Pearl Jam Albums

Soundgarden still the elder statesmen of grunge

Pearl Jam is issuing a bevy of commemorative projects. Nirvana’s definitive “Nevermind” is now a remastered box set. So if 2011 is being celebrated as the 20th anniversary of Seattle’s seismic-shift grunge movement, it’s only fair that the third member of its triumvirate — Soundgarden — get equal billing. Which they’re doing in grand style.

After amicably disbanding with a Honolulu farewell show back in ’97, banshee-velocity frontman Chris Cornell and company have recently released: a greatest-hits collection, “Telephantasm”; a Grammy-nominated single from said set, “Black Rain”; and a new concert disc from a ’96 tour, “Live On I-5,” with fiery covers of The Beatles’ “Helter Skelter” and The Stooges’ “Search And Destroy.” They’ve also officially reunited.

Tonight, Soundgarden (with original guitarist Kim Thayil, bassist Ben Shepherd and drummer Matt Cameron, who later joined Pearl Jam) blasts into San Francisco on its ever-expanding comeback jaunt. And the group is currently in the middle of writing and recording a brand-new album. What will the record be called?

“I have an idea, but we don’t have anything set in stone just yet,” says Cornell, who stayed busy in his off years with supergroup Audioslave and solo outings. “And we haven’t actually sat down and discussed song titles, per se, so right now there are just a bunch of working titles that will definitely be changed.”

The Grammy-winning quartet had pushed the grunge-sludgy boundaries with platinum piledrivers such as 1991’s “Badmotorfinger” and ’94’s “Superunknown,” and sweeping ballads such as “Black Hole Sun,” which Cornell often played in acoustic Audioslave encores. And he’s proud of that early catalog.

“We were so inventive as a band that the music, from album to album, was always fresh,” he says. “We’ve always been a band that’s tried really hard to never play the same song twice. And that, to me, is our secret — that there’s a real breadth to what we’ve done.”

Sans master plan, Soundgarden’s reformation began last year, when they played a quiet Seattle show as the anagrammed Nude Dragons.

“We were getting together to discuss doing a website and a merch line, because nobody could find a Soundgarden shirt or anything, anywhere,” Cornell says. Then they unearthed the “Live On I-5” tapes, and previously unreleased gems like “Black Rain.” “So us getting back together again happened naturally, from just talking about servicing the legacy of the band.

Lullabies From A Giant Golden Radio: Pearl Jam: Album By Album

For some reason, my introduction to Pearl Jam came from a completely impulsive purchase of this album on cassette from a music shop somewhere in Cornwall about 16 years ago, having not heard any of their music before. It was a good buy though, because Ten still stands as one of Grunge's high points almost two decades later. Pearl Jam had risen from the ashes of Mother Love Bone and had unearthed a real talent in singer Eddie Vedder, who brings so much of himself to this debut album. There's no weak tracks here and the likes of Even Flow, Alive, Black and Jeremy are as good as rock music gets. There was no sophomore slump for Pearl Jam, who returned quickly with their second album, which set a new record for albums sold in its first week in the USA (and held it for five years) despite the band making a conscious effort to curtail their commercial activities. Musically, it's both more muscular than Ten at times and quieter at times, from relentless opener Go to reflective closer Indifference. Along the way there's plenty of classics, not least Rearviewmirror, which wasn't a single but has still gone on to be one of Pearl Jam's most enduring favourites. As their success and fame continued to soar, the band reacted by getting more and more difficult, refusing to make videos, going to war with Ticketmaster over prices and getting more experimental with their music. That didn't stop Vitalogy becoming the second fastest-selling album, after Vs, and it's another fantastic record that does go some way to reflecting the turmoil within the band at the time, with drummer Dave Abbruzzese getting fired, guitarist Stone Gossard considering quitting and other guitarist Mike McCready going into rehab to fight a cocaine addiction. It's got some of their weirdest songs, some of their heaviest songs (Spin The Black Circle) and some of their loveliest songs (Nothingman and Better Man) and showed that Pearl Jam were still developing and refusing to be the grunge sell-outs that Kurt Cobain kept accusing them of being. After that turmoil and the grunge implosion that followed Cobain's suicide, Pearl Jam took a little time out and returned with a mellower, looser sound. A lot of this was down to the arrival of old friend and former Chili Pepper drummer Jack Irons, who had helped out during the Vitalogy sessions.

Pearl Jam Albums, Ten, Vitalogy, Vs. , Yield, Backspacer, Binaural, Pearl Jam, Riot Act, No Code, Lost Dogs, Mirror Ball, Rearviewmirror

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Pearl Jam (Album)

Billboard

Billboard