9/17/2023 0 Comments Pearl jam even flow homeless![]() ![]() It didn’t have quite the cultural impact of “Alive”, but the song reached number three on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart and ensured that Ten sold copies well into 1992. ![]() The second single, “Even Flow”, was a more upbeat track despite its lyrics about a homeless person struggling to survive. These are all elements that made people want to hear the song again and again. Plus, Eddie Vedder’s lyrics tell an unsettling story about lies, recrimination, and guilt, yet it’s the kind of narrative that may take the casual listener half a dozen times to understand. Lead guitarist Mike McCready’s closing extended solo is intense and nearly as enthralling as the chorus. It grows and recedes multiple times, and its anthemic chorus packs instant sing-along appeal. The song itself is long for radio (lasting over five-and-a-half minutes), but it’s a compelling track. In retrospect, it’s a great first impression. However, it didn’t really take off on radio until MTV started showing the video. “Alive” was technically released as a single in early July, nearly two months before Ten, the band’s debut album. ![]() ![]() The video is full of grit and emotion, even though it’s a simple performance clip with no fundamental concept behind it. There’s stage diving and crowd surfing and genuine enthusiasm from the audience. Pearl Jam are onstage, sweating their asses off at a small club, with a simple curtain and rudimentary lights as the backdrop. It’s like the polar opposite of Van Halen’s “Poundcake” performance. “Alive” is shot in grainy black and white, and it features a concert performance of the track (there are apparent differences from the studio recording) in front of a rowdy crowd. Nirvana’s pieces had more of an immediate impact, but Pearl Jam were no slouches. The “Smells Like Teen Spirit” video premiered on 10 September, while Pearl Jam’s “Alive” clip came out the day before. Specifically, Pearl Jam and Nirvana were there with new records, striking lead singles, and memorable videos for those singles. Luckily, alternative rock-just breaking out of its ’80’s moniker as “college rock”-was ready to take up the mantle. (Nor could they rely on second and third-tier groups like Slaughter, Trixter, and Firehouse, none of whom had the songwriting chops to take up the mantle.) Although the network played the hell out of the “Enter Sandman” video, it needed other rock bands to fill the void. MTV clearly knew they couldn’t just keep clinging to bands like Poison, Warrant, and Mötley Crüe in the middle of its sustained peak as a music tastemaker for the United States. Plus, Bon Jovi remarkably turned out to have the pop sensibilities necessary to transition from hair metal into a mainstream rock act. Their single “You Could Be Mine” was tied to the biggest movie of the summer, Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Likewise, Guns N’ Roses-already grittier than their ’80s brethren-were about to unleash the massive Use Your Illusion records. Van Halen’s established brand kept them going strong, at least for that album cycle. In this new environment, only a few hard rock bands from the ’80s could still thrive. Metallica had been an MTV staple in the late ’80s with their high concept video for “One”, but with a new album that merged their trademark heaviness with radio-friendly catchiness, the band essentially blew away the lingering vestiges of hair metal. The song is loads fiercer than “Poundcake” due to its thundering drums and irresistible riff. However, its music video, featuring numerous scantily clad women and the band performing on a stage with thousands of bright lights in an otherwise empty space, definitely feels like a relic of the hair metal era.Ĭontrast that with Metallica‘s “Enter Sandman”, released at the end of July 1991. That track has some kick, particularly with Eddie Van Halen occasionally playing his guitar with a power drill. Van Halen, who were never really a hair metal band, started the summer off with “Poundcake”, the lead single from their album For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge. By the summer of 1991, North American audiences were starting to get tired of the dominant rock/hair metal of the 1980s. Pearl Jam were the right band at the right time, or, rather, one of several right bands at the right time. ![]()
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