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

cool thread!

It was about 2004/2005 for me, I know that's pretty recent, but give me a break I'm only 20, plus you never hear anything about pearl jam in the UK media. i Knew the name and I had heard alive a couple of times and kinda dug it and then my girlfriends dad lent me this video tape with some frank zappa and pink floyd stuff on... which was awesome! It also had pearl jam unplugged (possibly the coolest vhs ever...right). Anyway I remember them just ripping into state of love and trust and eddie was so intense and the band was just tearing it apart... i was absolutely hooked. As i was about 15/16 at the time I wasn't exactly loaded but i remember going down to music zone (any UK residents will miss this... the number of class cds i bought from there for like £4 or £5). I was stood there for ages wondering whether to buy ten or get rearviewmirror the greatest hits. Eventually i decided on ten and just loved it... once just blew me away with that amazing guitar work, and of course alive, even flow, jeremy, black as well as release. That next year i found out they were gonna headline the Leeds Festival... which I was hyped about being a Leeds resident. So i purchased a weekend camping ticket and realised I'd have to buy some more pj albums... so went and bought vs. it took me a few listens to get it, but after I'd heard rearviewmirror, it hit such a chord with me... I loved it in a way that I had not loved music before, so intense, just awesome, all those other greats as well, go, animal, daughter, dissident, blood and i tought indifference was just haunting and beautiful (I think vs. is still my favourite), picked up vitalogy as well and again got really into it after a little while, the avacado had just come out as well, so i picked that up. Anyways fastforward to an august night, and pearl jam hit the stage at leeds festival, and eddie gives a little speech about looking after eachother (first festival since roskilde) and they just slam into 'go' it was one of the most exhilerating nights of my life... i knew i was a fan for life, I wanted nothing more than to leave leeds festival and head down and see them again at Reading. I just loved the way eddie came across, the energy they put in, and being a guitarist I was just blown away by mike, stone and eddie's guitar work... and live as well! I was slightly gutted that they skipped out rearviewmirror though! Later that year me and the girlfriend finished with eachother, we broke up whilst listening to the down side of rearviewmirror, which she had bought me as a gift. It was such a great soundtrack for this mutual breakup we went through. After this I went through a load of personal stuff, I systematically purchased the rest of the pj albums (yield, no code, binaural, riot act... in that order) and they were just there for me the whole time, everytime i felt down or alone or whatever. I was never more disappointed when i missed out on the wembley show in 2007. I had an A level exam that same day and one the day after. I even tried to go to bonaroo in '08, despite being a broke student... so now here I am just two weeks away from seeing my favourite band twice at manchester and london... nd tryin to scrape together some more funds to get the avacado tatooed on the inside of my wrist...bring it on! and il see you down front! long live pearl jam... can't wait for backspacer!

zisfor wrote:

I was in my mid 20’s when Ten was released. Being a teenager in the 80’s I really didn’t listen to much current music. Couldn’t enjoy hair metal and no internet back then to find those good under the radar bands. So I mostly listened to 60’s rock and didn’t give much thought to current music. One night I caught the video for Alive on TV and thought “WOW. This is what rock music should be”. Bought Ten loved it and then Vs when it was released. I am ashamed to admit that I kind of lost track of Pearl Jam for the next 10 or so years after those two albums. Life happened and stuff like that. I still liked them just didn't follow them. Then last year while following the Bonnaroo festival read lots of good stuff about the Pearl Jam performance. I bought the bootleg one thing led to another found other bootlegs (thanks to this forum) and bought all the albums. Now I am completely hooked. Look I am posting on a forum...a first for me! 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.

Your story is similar to mine. Lost track after Vitalogy, loved Avocado and bought everything in between shortly after.