Grunge is old, the album is new

BIOGRAPHY Pearl Jam, "Independent band, indelible sound"

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June 12, 2000
Web posted at: 6:13 p.m. EDT (2213 GMT)

(CNN) -- Pearl Jam, purveyor of the Seattle "grunge rock" sound, has always done things its own way.

The band has been political, as when frontman Eddie Vedder scrawled pro-choice messages on his forearms for the band's "MTV Unplugged" performance. Pearl Jam has taken on big business: It took Ticketmaster to the U.S. Justice Department. And the band's members have gotten personal, as when they publicly eulogized Kurt Cobain on "Saturday Night Live."

As Vedder told WorldBeat, the band members are aware of their unique position. Their 1991 debut album "Ten" remained on the charts for five years, establishing Pearl Jam as a musical force.

"We got (fame) so quickly," he said. "We were very fortunate. We can have our blase attitude about it and do strictly what we want to do because we were afforded that."

But fame -- and an audience -- can leave as quickly as it came, a challenge Pearl Jam found with follow-up albums "Vs." and "Vitalogy."

"We kind of got ripped off of that slow rise (to success), but there's a part of me that feels like it was good to kind of get that over and done with," bassist Jeff Ament said. "It took a little while to ... just be at a point where we can make records and tour when we want to."

Now, the band only wants to tour in support of its latest album, "Binaural," which fans and critics have acclaimed.

What about that title? "It was a type of recording of not just the instruments, but the air around the instruments," Vedder said. "You really feel the space of the room. That's something that you miss from modern recordings."

Retro technology is not the only thing for which Vedder feels nostalgia; his musical goals seem just as pleasantly old-fashioned.

"Communicating between people is hard enough," he said. "Music has been a vehicle I've seen as being able to communicate, using the rhythms and volume and the melody. It's something I wanted to take advantage of, to have a chance to communicate.

Is he similarly nostalgic about "grunge," the sound that first sent Pearl Jam's fortunes spiking up the charts?

"It is official: It's over," Vedder said. "Put a stick in it. Gravestone."