the singer was saying but I sure as hell knew that the chorus soared when he said "I'm still alive." A very good friend of mine pointed out that was the first time he'd heard a singer in the same register that he could sing in. I've got to believe that this was part of it too. That since this was music that I might have been able to make, I could more strongly identify with it. Because, as much as I liked the occasional Foreigner or Journey song, they were out of reach for me.

After the song ended I waited patiently, almost devotionally, for the DJ to come on and say the title of the song and what the band was, but he never did. Probably said it before the song when I wasn't paying attention.

It was maybe a week or so before I figured out who the band was that made that "I'm still alive" song. Even then I didn't have any money so I gave an old blank cassette tape to a friend of mine and asked him to dub the album for me from his CD. I listened to it non-stop and clamored for more. Until Vs. came out I had managed to hear a decent cassette tape copy of the Pinkpop festival they played early on. That was the first boot I ever heard.

In the following years I awaited every time PJ would have a Rockline interview (Bee girl), a show would be broadcast (Atlanta '94), or they would do something like Self Pollution Radio so that I could tape it and hear something new. I didn't get a CD player until December of '93 but I immediately picket up Ten and Vs. on CD even though I already had them both on tape. I wish I had some way to count how many times I've listened to Ten. I'm quite sure it would easily be in the thousands.

To this day, no other recording has brought me as much aural happiness as Ten.

glorified G is here

I went to the 1991 Lollapalooza in Cleveland so when Lolla '92 came around to Cincinnati, I knew I was going to go. So that day some band called Pearl Jam came on stage as the 2nd act of the day and pretty much upstaged the majority of the bands that day! I picked up Ten on CD the very next day and I wasn't able to see them again until 9/22/1996 in Toledo. They were already my favorite band by then. I'm fortunate enough to have picked up all PJ vinyls as they were released except for Benny Hall. It was much harder to see PJ back then than it is now ( the whole TM boycott ) and I was poor back then.

Starting in 2006, I've seen PJ live more times to date than from 1992-2006. Long live Pearl Jam! Many more shows to come!

mrmojorisinca

good thread

I remember walking though a Flea Market 1991 ish (Doctor Fleas in Etobicoke) and my ears just perked up and Alive was playing, thought it was amazing track!!!!..a few weeks later I went to a friends place and I walk in the doors and there it is again..so I say who is this..she says Pearl Jam, i'm like you have to make me a copy!!! she recorded Ten and Blood, Sugar sex and magic for me..and that was it for me..since then I have purchased 4 copies of Ten including redux

It_Wasnt_My_Surface

I became a fan in 2005 around the time Rearviewmirror came out. My friend Jim was having a party. He didn't want to invite my friend Brian and I together so he just invited Brian. (it was an attention thing. I feel like a little girl when I even write this haha). I was going to go see Sin City by myself, but decided to go walk the mall instead. I saw the cd in the new releases and picked it up. I looked at the back, and debated getting it. I had heard the name before but never knew what they sounded like or who they really were. I walked the aisles of Best Buy for about a half an hour looking for something, but something kept bringing me back to that Pearl Jam cd. I finally broke and bought it. I sat in my car in the parking garage (I always park away from everyone else, so it was like I was in my own little world). I listened to the whole first cd before moving and was just blown away. It was like someone had been going through the same shit I was and found some way to express it. A few months later my mom up and moved to North Carolina without so much as a goodbye. I listened to the song rearviewmirror over and over again for a week straight. I knew then and there that I was going to be a fan for life. That no matter what I went through I would always have a Pearl Jam song to get me through it. Pearl Jam became my religion.

GiventoFall

First time I heard Pearl Jam was when I was 5 or 6 and the Jeremy music video came out. It seemed as if MTV played it ever 15 minutes and I'm not sure if that was the case or if it just appears that way because I was young. The video left quite an impression on me with Eddie Vedder's crazy eyes creeping me out and the weird ending which I believed showed Jeremy killing his classmates. At that age I was more into Michael Jackson(RIP) and quickly forgot about PJ.
Around 12 years old I was just getting out of a horrible phase of nu metal bands like Limp Bizkit and branching out into classic rockish bands. Id already been into Nirvana for about a year and had heard alot of comparisons but for some reason I had the impression that PJ was a soft rock group like Goo Goo Dolls . One day i just impulse bought Pearl jams Ten because it had Jeremy, I never listened to the radio and therefore never even heard alive or evenflow before. First time I listened to Ten I was blown away and i musta played it 4 or 5 times in a row that night, Id never heard music I could relate to so much lyrically . I was even more blown away when the next PJ record I bought, Vitalogy, sounded nothing like Ten, although that album took longer to adjust to as did most of their albums which I continued buying like crazy. PJ lead me in a new direction with music, Id prolly be listening to nickelback or something had I not gotten into PJ at a young age.

decides2dream

in all honesty....i don't remember. :oops:
back in 91, i had all but given up on radio. idk now if my beloved WLIR was still in existence or dead by then, but that was all alt stuff in any case. so yea, i was still stuck in my 80s groove and simply not paying attention much. i know i did hear them/hear of them, but not much registered at the time. flash forward to 2001 and the tribute to hereos. hubby and i weren't planning on watching it, happened to flip on the show and i think? dmb was on......then ed, mike and neil. honestly, it was the first time (outside of singles) that i had seen ed and mike, my husband told me who they were. i was absolutely mesmerized my their rendition of long road, most especially i guess being a NYer, and it being played in tribute to 09.11 victims. i knew my husband had a few of their CDs, so i started listening. i bought the entirely of their catalog not long after, been hooked ever since. so yes, not a fan from day one - mostly b/c i simply wasn't paying attention to any new music at that time in my life - but i do remember exactly when i became a *fan*....



btw - i thought it very fitting that my first show, uniondale 2003....opened with long road....:)

Calum

Would have been the year Last Kiss came out.. I was on holiday with family in USA (UK resident ) and on the radio I heard last kiss, and loved it! I was about 11 at the time, so my real kinda rock song 1st..

And I also heard Crush by DMB , and I would never hear the name of either tracks/band on the radio, so I ended up going to a record store in Florida and singing both the choruses of them to the people behind the counter lol.

I walked out with a Kosovo charity cd with Last Kiss on ( and more PJ ) and also before these crowded streets.. and there began both my rock music journey... but also the greatest adventure ever.. PEARL JAM

BlackThirteen

I first heard Pearl Jam when my uncle bought that kosova relief cd with Last Kiss and Soldier of Love. But I never really thought much about them after that.

Then it was my sophomore year in high school probably 2002 I was in computer programming with my two friends, who sadly I am no longer in touch with. I was still listening to shitty music at the time mostly pop. And the two of them were talking about Soundgarden specifically black hole sun. So after school I went out and bought superunkown. A few days later they were talking about "Jeremy," at the time I didn't know it was actually a song. So when my friend said "Jeremy spoke in class today." I thought it was kid named Jeremy in our grade and kept asking "What did he say?" My two friends laughed at me and then told me it was song lyrics. A few days later I went out and bought Ten. And have been a fan ever since.

I was about 10 years too late. But in this case better late than later or even worse never

BeerBaron

Calum wrote:

I ended up going to a record store in Florida and singing both the choruses of them to the people behind the counter lol.

I walked out with a Kosovo charity cd with Last Kiss on ( and more PJ ) and also before these crowded streets.. and there began both my rock music journey... but also the greatest adventure ever.. PEARL JAM

That's a pretty cool story. Although you may be the only person on here that was turned on to PJ by Last Kiss

youngster

My 10th birthday, January 11, 1992. I got the Ten CD from a friend of mine. It was my first CD as my dad had bought me my first CD player for Xmas in 91. Listened to it and was blown away. Never heard anything like that before in my life. It came at me like a meteor. i couldn't stop listening to this CD. Before I was into GNR, classic rock and oldies (due to my dad's musical tastes) After that I jumped headfirst into the grunge era of music while it was in full swing and still listen to it mostly today. All thanks to PJ and the Ten album.

Calum

LOL yeah I know beerbaron, I may have probably heard something, as I did see a few riot act songs played over in UK when that album dropped a few years later. But I do love last kiss for the reason that it has lead onto some of the best nights of my life!

DreamOfAngels

I was in college in the fall of 1991 and three of my friends were sitting in the commons area on a picnic table outside the dorm with their guitars. One was singing while the other two were playing - what a wonderful sound - great vocals and great sounding guitars... so I walked over to listen to them. I knew they were in a band and I actually thought they were practicing their own songs... When they finished playing Alive, I commented on how awesome that song was. They jumped right into Once. I wanted to stand there and listen to them all night as they played these two songs over and over again. They told me who the songs belonged to and I went to the store to buy it that night. I've been addicted ever since...

dcfaithful

I became a fan in 2003 when I bought Ten, although I had always known who they were before hand, thanks to my late sis.

When I actually became a true "fan" of PJ, everything began to click and shit started to feel so.....right.

SVRDhand13

I recently found a notebook of mine from 5th grade that had these bands written on it:
Pearl Jam, Green Day, Oasis, Metallica, STP, and RATM. I was a bad ass little kid lol.

mfc2006

i was already a fan of soundgarden when Ten was released. i was in 8th grade. my oldest sister was in Art School & she mailed me a tape (i still have it!) that said--"Julie (her best friend) & I thought you'd like this because you like that loud melodic Soundgarden band. Enjoy it, Matt!"

i popped it in my Dad's tapedeck w/ headphones unsure of what to expect. wow. i was hooked. and i've been a fan ever since.

pandora

late night in bed 1992 mtv jeremy video came on been hooked ever since

inhiding 1976

It was around 1992, just about ready to be a freshman in high school. I was at a friends house and a dude we call "Sheeba" walked in wearing headphones. After a few hours of partying while Sheeba was in another room I decided to pick up his headphones and listen. My world has forever changed since that moment. I asked Sheeba what he was listening to, who is this? He simply replied Pearl Jam. Sheeba was slightly older then me. Being young and just getting my license and listening to the radio and being a fan of rap, Peal Jam is what my brain and ears were waiting for. Sheeba had to go, and I didn't know what I was going to do, I met a girl whom had the "ten" tape. That's right I said tape, I borrowed it from her for weeks and that is all I listened to. She wanted it back and immediately I was thinking of a way to scam this tape off of her. It didn't work I had to give back the tape. I have never been so determined to hear a band in my life. Cd's.....What????????? I bought the CD and have been rocking to PJ ever since.

inhiding 1976

OH yeah I almost forgot. I love Sheeba, I will always miss you man! See you in heaven.

morgie2

First time I saw Jeremy on MTV in 1992. I was officially hooked, however, when I saw PJ play Animal on the MTV music awards. Move over Beatles, move over Led Zep, Pearl Jam has claimed my soul.

YoullseeDragons

In 1991. My grandmother passed away in October of 1990, she was a cool lady. She appreciated all types of music, played the paino. She would let me listen to all sorts of recods at her house, from Steppin' Wolf to Ray Charles. She even bought me the "Dark Side of the Moon album when I was about 9-years-old, she appreciated the album as much as I did. When she passed I was pretty devistated. Then in early 1991, WMMR started playing this band Pearl Jam and the song was "ALIVE"!! It made a connection that "I'm still alive" and part of her music appreciation lives with me forever. That is my story, thanks for the oppertunity to open my Pearl Jam soul to all of you!! PEACE!!!

strangesttribe007

It was in '98 just before my 12th birthday. There was a guy that just graduated college and became good friends with me and my dad and he tought us the game of golf at this muni course where we lived and he brought me to a junior tournament to play in. He had a vedder look with the hair and right when we got in the car satan's bed was on and he asked me what i thought eddie was saying during it. We listened to them the whole drive and I got home after the tournament and made my pops drive in town and bought 2 pearl jam cds and listened to them ever since. That guy who showed them to me is still one of my best friends and has become pretty much a brother i never had and we still talk about pj all the time

lawguy

Lets see. The first time I ever remember PJ was seeing the Jeremy video on MTV before school. This was 91 or 92 and my family just got cable. My older sister made us later for school because she was watching the video. I remember seeing it, but I didnt really care because I was not into music at all as a kid. A few years later, I am in high school (still not a music fan) and my older sister would listen to music in her room. I would be laying in bed and listening to whatever she played because our rooms were right next to each other. Every night she would play Betterman. Thats the first PJ song I loved. I remember laying in bed hoping that she played Betterman that particular night.

Fast forward a couple years later. It is the summer of '98. I still was not a PJ fan at the time per se, but I decided to buy Yield. It was literally one of the fist albums I bought and I was 18 years old. I had just graduated high school. Me and two of my siblings went to Alpine for my first PJ show. I cant remember much of it now. I recall getting towards the end of the show and I just assumed they would play 'Jeremy' as the closer as I assumed it was the big hit everyone wanted to hear. They didn't play it. I wasn't angry, but I do remember being surprised. I felt like it was going to a Springsteen concert and not hearing 'Born to Run' or a Billy Joel concert without 'Piano Man.' I wish I could remember more but since I wasnt a real fan at the time, I didnt soak it all in I guess.

Fall of '98, I am a freshman in college. I went literally across the country without knowing a soul to school out on the coast. To entertain myself I bought a discman and a Dave Matthews cd. My cd collection now consisted of Yield, a DMB cd, and a few others that my siblings had grown tired of. The guy in the room next to me had a pretty good cd collection and I would borrow cds every now and again to listen to as I was going to sleep. One night I grabbed Ten and listened to it. That is when I became hooked. Long story short, I never gave my buddy Ten back. I went out and got all the cds. I joined the fan club a few years later. Been to a ton of concerts since. I still wouldnt call myself a "music fan" since I don't generally seek out new music or go to concerts of bands I dont know, but I am indeed a big Pearl Jam fan.

Jebber

1991 Halifax Nova Scotia Canada.

pjyouaremine

This may sound crazy but the first time I heard Pearl Jam was in 2005, when a friend of mine let me borrow his ipod. I randomly listened to the ipod until I heard EV's voice, that was it. I fell in love with it and have been listening to Pearl Jam everyday since. I immediately went and bought an ipod and put every song I could possibly get on it. Imagine having available and hearing all their songs for the first time all at once. It was totally insane. I have about 2300 pearl jam/ev songs on my ipod now, and must say I am one of their greatest fans. I can't even dream of what my life would be like without them now. Pearl Jam rules. I just lost my sister to cancer and if I did not have them to listen to I don't know what I would have done.

I have seen them many times in the past two years and can't believe how good they are live. Where was I all those years......I was lucky enough to see Eddy two weeks ago in Albany. I got to hear him sound check and had first row seats. Shook his hand. OMG Greatest day of my life!!!! Just feel bad for people who don't get it, because of Pearl Jam I will never have another bad day again.

Catwoman1

When I first saw the Jeremy video on MTV in 92, when I was in my late 30's, I thought the song was very good, and the lead singer very hot with those incredible eyes. But I didn't buy the album right away because I've bought one too many albums based on one song and was disappointed. Then one night I was flipping the channels, and caught Unplugged. By Black I was hooked, and by Porch I knew that this group was something very special. I went out the next day and bought Ten, and have been buying every studio album since then on the first day of its release. I then shared this new passion with my kids. In 2003, I got them tickets to see Pearl Jam outside of DC at the Nissan Pavilion. They refused to go unless I went with them. I thought I was too old to go to a rock concert (I was in my late 40's by then), but I went and had a blast. Everyone made me feel so part of the experience. Now I've been hooked on the concerts too, and have continued sharing PJ with my kids.