In which circumstances did you discover Pearl Jam ?

After the Hair Metal implosion of the late 80's, I was listening to tapes in the car (while delivering pizza) because the radio was not to be trusted! After a steady diet of Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and The Doors with a lot of Fugazi thrown in I found a rock station I could trust to not throw Poison and Motley Crue at me every hour. I heard "Alive" and knew that somebody out there was still writing Rock n Roll!

Lots of really cool introduction stories here, with a surprising mix of recent discoverers and not-so-recent.

I was first introduced to Pearl Jam when I received a Vitalogy cassette tape as part of a Secret Santa gift exchange with my Youth Group. That's gotta be fairly original, right? :P

At university... Friend came over with the Ten CD which had just been released. Blew me away. Totally like nothing I had ever heard (gotta remember, hair metal and corporate rock were still huge then). This was my first exposure to the Seattle sound (along with Soundgarden... whose CD Badmotorfinger I had bought before Ten)... Nirvana's Nevermind hadn't even been released yet.

Late bloomer for me, relatively speaking. Watching Hockey Night in Canada in the living room with the family back in 1999-2000 ish and during a stoppage of play, this song came on and I was captivated. I was heavy into music, but new music at that time was Frogstomp, Creed (puke), Matt Good, Marcy Playground etc.... but I knew my best friends older brother was into music before I was. The next day I went to their house and we started shuffling through his early 90's CD's looking for that SOUND I heard ... after a few discs, Track 2 from a 1991 album with a pinkish/red cover.... ohhhhohohoh EEEVEN FLOWWWWWW. I was ALIVE & felt RELEASE like I'd never felt it before. ONCE I walked out of that house, my life was changed forever. (too tired to continue having song title fun)

I was doing my A levels and heard a song on the radio called Alive by a new band Pearl Jam whilst driving into school. Went out and bought the single straight away and haven't looked back since!!

I like reading about people getting into the band after their wave of super-popularity in the '90's. Although, my discovery happened during the height of that maelstrom.

Wasn't until I was in junior high that I sought out any music, in general. Ten was the first album I bought and the best investment ever made!

But before that I was aware of the name, mostly because the other kids in school talked about them. Granted, I didn't have MTV so any exposure to popular music was limited.

Two peripheral memories of the band stand out. Some awards show announced the name "Pearl Jam" and by the time I looked up at the TV, they showed some other hair-metal group. I just assumed they were one and the same.

The second memory was accompanying someone to the mall and helping him decide which PJ album to buy (his only choices were Ten and Vs.). Naturally, I told him "start with the first one, whatever that is."

However, my formal introduction to Pearl Jam occurred watching SNL in April '94 when they just happened to be the musical guest. Needless to say I was completely blown away. I don't even remember if I liked the music at the time.

As time goes by, I'm probably blowing it out of proportion, but I remember it affecting me in a way I couldn't comprehend. I thought, this must be what heavy metal music is like! There was screaming and loud visceral sounds (I didn't stay up for "Daughter"). My untrained ears could not make out the underlying melody or differentiate the guitars. They were intimidating in a way, and yet I connected with how down to earth they looked compared to groups my older siblings listened to years back.

Somewhere along the way, "Jeremy" was the official song that ignited my fierce devotion and that summer I bought Ten and never looked back. From then on it was Pearl Jam, first and foremost, and everything else second-tier. And that still hasn't wavered to this day.

A local radio station has a program called new noise at 9...pretty sure that was my first taste. Bought the cd but became completely hooked when I saw them on mtv unplugged. It originally aired 22 years ago yesterday!

My Dad bought the import Jeremy single at a record store in Cleveland. It had Yellow Ledbetter on it which had gotten some local radio play and my Dad heard the DJ say "it was a rare find". (At the time). My Dad was excited to get it. Jeremy, Yellow Ledbetter, and Footsteps is all I listened to a lot. Asked for Ten for my 12th birthday. Been hooked since.

spearhead said:

I was alone and far away when I heard The Band start playing...on the lip, late take off.

Well done!

And perfect for me, speaking of late takeoffs - I'd heard Black for the first time in early 1999 and loved it from voice to lyrics to music. Didn't think much more about it until I read a review of the best albums of the 90s. Usually I don't put much stock in the opinions of professional critics, but something hit me when I read about Ten. I bought that and Yield as my formal introductions, and in retrospect, it was such a beautiful illustration of the journey from their beginning to the then-present.

Evolution, baby!

Joined the old Sony BBS shortly after. That place, with this music, were the catalysts for some amazing slices of life that I'm still scarfing down

edit - ha! pleatherman and I both said "formal introduction". Fitting term.

pleatherman said:

I enjoy how everyone's personal story is pretty unique. We took separate journeys but wound up in the same spot!

TV certainly has played a vital role for more than a few of us. When PJ20 shows up on television every now and again, it makes me wonder if it will have a lasting effect on any newcomers, or perhaps channel surfing is a thing of the past? What do I know, I'm old!

Thinking back, I remember the Atlanta '94 broadcast being a major catalyst for me. It was re-broadcast several times during that spring/summer. I remember thinking how dangerous the band seemed. I find that funny now that I'm more familiar with the band members. But back then what did I know, I was young!

I became a fan when I heard Ten, but PJ20 was actually what finally made me get a 10C membership. It is a pretty crappy documentary (why SO much about Mother Love Bone???), but it still inspired me to connect with the rest of the fans, so that's pretty sweet.