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

mach271

1992-ALIVE

I remember being mesmerized by the lead singer....

JimNastics

I beacame a proper fan in about 1997 when a friend transferred Rearviewmirror and State of Love and Trust from his minidisc player to my PC. I'm 27 now and was 15 at the time. Before then I was a casual fan at best, probably only really knowing the hits off of Ten... I was already massivly in to NIrvana, Soundgarden, Led Zep, Hendrix etc. so it was pretty easy getting properly in to PJ!

blondieblue227

Whatever year I heard Jeremy on the radio for the first time. 91 or 92 i dunno, look at my siggy. We happened to have cable that year. When I first saw Eddie I couldn’t figure it out. Gave me something new to obsess about. Was he scary, or sexy? Lol!

Ten was totally did not go with what I liked at the time. I got my first cd player and went to buy three albums. It’s a strange three now that I think about it. Amy Grant, Black Crowes shake your moneymaker, and Ten. I didn’t think I’d like PJ so got the cassette.
BIG MISTAKE!
I wore the tape out like in 6 months.

I was 13.

Catwoman1

zisfor wrote:

I thought maybe I am too old to attend a Pearl Jam concert but after seeing Eddie Vedder in Baltimore I have decided I am going when they play DC again.

I'm probably a good ten years older than you, and if I'm not too old to go to a Pearl Jam concert, then you're definitely not too old! Just take some Advil afterwards for those aching muscles!

Snoopy Died For Our Sins

August of 1991...

My friend Dave gave me the TEN album and told me to listen to BLACK...then my brother's girlfriend who worked at a radio station in San Francisco sent be a live cassette of them playing in Italy

Been hooked (badly) ever since.......

halszka123

I guess I heard Them first time in '91 on MTV. It was Alive video. Then I listened Guns'n'Roses stuff etc. But this song was different. I recorded it on my video tape between G'n'R vids... Aaa! And I heard Hunger Strike. incredible! And Chris was so sexyy... but anyway. I rather wanted to get Temple in my hands. It wasn't easy - there were no legal tapes that time in my country. And in 92, in my 17th I got TOTD (of course illegal). But probably I was too stupid or young - i didn't understand the music. It had to wait a year. Then I wanted to refresh my memory about Pearl Jam and my friend gave me Ten tape. So - there was no return for me from that moment .


And i can tell You where I bought albums too:) - tapes before cd:
Ten - illegal - my home town, small music shop in the centre
Vs-Riot Act - Music Corner, Cracow

cds:
Avocado - EMPIK Katowice
and others cds - Music Corner, Cracow (sentiment...)

blondieblue227

yes! hunger strike
....seemed like MTV played that more than jeremy.
hunger strike was always on!

'oh look, he's singing in the tall grass now......very interesting.' ha!

hollyster70

I was shopping at Dingleberry's Records (yeah, laugh it up) in Dayton, Ohio in the fall of '91. It was a slow day apparently so the clerk made a suggestion to "check these guys out" and handed me Ten (In cassette, thank you very much). Bought it, popped into the car stereo...hooked. Then proceeded to either turn or turn away all of my friends. Wonder whatever happened to those that turned away?

zisfor

Catwoman1 wrote:

zisfor wrote:

I thought maybe I am too old to attend a Pearl Jam concert but after seeing Eddie Vedder in Baltimore I have decided I am going when they play DC again.

I'm probably a good ten years older than you, and if I'm not too old to go to a Pearl Jam concert, then you're definitely not too old! Just take some Advil afterwards for those aching muscles!

Thanks for the encouragement Catwoman1!!! I loved your original post and it made me feel even less hesitant about going to my first Pearl Jam show. Now just getting anxious for the tour to be a reality. I can't even imagine how much more hooked I will be after seeing them live

blondieblue227

zisfor wrote:

I can't even imagine how much more hooked I will be after seeing them live

seeing them live is like going pass the point of no return.

Tezzy

I listened to PJ just like I did every other alternative artist in the early 90s. But I didn't really "HEAR" PJ until i went to the second night of the H.O.R.D.E. festival at Summerfest in 1995. I have been a Pearl Jam evangelist ever since. I can still remember Porch buzzing in my head for days afterward. Was an amazing set, the way they ended with Porch is still ringing in my ears to this day.

Gibson

First heard them when I was 8. "Jeremy" was storming the airwaves, as well as TV. My friends' older brother threw it in our faces 24-7 (I think he was 13 at the time). I got so sick of it in my face, I couldn't stand hearing PJ anymore (although I liked the song, it was too overkill). A year and a bit later, I heard "Daughter," and I had "discovered PJ for myself." I was hooked after that. First show in 1998 when I was 16. It was heaven. Highlight of that show? "Jeremy."

Vedder_Girl77

I've been a fan since 1992 when I first saw the video for Jeremy on MTV. Went out and bought Ten right after that.

yooperpj

I believe it was 1998. I grew up in a very small town in the U.P. of MI (graduating class of 11) I was a junior in high school. I wasn't really even into music that much. I remember driving around town with my best friend and his oldest brother. His brother put in a mixed pearl jam tape in and we drove around jamming to it. I remember listening to Jeremy and thinking "damn these guys are good. I bought Ten soon after and then Binaural in 2000. I remember getting tickets to Cincy in 2000, I was excited because it was my first concert and it was a f-ing pearl jam concert. After that.... hooked! Thanks Mark!

Kilgore_Trout

first time was when i was 5 years old on the way to the mall with my older cousin... his gf worked at von maur(?) and we ran around the mall playing with a cap gun... probably wouldnt fly these days... i think the song i really remember was even flow... he made a point of drawing my attention to it... its funny looking back at old family photos and seeing him rock the stickman tee back then

hes the reason i investigated the band again when i was 14 (2002)... there was alot of indifference and bad taste in music between 5 and 14 but thats to be expected... and i finally found my way to PJ

got the albums more or less in order over a span of 2 months... i can remember buying vs. before a roadtrip to DC and NYC... and then i got no code, yield, and binaural at the same time... wish i can remember what it was like to be overwhelmed by THAT MUCH amazing music all at once! i gotta say thats the one benefit to getting into PJ so late in their career... i didnt have to endure the wait between each album... waiting for riot act, pearl jam, and now the newest is PAINFUL!

SarahLou

i was about 8/9 years old, my brother was a huge PJ fan, and also 8 years older than me. I thought he was the coolest guy on earth! (still do!) i used to sit outside his room and listen to his music from behind the door, i didnt know it was Pearl jam he was listening to, then when he was like 18 he moved to Canada and i stole all his tapes and listened to them to remind me of him, i knew it was Pj cause it said so on the tape, but they were all bootlegs and recording off of the radio, so i never really knew any song names, or album names, and the copy of Ten he had was so wore out that you couldnt read the tracklisting on it anymore! when i was old enough to buy my own stuff i went out and tryed to get as many albums as i could, none of my friends liked them and i had noone to shared the passion with! then when i was 16 they announced they were playing in Glasgow!! i manged to find someone to go with me, and as we waited outside the venue...some bastard stole our tickets! right from our hands! we chased them of course, but never got them back.....next chance i got was 7 years later....and i swear it was one of the best days of my life! the minute they started i was just in tears! it was overwhelming!

Jeanwah

A new guy at work had just moved from Seattle late '91. He not only instantly became very welcome in my circle of friends but he got us all hooked on the Seattle scene before it got really big here on the East Coast. He insisted we play Ten at least a couple times when we'd get together on the tape player and got us all hooked...while we got him into the Grateful Dead. It was a fair trade off.

PJFAN13

First heard PJ - 1991 - 1st week of Sr. year of high school in my buddy Tony's Datsun 240z...he loved Black and Release and brainwashed us daily with them on the way to school (on cassette)...liked TEN, but I was still way into Zep, Who, Cream, metal, Public Enemy & NWA to go full fledge crazy for PJ...thought they rocked enough to stand in line at midnight at Tower Records in October of 93 to pick up Vs...still my all time favorite album to this date...became a HUGE fan...then I saw them a month later at the end of November at the Aladdin (went to school at UNLV) and was HOOKED big time! Haven't missed a tour/CD/DVD/book/solo project, etc... since.
Great thread - been fun to read people's when's ...
Long may the Jam spread!
Peace!

Tuolumne Mama

It was back in '91 when a friend of mine from the Seattle area sent me cassette copy of Ten and I happened to notice they were playing with the Chili Peppers Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magic tour which were in smaller venues and one was in Pittsburgh at a college gym. Since my parents lived there I drove down for this show since it was easier to get tix there than fighting NYC venues. They were the opening act along with the Smashing Pumpkins who got booed off the stage. Seats got ripped out of the pit area - pretty wild ride. From what I recall, a very good time was had by all and PJ rocked it out. Think they may have played CBGB's too but that one's a bit hazy so I could be wrong. Caught them the following year twice in August, once at Jones Beach and a week later at an amphitheatre in Pittsburgh - tix were cheap and it only cost me turnpike fees and gas to get there. IMO they reminded me of the many bands and artists that were really great live that I saw in the 1970's and worth the price to get there and whatever family member or friends couch I could grab. Have been a fan ever since taking some time off from shows to raise a child who's now a teen. He popped his PJ cherry seeing them last summer in DC. Phew sorry got carried away.

Catwoman1

SarahLou wrote:

i was about 8/9 years old, my brother was a huge PJ fan, and also 8 years older than me. I thought he was the coolest guy on earth! (still do!) i used to sit outside his room and listen to his music from behind the door, i didnt know it was Pearl jam he was listening to, then when he was like 18 he moved to Canada and i stole all his tapes and listened to them to remind me of him, i knew it was Pj cause it said so on the tape, but they were all bootlegs and recording off of the radio, so i never really knew any song names, or album names, and the copy of Ten he had was so wore out that you couldnt read the tracklisting on it anymore! when i was old enough to buy my own stuff i went out and tryed to get as many albums as i could, none of my friends liked them and i had noone to shared the passion with! then when i was 16 they announced they were playing in Glasgow!! i manged to find someone to go with me, and as we waited outside the venue...some bastard stole our tickets! right from our hands! we chased them of course, but never got them back.....next chance i got was 7 years later....and i swear it was one of the best days of my life! the minute they started i was just in tears! it was overwhelming!

That really sucks about your tickets getting stolen right out of your hands. I wouldn't have thought that something like that would happen in Scotland. I liked that you listened to them when you were very young. The same thing happened to me with the Beatles -- I was only 9 when I first heard them, and I was hooked! Music became my life after that, and still is. And how sweet that you stole your brother's tapes to remind yourself of him. Did you ever tell him that?