Pearl Jam: A band built to last
Unique among grunge-era bands, this group can still fill hockey rinks

IN CONCERT

Pearl Jam
Where: With the Supersuckers at GM Place
When: Tomorrow at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets: Sold out

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Pearl Jam was built to survive. At least that is what time tells. Pearl Jam has outlasted Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, Tad, Screaming Trees or the band that started it all, Nirvana.

"It all" was grunge. Seattle was its centre and Pearl Jam, a Seattle band, initially was not included among grunge's first proponents. Pearl Jam's members might have had their roots in the scene but the band seemed artificial to someone like Nirvana's Kurt Cobain. To him, they were just too perfect. Pearl Jam had all the right ingredients whereas all the other bands were screwed up in some fundamental way.

Pearl Jam's case for authenticity wasn't helped by an apocryphal story in which CBS Records made a thorough analysis of the success of Nirvana and other grunge bands -- their sound, their image, their appeal -- and, having reached a conclusion, signed Pearl Jam. Fifteen years later, Pearl Jam still can tour hockey rinks. The other bands are dead or have mutated. So was CBS wrong?

What was grunge anyway?

This was the dawning of the '90s. Hair bands as pathetic as Poison or Winger walked freely. They looked good on videos, they probably made rich men of investors in lip gloss and hair gel, they sang of trivial things, they represented a phoney kind of glamour. Then along came bands such as Mudhoney, Green River, Mother Love Bone (which had two future members of Pearl Jam) and, ultimately, Nirvana to elbow out the hair farmers. They had a grounding in punk, hard rock and rebellion and valued spontaneity. They eschewed glamour, preferring skateboard fashion over a glam look. Grunge was synonymous with alternative rock.

Pearl Jam was Eddie Vedder from San Diego, Mike McReady, Jeff Ament, Stone Gossard and a carousel of drummers that stopped when Matt Cameron joined. The band's first album, released in 1991, was Ten, which yielded the hits "Evenflow", "Alive," "Jeremy" and outsold Nirvana. That -- a first album -- might have been the last (only) thing Pearl Jam has done that could be termed orthodox.

Gossard probably has the most prominent of the group's side projects, Brad. Vedder has participated in numerous shows and records by others, the whole group has teamed with Neil Young.

Early in the career, Pearl Jam refused to make videos and singles. Later it released a compilation of subsequent videos and, savourers of irony, its biggest hit was the single version of J. Frank Wilson's "Last Kiss." The band also battled Ticketmaster unsuccessfully in 1994 and beat the bootleggers by releasing 72 volumes of its 2000 tour.

There was/is a contrariness about Pearl Jam. If there are rock rules, Pearl Jam apparently hasn't seen them. Perhaps that comes from living in Seattle. Compared to Los Angeles or New York, Seattle is an outpost. Success is dealt with differently. Vedder and company reacted badly to the attention while taking advantage of the clout success had to offer. From a distant perspective the band seemed to dismantle its fame and was self-indulgent. Then, it seemed to turn about, and build it back again as though a bright light went on above the members that said, "Wait a minute, I like being a rock star."

None of this matters when the band plays. Two years ago, at GM Place, songs that were mere sketches on albums became carefully drawn songs in concert. The music made more sense. The band looked like a band. A band that was built to last.

tharrison@png.canwest.com