In late 1987, Gossard and Ament began playing with Malfunkshun vocalist Andrew Wood, eventually organizing the band Mother Love Bone. Green River toured and recorded to moderate success but disbanded in 1987 due to a stylistic division between the pair and bandmates Mark Arm and Steve Turner. Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament were members of grunge band Green River during the mid-1980s. History Formation and early years (1984–1990) 1.10 Touring and Gigaton (2018–present).1.7 Move to J Records and Pearl Jam (2006–2008).1.5 Binaural and the Roskilde tragedy (2000–2001).1.3 Vs., Vitalogy and dealing with success (1993–1995).Vedder acts as the band's spokesman on these issues. Throughout its career, the band has also promoted wider social and political issues, from pro-choice sentiments to opposition to George W. 8 in a reader poll by Rolling Stone magazine in its "Top Ten Live Acts of All Time" issue. Pearl Jam was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017 in its first year of eligibility. Pearl Jam had sold more than 85 million albums worldwide by 2018, including nearly 32 million albums in the United States by 2012, making them one of the best-selling bands of all time. In 2006, Rolling Stone described the band as having "spent much of the past decade deliberately tearing apart their own fame." The band also sued Ticketmaster, claiming it had monopolized the concert-ticket market. One of the key bands in the grunge movement of the early 1990s, Pearl Jam's members often shunned popular music industry practices such as making music videos or participating in interviews. Their third album, Vitalogy (1994), became the second-fastest-selling CD in history at the time, with more than 877,000 units sold in its first week. Released in 1993, Pearl Jam's second album, Vs., sold over 950,000 copies in its first week of release, setting the record for most copies of an album sold in its first week of release at the time. Ten stayed on the Billboard 200 chart for nearly five years, and has gone on to become one of the highest-selling rock records ever, going 13x platinum in the United States. įormed after the demise of Gossard and Ament's previous band, Mother Love Bone, Pearl Jam broke into the mainstream with their debut album, Ten, in 1991. Pearl Jam outsold many of their contemporaries from the early 1990s, and are considered one of the most influential bands of the decade, being dubbed as "the most popular American rock & roll band of the '90s". Drummers Jack Irons, Dave Krusen, Matt Chamberlain, and Dave Abbruzzese are former members of the band. Keyboardist Boom Gaspar has also been a touring/session member with the band since 2002.
The band's lineup consists of founding members Jeff Ament (bass guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar), and Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, guitar), as well as Matt Cameron (drums), who joined in 1998. Pearl Jam is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990.