Ten is the debut studio album by Pearl Jam, released on August 27, 1991, through Epic Records. Following the dissolution of their previous band Mother Love Bone in 1990, bassist Jeff Ament and guitarist Stone Gossard began rehearsing with new guitarist Mike McCready. The group recorded a five-song instrumental demo tape with Matt Cameron on drums. Copies of the demo were eventually given to drummer Dave Krusen and vocalist Eddie Vedder, both of whom were invited to audition for the band in Seattle. Many of the songs on Ten were instrumental jams or reworked Mother Love Bone songs for which Vedder composed new melodies and lyrics.
Despite its reputation as a quintessential grunge album, Ten is often noted for displaying a stronger classic rock influence than other contemporary grunge releases.
Ten was not an immediate success, but by late 1992 it had reached number two on the Billboard 200. The album produced three hit singles: Alive, Even Flow, and Jeremy. Jeremy became one of Pearl Jam‘s best-known songs, and received nominations for Best Rock Song and Best Hard Rock Performance at the 35th Grammy Awards. MTV put the video for Jeremy into heavy rotation; it received four awards at the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards, including Video of the Year and Best Group Video.
Beyond its role in consolidating the mainstream success of grunge rock in the early 1990s, Ten is generally considered to have been instrumental in the rise and dominance of alternative rock throughout the decade. The album has since been ranked by several publications as one of the greatest albums of all time. By February 2013, it had sold 13 million copies in the US, becoming the 22nd record to do so in the Nielsen SoundScan era and has been certified 13× Platinum by the (RIAA). Ten remains Pearl Jam‘s most commercially successful album.
Tracklist:
Pearl Jam
Jeff Ament: bass guitar, art direction/concept
Stone Gossard: rhythm guitar, slide guitar (on “Deep”)
Dave Krusen: drums, timpani
Mike McCready: lead guitar, acoustic-electric guitar (on “Alive”)
Eddie Vedder: vocals, additional art
Additional musicians and production
Dave Hillis: engineer
Don Gilmore, Adrian Moore: additional engineering
Walter Gray: cello
Bob Ludwig: mastering
Lance Mercer: photos
Tim Palmer: fire extinguisher and pepper shaker on “Oceans”, mixing
Rick Parashar: production, piano, organ, percussion
Pearl Jam: production
Steve Pitstick: additional art
Lisa Sparagano, Risa Zaitschek: design
Kelly Curtis: management
