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Pearl Jam music biography continued...

in 1990, the band's original line-up consisted of Eddie Vedder (lead vocals), Jeff Ament (bass), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar), and Dave Krusen (drums). The band's current drummer is Matt Cameron, formerly of Soundgarden, who has been with the band since 1998.
Pearl Jam started out gigging on the local Seattle scene and as word spread about them they came to the attention of Epic who signed the band in 1992. The group's debut album, Ten, immediately broke into the mainstream behind Vedder's lyrics, which took his traumatic childhood and transformed it into a universal experience, and the Hendrix-like guitar playing of Gossard and McCready. Such Pearl Jam songs as "Evenflow", "Alive" and "Jeremy" poetically dealt with feelings of pain and disaffection and earned the group huge popular success. Ten stayed on the Billboard charts for more than two years, and has gone on to become one of the biggest-selling rock records ever, going twelve times platinum. With the success of Ten, Pearl Jam became a key member of the Seattle grunge explosion, along with Nirvana, Alice in Chains, and Soundgarden, and continued to record with great success despite critics who called them "sell outs."
All told, since its inception, the band has sold 30 million records in the U.S., and an estimated 60 million albums worldwide. Pearl Jam has outlasted many of its contemporaries from the alternative rock breakthrough of the early 1990s, and is considered one of the most influential bands of the decade, and "the most popular American rock band of the 1990s". Pearl Jam continues to generate hit albums, tour successfully, and garner critical acclaim into the 21st century. Pearl Jam has outlasted many of its contemporaries in the grunge scene like Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains, and even bands it has influenced such as Creed. The band's high profile battle with Ticketmaster and their refusal to produce music videos, has endeared them to millions fan who appreciate a rock act that stands on its principles.