Pearl Jam

Pearl Jam emerged from Seattle’s early-1990s grunge movement and became one of its most durable commercial successes. Formed in 1990 after the breakup of Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament’s earlier groups Green River and Mother Love Bone, the band’s founding lineup paired Gossard and Ament with vocalist and guitarist Eddie Vedder and guitarist Mike McCready. Their early drummer lineup changed several times, including Dave Krusen, Matt Chamberlain, Dave Abbruzzese and Jack Irons.

The band broke into the mainstream with Ten in 1991. The album remained on the US Billboard 200 for nearly five years and was certified 13 times platinum by the RIAA, becoming one of the highest-selling rock albums. Pearl Jam followed it with Vs. in 1993, which sold more than 950,378 copies in its first week, a record at the time. Vitalogy, released in 1994, moved more than 877,000 units in its first week and became the second-fastest-selling CD in history at that point.

Even as its audience grew, Pearl Jam often avoided standard music-industry promotion, declining music videos and many interviews. In 1994, the group sued Ticketmaster, alleging that the company had monopolized the concert-ticket market; the case was unsuccessful. The band’s public work has also included advocacy around social and political issues, with Vedder serving as a prominent spokesman on matters including abortion rights and opposition to George W. Bush’s presidency.

Matt Cameron joined as drummer in 1998 and became the group’s longest-serving drummer before departing in 2025. Keyboardist Boom Gaspar has worked with Pearl Jam as a session and touring musician since 2002. Pearl Jam had sold more than 100 million albums worldwide, including nearly 32 million in the United States by 2012. In 2017, the band entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in its first year of eligibility. Rolling Stone readers later ranked Pearl Jam eighth in the magazine’s “Top Ten Live Acts of All Time” poll.