Pearl Jam - Makes you think...

This alternative rock band once started as Mookie Blaylock, the famous basketball player of that name. The perhaps most famous band member of the formation from Seattle, Washington is singer/guitarist Eddy Vedder.

Peyote cactus

Eddy had a great-grandmother who was called Pearl and who took pleasure in filling hefty preserving bottles with jam. One of her specialties was a 'white version' that had every right to be called ‘alternative' because a fair amount of peyote was added to it, with all its hallucinating consequences.

At least that was the story Vedder dished up rather convincingly in the beginning of Pearl Jam’s career. Later however, in a Rolling Stone interview, Eddy qualified this statement as total bullshit with the same ease, although he admitted that his great-grandmother actually was called Pearl.  Other band members claim that their group name was Pearl at first, and that later - because of their preference for endlessly spreading out their songs - Jam was added.

Many fans hold the view that if one imagines a slithery, white substance with a pearly luster, one’s thoughts will inevitably turn to sperm.

Active: 1990-present, USA

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