History Music / TenAlbum

[[redirect:{{Music/Ten}}]]

[[quoteright:327:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pearljam.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:327:''Now my bitter hands, cradle broken glass, of what was everything...'']]

'''''Ten''''' is the debut album by Music/PearlJam, released in 1991. It was one of the defining albums of the grunge era, and quickly established the band as one of the forerunners of the AlternativeRock and {{Grunge}} explosion in the early nineties, along with Music/{{Nirvana}}, Music/{{Soundgarden}}, Music/AliceInChains, and Music/TheSmashingPumpkins. The songs became well-known for their prominent and complex guitar solos, and powerfully delivered lyrics centered on abusive relationships or disturbed young people. The singles "Jeremy", "Alive", and "Even Flow" forged a distinctive niche in the mainstream for angst-filled teenagers. Even "Black", though never released as a single, became one of the most recognizable rock anthems of the nineties.

''Ten'' remains a seminal album in the darker repertoire of alternative since it helped usher in an experimental sound that had once been relegated to the Seattle underground. However, despite its overnight critical and commercial success, the album was widely panned by AlternativeRock purists. Music/KurtCobain even called the band "commercial sellouts" and claimed the album was not truly alternative since the [[Main/LoudnessWar mixing was far too loud]] and it didn't resemble [[ThreeChordsAndTheTruth the minimalist style commonly associated with the genre]]. Nevertheless, Cobain would gain respect for the band following Vedder's artistic stand against Ticketmaster and other outlets in later years.

It is listed as the #209 [[UsefulNotes/RollingStone500GreatestAlbumsOfAllTime greatest album of all time]] on Magazine/RollingStone's associated list, though the band does agree that [[CreatorBacklash they are dissatisfied with the heavy mixing]]. This was remedied somewhat with Brendan O'Brien's redux edition of the album in 2011.

----
!!Tracklist:
# "Once" (3:51)[[note]]Begins with the intro to the hidden track "Master/Slave"[[/note]]
# "Even Flow" (4:53)
# "Alive" (5:41)
# "Why Go" (3:20)
# "Black" (5:43)
# "Jeremy" (5:18)
# "Oceans" (2:42)
# "Porch" (3:30)
# "Garden" (4:59)
# "Deep" (4:18)
# "Release"[[note]]Contains the hidden track "Master/Slave" at 5:20[[/note]] (9:05)

----
!!Prinicipal Members:
* Mike [=McCready=] – lead guitar
* Stone Gossard – rhythm guitar
* Jeff Ament – bass guitar, art direction/concept
* Eddie Vedder – vocals, additional art
* Dave Krusen – drums

----
!!''Even flow, tropes arrive like butterflies''

* AffectionateParody: "Dirty Frank" was recorded in the summer before the album's release, intended to parody Music/RedHotChiliPeppers' "Give it Away" from ''Music/BloodSugarSexMagik''.
* BedlamHouse: "Why Go" is about a girl confined to a psychiatric hospital, tied up so she can't leave.
* BigRockEnding: "Alive", "Jeremy", and "Black" are the most remembered examples.
* {{Bookends}}: "Once" begins with the intro to "Master/Slave". "Release" ends with "Master/Slave" as its HiddenTrack.
* BreakUpSong: "Black". The song is so emotional that the band refused to market it as a single or as a video, claiming that would destroy the poetic beauty of the song.
** "Porch":
--> ''What the fuck is this world running to?\\
You didn't leave a message\\
At least I could have\\
Learned your voice one last time.''
* BSide: "Brother", "State of Love and Trust", "Just a Girl", "Breath and Scream", "2000 Mile Blues", "Wash", and "Dirty Frank" were included on compilation records years later. "Brother" even became a hit in 2011, twenty years after the album's release.[[note]] Actually, Ament fought long and hard with Gossard to get "Brother" on the original record, and even threatened to quit the band over this. The fact that it became popular years later could be TakeThat in retrospect on Ament's part.[[/note]]
* ButterflyOfDeathAndRebirth: Mentioned in "Even Flow". It is about an illiterate homeless man whose thoughts "arrive like butterflies", and who will escape this life to be reborn into a better status.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: "Once", "Jeremy", and "Even Flow" have characters who want to escape their crappy lives. Music critic Robert Christgau even stated that while he didn't like most of the album, he especially liked these tracks since the abuse in these tracks seemed to justify the catchy riffs.
* DeadlyEuphemism: "Jeremy" has one of the most iconic (and ironic) ones of the genre:
--> ''Jeremy spoke in class today''
* DesignStudentsOrgasm: Ament actually constructed the "PEARL JAM" woodcut found on the front cover, before the band posed in front of it. He intended for the picture of the band to be black and white against a burgundy background, but the colors were changed to the distinctive magenta hue.
* DisappearedDad: "Release":
--> ''Oh, dear Dad can you see me now\\
I am myself like you somehow\\
I'll wait up in the dark for you to speak to me\\
How I've opened up, release me\\
Release me, release me dad, release me''
* DownerEnding: The ending of the music video for "Jeremy" has [[spoiler: the titular character committing suicide in a classroom]].
* EpicRocking: "Alive", "Black", "Jeremy", "Garden", "Even Flow" have long, epic solos. Subverted with "Release", which actually contains a hidden track and thus has a good length of silence in between.
* HiddenTrack: "Master/Slave". It continues to remain unseparated from "Release" even in mp3 format, since it bookends the album.
* IndecipherableLyrics: Done somewhat intentionally, since Vedder wrote the lyrics after Ament and Gossard had written the melodies.
* {{Instrumental}}: "Master/Slave", though it does have some creepy, indecipherable mumbling courtesy of Eddie Vedder.
* LighterAndSofter: This album was one of the first mainstream, accessible [=LPs=] to come out of UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}}, and even softer than the band's previous work in Music/MotherLoveBone.
* LoudnessWar: The band has said that the original mix is outright overproduced and deafening, and disavows much of the recording to this day. This was rectified after producer Brendan O'Brien modified the tracks to make them sound better on a reissue, though that got complaints too.
* MinisculeRocking: "Garden", "Why Go", and "Porch" are short compared to the other, much longer songs. However, longer versions of these tracks do exist on [=EPs=]; "Porch" reaches a length of about 13 minutes.
* OneWordTitle: The album title, along with "Once", "Alive", "Black", "Jeremy", "Oceans", "Porch", "Garden", "Deep", and "Release".
* PanAndScan: The more popular album cover features a closeup of the band members' hands, which resembles a wave. The above cover is usually reserved for LP versions of the album, most likely because it appeared visually unappealing on small CD covers.
* ParentalIncest: "Alive" can be interpreted as being about a woman who seduces her son so she can vicariously have sex with her dead husband. Vedder has since modified the interpretation to being more about a man grieving his father's death before realizing [[OedipalComplex his strange, unreciprocated attraction to his mother]], and about how that makes him feel alive.
* PlayingSick: Invoked sarcastically in "Why Go", where the girl considers malingering in order to get back at her parents and doctors for having deemed her insane.
* RecurringCharacter: The kid of "Alive" faces a backlash in "Once", before waiting to be executed for his crime in "Footsteps" (a B-side).
* RippedFromTheHeadlines: "Jeremy" was directly based on a [[http://www.fivehorizons.com/songs/aug99/jeremy_article.shtml boy of the same name who committed suicide in front of his classmates]]. The music video includes headlines and excerpts from news articles about school shootings.
** However, the second verse includes a description of a fist-fight Vedder had had in grade school with another boy. This is intentional, in order to leave the listener to wonder just how many kids could have turned out like the Jeremy from the headlines and done something self-destructive.
* SelfTitledAlbum: Zig-zagged. The band's original name was "Mookie Blaylock", who was a professional baseball player. When the name was disallowed due to copyright issues, the band changed its name and decided instead to name the album ''Ten'', after Mookie Blaylock's player number.
* SocietyIsToBlame: "Garden", where the narrator walks through a graveyard and blames the dead and previous generations for having instituted absurd expectations on the living.
--> ''The direction of the eye, so misleading\\
The defection of the soul, nauseously quick\\
I don't question our existence\\
I just question our modern needs''
* SpokenWordInMusic: During the instrumental of "Even Flow", Eddie can be heard doing an impression of a homeless man asking for spare change on a street, which lends to the song's subject.
* SurfRock: "Oceans" was inspired by surfing in general.
* SurprisinglyGentleSong: "Oceans", "Black", and "Release" became famous amid all the other, harder rocking tracks.
* ThereAreNoTherapists: No ''decent'' therapists, anyways, according to "Why Go".
--> ''She's been diagnosed by some stupid fuck\\
And mommy agrees''
* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: "Why Go" is told from the perspective of a woman confined to a psychiatric hospital. "Once" is about a guy who murders a prostitute after feeling bad about [[OedipalComplex sleeping with his mother]] and [[LukeIAmYourFather meeting his true biological father who left when he was a kid]].
* WritersBlock: Mentioned in "Black":
--> ''Now the air I tasted and breathed has taken a turn\\
And all I taught her was everything\\
I know she gave me all that she wore\\
And now my bitter hands chafe beneath the clouds\\
Of what was everything\\
Oh, the pictures have all been washed in black, tattooed everything''
* {{Yarling}}: This album pretty much codified this style of singing, along with Music/{{Nirvana}}'s ''Music/{{Nevermind}}'', among others.
----

* ParentalIncest: "Alive" can be interpreted as being about a woman who seduces her son so she can vicariously have sex with her dead husband. Vedder has since modified the interpretation to being more about a man grieving his father's death before realizing his strange, unreciprocated attraction to his mother, and about how that makes him feel alive.

''Ten'' remains a seminal album in the darker repertoire of alternative since it helped usher in an experimental sound that had once been relegated to the Seattle underground. However, despite its overnight critical and commercial success, the album was widely panned by AlternativeRock purists. Music/KurtCobain even called the band "commercial sellouts" and claimed the album was not truly alternative since the [[Music/LoudnessWar mixing was far too loud]] and it didn't resemble [[ThreeChordsAndTheTruth the minimalist style commonly associated with the genre]]. Nevertheless, Cobain would gain respect for the band following Vedder's artistic stand against Ticketmaster and other outlets in later years.