Aunt Pearls jam

Last-12-Exit
Last-12-Exit Charleston, SC Posts: 8,661
in The Porch
So I remember watching a video a long time ago where Ed mentions that his Aunt Pearl had a jam made from a hallucinogenic recipe. And when the band could not use Mookie Blaylock as their name, he thought of his Aunt Pearls jam.

My first question, does anyone remember this video? I had it for a long time on vhs but ive lost it over the years.

And does anyone know the validity of this story? Is that how the band was named? It would make sense to me since I also used to have a box set called hallucinogenic recipe.

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Comments

  • WhatYouTaughtMe
    WhatYouTaughtMe Posts: 4,957
    Last-12-Exit said:

    So I remember watching a video a long time ago where Ed mentions that his Aunt Pearl had a jam made from a hallucinogenic recipe. And when the band could not use Mookie Blaylock as their name, he thought of his Aunt Pearls jam.

    My first question, does anyone remember this video? I had it for a long time on vhs but ive lost it over the years.

    And does anyone know the validity of this story? Is that how the band was named? It would make sense to me since I also used to have a box set called hallucinogenic recipe.

    I think I remember reading it was tongue in cheek and not accurate. I think I saw an interview with Jeff saying they decided jam needed to be in the name after they went to a Neil Young show together. These memories are vague so I could be wrong.
  • badbrains
    badbrains Posts: 10,255
    I thought it was grandma pearls jam
  • DewieCox
    DewieCox Posts: 11,432
    I don't buy any of the explanations other than the juvenile one. I think the explanations offered by Ed and Jeff are last ditch efforts to keep credibility, since they're viewed as a more serious rock band.
  • brianlux
    brianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,849
    " In an early promotional interview, Vedder said that the name "Pearl Jam" was a reference to his great-grandmother Pearl, who was married to a Native American and had a special recipe for peyote-laced jam."

    Neely, Kim. "Right Here, Right Now". Rolling Stone. October 31, 1991.
    "It's a sad and beautiful world"
    -Roberto Benigni

  • badbrains
    badbrains Posts: 10,255
    brianlux said:

    " In an early promotional interview, Vedder said that the name "Pearl Jam" was a reference to his great-grandmother Pearl, who was married to a Native American and had a special recipe for peyote-laced jam."

    Neely, Kim. "Right Here, Right Now". Rolling Stone. October 31, 1991.

    Great grandma pearl, thanks brian!
  • PJ_Soul
    PJ_Soul Vancouver, BC Posts: 51,032
    edited August 2014
    Eddie still tells people that story even though the truth is in the PJ20 book. He thinks it's funny that he convinced everyone of this lie I think. I saw a vid of him telling one of the bridge school kids the peyote jam bit, which i thought was kind of funny, but weird after the truth was published.

    Pearl Jam supposedly came from one of them throwing out the name Pearl for their band after they lost Mookie Blaylock, and then they saw some Neil Young show where they were jamming, and they put the two together to make Pearl Jam. That's what PJ20 said anyway.
    Post edited by PJ_Soul on
    With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy. ~ Desiderata
  • WhatYouTaughtMe
    WhatYouTaughtMe Posts: 4,957
    edited August 2014
    From Rollingstone 2006

    But he concedes that another oft-told tale is less accurate: that the name Pearl Jam came from Vedder's great-grandmother Pearl, who, he used to claim, was married to an American Indian and was in the habit of making preserves spiked with various hallucinogenics. His great-grandma really was named Pearl. The rest is, indeed, "total bullshit."

    Told of Vedder's admission, Ament and McCready seem relieved. They cough up the true – if less romantic – tale behind the band's name. Brainstorming in a Seattle restaurant to come up with something, anything, to replace their original name, Mookie Blaylock (inspired by the NBA star), Ament came up with "pearl." The band didn't settle on the second half of its name until a 1991 trip to New York to sign a deal with Epic Records. Gossard, Vedder and Ament drove out to see Neil Young play Nassau Coliseum. "He played, like, nine songs over three hours. Every song was like a fifteen-or twenty-minute jam," says Ament. "So that's how 'jam' got added on to the name. Or at least that's how I remember it."



    Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/pearl-jam-the-second-coming-20060629#ixzz3BM2WNXhR 

  • PJ_Soul
    PJ_Soul Vancouver, BC Posts: 51,032
    Wow, published even 4 years earlier than I thought.

    I am surprised the jam story persists among fans when the truth has been in both Rolling Stone and PJ20.
    With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy. ~ Desiderata
  • badbrains
    badbrains Posts: 10,255
    PJ_Soul said:

    Wow, published even 4 years earlier than I thought.

    I am surprised the jam story persists among fans when the truth has been in both Rolling Stone and PJ20.

    I think some of us are just having some fun.
  • PJ_Soul
    PJ_Soul Vancouver, BC Posts: 51,032
    badbrains said:

    PJ_Soul said:

    Wow, published even 4 years earlier than I thought.

    I am surprised the jam story persists among fans when the truth has been in both Rolling Stone and PJ20.

    I think some of us are just having some fun.
    Sure, but a lot of people do think the jam story's true or at least aren't sure.
    With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy. ~ Desiderata
  • brianlux
    brianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,849
    Like the exact nature of God, the universe, and the meaning of life, I would be OK with the true origin of the band name remaining a mystery. ;)
    "It's a sad and beautiful world"
    -Roberto Benigni

  • shetellsherself
    shetellsherself New Jersey Posts: 8,835
    brianlux said:

    Like the exact nature of God, the universe, and the meaning of life, I would be OK with the true origin of the band name remaining a mystery. ;)

    I guess some things we just aren't meant to truly comprehend. ;)
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  • Last-12-Exit
    Last-12-Exit Charleston, SC Posts: 8,661
    I totally forgot them addressing it in the PJ20 book. I know the box set was called hallucinogenic recipe. Lol. And I know I had that vhs tape with Ed telling the bs story.

    I guess great grandma pearls jam is a better story.
  • PJ Fan est. 1990
    PJ Fan est. 1990 Posts: 1,788
    I've heard the Neil Young part...but I also remember an explanation that they went to see Jane's Addiction and that's where they got the Jam part of heir name.
  • PJForceofNature
    PJForceofNature Posts: 3,087
    I have to say I do enjoy the mystery of it all! :)
    "A beacon on dry land"
  • CM189191
    CM189191 Posts: 6,927
    I thought I saw somewhere that it came from the surfing term
    Pearl: Accidentally driving the nose of the board underwater, generally ending the ride
  • badbrains
    badbrains Posts: 10,255
    CM189191 said:

    I thought I saw somewhere that it came from the surfing term
    Pearl: Accidentally driving the nose of the board underwater, generally ending the ride

    Pearl in surfing I always thought was when you're about to drop in on a wave and the wave flips you over as you stand. Come to think of it, it also could be what you described, although I never had the nose of my board go under the water while I was dropping in.
  • hedonist
    hedonist Posts: 24,524
    I recall mentions about bodily secretions and an oyster.
  • Last-12-Exit
    Last-12-Exit Charleston, SC Posts: 8,661
    hedonist said:

    I recall mentions about bodily secretions and an oyster.

    First for me!
  • 2-feign-reluctance
    2-feign-reluctance TigerTown, USA Posts: 23,461
    Wonder what other band names were considered? If this would have changed their history, how people liked them.
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