VH1's Behind the Music: Pearl Jam

There was a BTM on Pearl Jam??? I did not know this? I thought I had seen them all????

Maybe it was another rockumentary show I saw. Who can even say?

Did they have the Green River creation myth? It's my favorite rock n roll story, and how it lead to the formation of the twin pillars of early grunge: Pearl Jam (well, Mother Love Bone) and Mudhoney.

And BTM is the greatest show ever.

Green River was a "pre-grunge" band. The band's core was Mark Arm, Steve Turner, Jeff Ament, and Stone Gossard. Turner and Gossard (I think) loathed each other because Turner wanted the band to be more punk and Gossard wanted it to be more arena rock. They fought all the time over the direction of the band.

Anyway, they were playing a show and Turner/Arm put a bunch of their friends on the guest list, as per the norm. Gossard/Ament revoked that list and put a bunch of music business execs on the guest list instead. None showed up. Turner and Arm were furious for screwing over their friends and the band actually broke up over the incident (their debut album would come out AFTER the band had split).

Turner and Arm would form Mudhoney, the sludgy fathers of grunge. Gossard and Ament would eventually form Pearl Jam, signing with a major label right away to bring punkish arena rock to the masses. So, both sides got what they wanted. /Scene.

And "Would?" I've always thought is about Andrew Wood (the MLB guy). MLB, strangely enough, is far closer to prog rock than punk. There is nothing "grungy" about it. I mean, think of the term and why it was invented. It's the middle ground between punk and hard rock, fed through a distortion pedal.