The song that turned you onto PJ

smartin9000

I was always a casual Pearl Jam fan as a kid (born in 81). I had Ten on cassette, used to listen to it while I mowed my grandparents property out on the countryside. Vs and Vitalogy came out, but I was really into Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Aerosmith, Prince ... well a whole lot of random shit (not that any of that is shit!!!). For whatever reason, I hadn't actually bought Vs or Vitalogy by the time No Code came out.

So the lead single for No Code was Who You Are, and believe it or not THAT was the song that turned me from a casual listener to a crazy "gotta have everything related to this band" fan. I broke in Yield during a church retreat to New Mexico with our youth group, volunteering for Habitat for Humanity. The drive from Louisiana to Taos New Mexico was spent listening to so much music. Our Pastor, Mike Aus, is a huge Neil Young fan and after that volunteer retreat I was too.

Didn't see my first live show till the 2000 New Orleans show, which is also when I joined the fanclub. Sonic Youth opened, and I was already a huge fan of them. Prior to 2000 I had purchased a few (very expensive) live bootlegs, lots of tshirts, and all the officially released stuff (including most of the singles).

I even taped most of the live performances of the band on VHS since they didn't do many interviews in the 90s, but when SVT came out I thought all the Letterman and SNL appearances we're obsolete. My old VHS tape is probably is bad shape since I watched it so often.

JP246270

A friend of mine played Alive's video once but didn't pay attention to it at all... I don't know what a hell was I thinking!!! Anyways... I like most PJ songs... but I got hooked definitely with Jeremy at MTV's ceremony... after my parents separation... with Ed finishing with "I don't need no... I don't need no mom and dad". It's like PJ filled that emptiness. Crazy about PJ ever since. There's not a single day I can live without hearing them! Come to Colombia this year!

MDM

The song? How about the album? The first I listened to Ten I was in love!!

MANKIND

spring/summer 2000-nothing as it seems, summer before my senior year in high school. hearing it live at my first pj concert in va beach was great. that concert holds a special place in my heart. i lost a great friend that summer due to a car accident, so i really related to the band and the crowd. the first concert after the roskilde tragedy.

jdelin

Ah, the memories. Here's a little trip down memory lane for me...

I remember stumbling upon an awesome station on AM radio while growing up in NYC, 1480 Z-Rock. They played a good mix of metal/hard rock/alternative. It was the first time I heard "Alive" - that was early 1992. Before I even heard that song I listened to Top 40 and hard rock (mostly what was popular at the time - Guns N' Roses, Aerosmith, Def Leppard, etc.). But something changed for me when I first heard that PJ song. I was hooked already - the same week I took a trip to the Wiz and bought "Ten" on cassette (I didn't even have a CD player at the time). I remember playing it for the first time, and when it started with that Master/Slave intro to "Once" I thought, hmm, what is this? But then the song kicked in, and the rest of the album... and it felt like my life had changed.

I became obsessed - I went out and started to get into everything alternative/grunge. I got into Mother Love Bone and Green River. I fell in love with the Singles soundtrack and movie. I found bootleg shows on cassette. I heard some B sides on 89.5 WSOU Seton Hall Pirate Radio and taped them off of the radio (I fell in love with "Footsteps" that way). When I finally got a CD player, I bought all of the import singles because of the extra songs on them. I freaked out anytime anything about the band was mentioned. MTV Unplugged was classic. Appearance on Headbangers Ball.

I remember getting Vs. the Saturday before it came out in stores because of a record store that I knew sold new releases early. I rushed home with the CD and played it non-stop for months. "Rearviewmirror" = amazing.

Since this was a time before I even owned a computer, I didn't really think about the fan club that much (although I am kicking myself that I should have joined back then, or at least I shouldn't have let my membership expire when I did join for one year in 1995 and not again until 2000). The 1994 show they played at the Paramount at MSG was a fan-club only show - I was outside the venue for about 2 hours trying to get tickets for a reasonable price (I just started college so I didn't have a lot of cash) but no luck. I had to wait until 9/29/96 at Randall's Island to see them the first time (trying to get tickets on the phone for a half hour before finally getting through). Of the 12 shows I've seen since that one, it still remains the best. And I've been to a couple of cool shows since (the post-Letterman show in 2006, the 2003 "experiment" in Mansfield, MA when they played the acoustic set before Sleater-Kinney, when they played Leash in Boston in 2006). And I did get to see Ed perform with Mike Watt at NYC's Tramps in 1995 (front row!) and met Jeff at a Three Fish show. And I will be going to my first show outside of NY or MA (or outside the US) when I will be seeing them in Dublin in less than two weeks.

Now we are approaching the band's 20th anniversary, and it's been close to 20 years since I've been listening to them. It's hard to believe that it's been that long, and my life has changed so much in this timespan, but Pearl Jam has been with me every single step during this time. And to think that this all started from an awesome song I heard on AM radio.

Thank you Pearl Jam...

Paul Andrews

Alive - sometime in the very early 90s when it was first played on 'Rage' here in Australia. I was in my early 20s. They had me by the first chorus...

I had the first two albums on cassette, it wasn't until vitalogy I got a CD player.

DS1119

TightropeHigher wrote:

Age six, flipping through channels. caught "Jeremy" on MTV. Hooked ever since. I remember at first thinking the band was called Jeremy.

What's up my little partner in crime? Hope you enjoyed MSG2! The song that hooked me was Evenflow. I was a freshman in college (please no old man jokes) and I heard it at a party in the early winter of '91. Saw them at Lolla in Saratoga of '92 and I was hooked.

David

Bigairbrucey

The song that hooked me was Evenflow. I was a freshman in college (please no old man jokes

Same for me except I was in Baton Rouge LA in 91. The DJ at the bar my friends and I used to go to started playing Even Flow and Alive in his wacky but fun music sets.

A typical list would be

Queen - Flat bottom Girls
Clarence Carter- Strokin'
Crosby, Stills & Nash - Southern Cross
Steve Earle - Copperhead Road
Pearl Jam - Alive
Dwight Yoakam - Little Sister
Chris Isaak - Wicked Game
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Give it Away

bry321f11

Nothingman off the album.....then It was a slow process of finding song after song that I enjoyed. Then I decided to buy Live on two legs and it was all over with after that!!

giventofly0812

Jeremy, i used to sit on the bus on the way to a from school playing it on my walkman on repeat, over and over again. all this stemming from seeing the 1991 vma's performance of the song on MTV. The intensity in ed during the performance is unbelievable

robloosli

I heard a boot that had Footsteps on it when I was 14 or 15 and I was instantly hooked. Never looked back music wise, Pearl Jam has been there every step of my life.

Pearl Drummer

i remember hearing alive for the 1st time on the radio on my way to get food when i was 11 after that i was hooked

EPOTTSIII

Black. I was like 14 years old. 33 Now.

fox_mulderX

much more music was airing tb2000 one night in 2002 and i just happened to turn it on. before then, i was one of those "yeah, pearl jam WAS good". after i saw the even flow performance, i was blown away by how good they were live. they didn't rely on stage gimmicks.. it was just 5 guys playing music. nothing to hide. over the next few months, i purchased all their cd's and dvd's (i was still in hs so i couldn't afford to by them all at once lol) and i never looked back

No0nesRival

Jeremy on the radio blasting from someone's speakers up in the window from my dorm at college way back in the early 90's when Jeremy was getting all kinds of air play.

Been hooked since.

Black absolutely no doubt about it sealed the deal.

climb_high_nz

Fuck they had me at "master slave" my very first listen I was hooked.....I think Alive and Release were my favs for a long time....so long ago...

ZiggyStar

Animal....bought Vs....hooked instantly. 14 years old....and now i'm 31. Ahhhh! Love my boys. 8-)

LikeAnOcean

Evenflow.. I only knew the song Alive at the time and my friend talked me into buying Ten back in '93.. I heard Evenflow for the first time on CD and have been hooked since.

TheRealDanPatch

Porch from the Unplugged performance.

october22

jeremy. i was 12 and it was fucking awesome. hooked ever since