
In late summer of 1996, Pearl Jam released their fourth album, No Code. Pearl Jam released a single culled from the sessions, titled Merkinball and featuring the songs "I Got ID" and "Long Road," during the fall of 1995. Comprised entirely of Neil Young songs, Mirror Ball appeared in the summer under Young's name although the individual members of the band were credited, the name Pearl Jam did not appear on the cover due to legal complications. Mad Season, Mike McCready's side project with Layne Staley of Alice in Chains, released its first album, Above, in the spring of 1995. Meanwhile, Vedder toured with his wife Beth's experimental band Hovercraft in the spring of 1994 as Stone Gossard founded an independent record company. In early 1995, the band recorded an album with Neil Young. Pearl Jam continued to battle Ticketmaster in 1995, but the Justice Department eventually ruled in favor of the ticket agency. Once Vitalogy was available on CD and cassette, the album shot to the top of the charts and quickly went multi-platinum. For the first two weeks, the album was only available as a limited vinyl release, but the record charted in the Top 60. Vitalogy, the band's third album, appeared at the end of 1994. After the record was completed, the group fired Dave Abbruzzese, replacing him with former Red Hot Chili Peppers and Eleven drummer Jack Irons. The band took Ticketmaster to the Justice Department for unfair business practices while fighting Ticketmaster, they recorded a new album during the spring and summer of 1994. Pearl Jam canceled their 1994 summer tour, claiming they couldn't keep ticket prices below 20 dollars because Ticketmaster was pressuring promoters to charge a higher price.

On their spring 1994 American tour, the band decided not to play the conventional stadiums, choosing to play smaller arenas, including several shows on college campuses. Nevertheless, it was another multi-platinum success, debuting at number one and selling nearly a million copies in its first week of release. The group refused to release any videos or singles from their second album, 1993's Vs. Meanwhile, Temple of the Dog's self-titled album became a platinum-selling hit, thanks to renewed interest in the project (which, in addition to Pearl Jam, featured grunge heavyweight Chris Cornell) and strong radio support for the single "Hunger Strike." Stone Gossard also embarked on a side project called Brad, which released the album Shame in early 1993.ĭespite their status as rock & roll superstars, Pearl Jam refused to succumb to the accepted conventions of the music industry.
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Pearl Jam's audience continued to grow during 1992, thanks to a series of radio and MTV hits, as well as successful appearances on the second Lollapalooza tour and the Singles soundtrack. After all, Pearl Jam fused the riff-heavy stadium rock of the '70s with the grit and anger of '80s post-punk, without ever neglecting hooks and choruses "Jeremy," "Evenflow," and "Alive" fit perfectly onto album rock radio stations looking for new blood. Soon, Pearl Jam outsold Nirvana, which wasn't surprising. Ten didn't begin selling in significant numbers until early 1992, after Nirvana made mainstream rock radio receptive to alternative rock acts. Krusen left the band shortly after the release of Ten he was replaced by Dave Abbruzzese. Renaming themselves Pearl Jam, the band recorded their debut album, Ten, in the beginning of 1991, although it wasn't released until August in the meantime, the majority of the band appeared on the Andrew Wood tribute project Temple of the Dog.


Dave Krusen was hired as the full-time drummer shortly thereafter, completing the original lineup. Thanks to future Pearl Jam drummer Jack Irons, the demo found its way to a 25-year-old San Diego surfer named Eddie Vedder, who overdubbed vocals and original lyrics and was subsequently invited to join the band (then christened Mookie Blaylock after the NBA player). After Mother Love Bone's vocalist, Andrew Wood, overdosed on heroin in 1990, guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament assembled a new band, bringing in Mike McCready on lead guitar and recording a demo with Soundgarden's Matt Cameron on drums. Pearl Jam rose from the ashes of Mother Love Bone to become the most popular American rock & roll band of the '90s.
