Pearl Jam - MTV Completely Unplugged (1992)

One of the hottest new bands to emerge out of music hot bed Seattle at the time of this taping, Pearl Jam was currently riding high on the success of their debut album Ten. Taped at midnight at the Kaufman Astoria Studios in March of 1992, Pearl Jam band members Eddie Vedder (vocals), Mike McCready (guitar), Stone Gossard (guitar), Jeff Ament (bass), and Dave Abbruzzese (drums) gave an unforgettable and captivating performance that unleashed the band's raw, poetic and lyrical genius to the world, also highlighting a point of Eddie's personal and political values that made his music seem more genuine and real. But before we get into the music, lets begin with the heart of this live performance.

One thing to be noted about Pearl Jam during the duration (35 minutes) of this show is their energy and devotion towards the music they play, as well as the pure joy they get out of performing. The camera catches glimpses of Dave smiling and mouthing the words as he rocks out on the drum set throughout the entire show, and you'll notice McCready and Stone start to move their bodies with the rhythm of the music and dedicate their entire mindset and emotion to each song's pivotal guitar solo found within most of Pearl Jam's pieces. However, I find myself completely lost to the world around me when I see Eddie sing. Eddie's voice alone is gripping and intense as he sings the tune is such a way to showcase power, pureness, and patience, but when you put that talent along with his enthralling facial expressions, you get...well...a damn good show. Eddie's face (aside from being absolutely beautiful) leaves you wondering whether or not he's having an epileptic seizure, wanting to kill someone, or just completely lost in the music. His eyes roll in the back of his head, his head jerks around in short, fast movements, and he'll even give you a twisted little smile, raising his cheekbones and pursing his lips, in parts of the song that usually aren't that happy. Passion runs through his blood and it is evident in the way he performs.

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Pearl Jam

Pearl Jam is an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. Since its inception, the band’s line-up has included Stone Gossard (guitar), Jeff Ament (bass), Mike McCready (guitar), and Eddie Vedder (vocals). The band’s fifth and current drummer is Matt Cameron, of Soundgarden, who has been with the band since 1998.

Formed after the demise of Gossard and Ament’s previous band, Mother Love Bone, Pearl Jam broke into the mainstream with its debut album, Ten, in 1991. One of the key bands of the grunge movement in the early 1990s, over the course of the band’s career, its members became noted for their refusal to adhere to traditional music industry practices, including refusing to make music videos, giving interviews and engaging in a much-publicized boycott of Ticketmaster. In 2006, Rolling Stone described the band as having “spent much of the past decade deliberately tearing apart their own fame.”

To date, the band has sold more than 31.5 million records in the U.S, and an estimated 60 million worldwide. Pearl Jam has outlasted and outsold many of its contemporaries from the alternative rock breakthrough of the early 1990s, and is considered one of the most influential bands of the decade. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic referred to Pearl Jam as “the most popular American rock & roll band of the ’90s.”

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