It's quite funny but I have got to number 8 before talking about Pearl Jam. Its best to start with Once, because it is the first Pearl Jam song on record. And it was the first Pearl Jam song I heard. And I remember it like it was yesterday.
Early on in third form I remember seeing ad's on TV for Ten. It seems strange now because the year was 1995 and Ten was released in 1991. But for whatever reason the album was still being advertised on TV (it seems even more superfluous now that albums are almost never advertised). The ad had clips for Even Flow, Jeremy and Alive. And the songs stuck. And they never left. I just had this feeling that I HAD TO GET THIS ALBUM. It seems funny now because Pearl Jam is classed as very mainstream. But to my 12 year old brain its was the most alternative music going. I managed to get Ten on tape, purchased by my Mum (I had no money then) at K Mart in Hastings. I remember taking it home and playing it in my parents stereo and turning the volume up. It seemed dangerous. It seemed vital. Once kicked in and it was like New Kids had never happened. This was something I had never heard before. THIS WAS ROCK N FUCKIN ROLL!
Say what you will about the merits of Pearl Jam but that memory will always linger with me. The day I that I got the feeling that rock meant something to me. And I have never lost that feeling.
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