Jeremy [Single] - Pearl Jam (CD 1995)

Back in 1992, the music landscape was changing. Fake hair bands like Poison and Warrant were quickly becoming tired and boring and a new wave of music was emerging. That style of music was dubbed grunge. The main source of grunge music was the fertile ground of Seattle. Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Pearl Jam all hailed from that region and all three were extremely influential in the movement. All of their music was fresh, powerful and loud. Nirvana had their punk roots, Soundgarden favored heavy metal and Pearl Jam sounded like the arena bands of the 70 s. While Nirvana had the mega hit in Smells Like Teen Spirit, Pearl Jam was able to have a few good size hits. Alive and Even Flow were good, hard rocking songs that sounded unique. However, everything changed when Jeremy hit the airwaves and MTV.

Jeremy is probably the most popular and famous Pearl Jam song and it s the lead track on this single. The song chronicles the troubles of a disturbed teenager and his untimely death. The song is a powerful ballad and a tremendous display of Eddie Vedder s writing abilities. Vedder s lyrics are deep and poetic and the musicianship is fabulous. The entire band is able to shine is this tune.

While the video might have been overplayed on MTV, the song is still powerful. Pearl Jam has fortunately changed the arrangement of the song when they play it live and it s for the better. It s much slower and brooding and therefore has a greater impact on the audience.

There is no doubt that the video played an important role in the popularity of the song. It was the first concept video that Pearl Jam produced. Previously, their videos were of concert footage and live moments. This proved to be a welcome change as the video was perfect for the song. The tale of a young, distressed boy was chronicled in pictures as well as the music. It makes the song all that much more powerful. Unfortunately, the Jeremy track on this single is slightly edited. The cursing is eliminated and the song is slightly shorter than the album track. Even with those changes, Jeremy is still a classic Pearl Jam song.

The second track on the single is Footsteps and it s far from a throwaway b-side. This version was recorded live on Rockline in May of 1992 and it s wonderful. The music, written by Stone Gossard, originally appeared on the Temple Of The Dog cd as the song Time Of Troubles. Those lyrics were written by Chris Cornell of Soundgarden. It s a great song, but Vedder decided to update the lyrics and create a brand new tune. Thank goodness he did. Footsteps is actually part of a trilogy of Pearl Jam songs. The others are Alive and Once. The songs focus on an abused teenager and his deteriorating life.

This version of Footsteps is a beautiful acoustic rendition of the song. Only Vedder s soulful voice and Gossard s powerful guitar work can be heard. This is as bare bones as you can get. Eddie s tone is emotional and the lyrics are so powerful. Gossard s acoustic skills really allow the song to reach its emotional goal. Footsteps is reason enough to purchase this disc.

Now to the reason you should purchase this single, Yellow Ledbetter! Yes, the song has developed into a legend and to some people it s overexposed and not nearly has perfect as many people claim. It doesn t matter to me, I still love this song and get chills every time I hear it played live.

Yellow Ledbetter is Mike McCready s tribute to the guitar legends of the past. It serves as a memorial to the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughn. The song is a blues journey through time. The guitar work is the true star of the tune. McCready noodles and jams his way through five minutes of brilliance. The middle solo is almost perfection in music form.

You may ask about the lyrics and that s an interesting story. Nobody seems to know what the lyrics are for Yellow Ledbetter. Much of the song is full of Vedder s incoherent singing and humming. Debate rages all throughout the Pearl Jam community about the lyrics and what Vedder is trying to say. In reality, it doesn t matter. The beauty of the song is in the music and the powerful guitar work by McCready. It s a show stopper live and well worth the price of this cd single.

This single is so much more than just one song. Jeremy is a classic and a great reason to purchase the cd. Footsteps is an acoustic gem and completes the well-known trilogy of songs started on Pearl Jam s debut album Ten. Yellow Ledbetter is a powerful and intriguing song and it s worth buying this single for it alone. It s one of the few places where it can be heard on cd. If you are a Pearl Jam fan, you ve got to hunt this single down and get yourself a copy. If you are a fan of good music, then pick it up if you stumble across it, you won t be disappointed.

Here's just a quick little side note about the single. When the cd was originally available, it was an imported version and cost anywhere between $10 to $15 dollars. The band understood that their fans enjoyed their music and wanted to have anything released. Pearl Jam took the unprecedented course of releasing the single themselves and the record company for a highly discounted price of about $5 dollars. They also made sure that people knew the difference by placing the following label on the cd Not To Be Confused With More Expensive (Identical) Import Version