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  • Accidental Innuendo: No, the band's name wasn't based on semen. They had to replace "Mookie Blaylock". The bassist came up with "Pearl", and after a Neil Young show in which every song was a jam...
  • Anvilicious: "Bu$hleaguer" can come across this way, since its lyrics are much more direct than other politically-charged songs in their catalogue.
  • Archive Panic: If you start seeking the official bootlegs, that is.
  • Award Snub: A number of fans are not happy that Dave Abbruzzese wasn't inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame despite his contributions to the band's biggest years of fame and acclaim. The drummer himself also complained on the omission. The fact that both Dave Krusen and Matt Cameron were inducted didn't help as the former was only with the band for one year and the latter was better known for being with Soundgarden (though in his favor, he is the drummer who lasted the longest).
  • Awesome Music:
    • Ten is one of the highest-selling debut albums of all time, up there with Boston's self-titled and Guns N' Roses' Appetite for Destruction, and their live shows are commonly agreed to be this. "Given To Fly" from the Yield album also qualifies.
    • "W.M.A.," the centerpiece of Vs., is certainly this. It builds from a complex tribal drumbeat to a furious anti-racist rant, backed by an eerie bassline and even militaristic chanting.
  • Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: A few of these here and there, including "Pry, To", "Aye Davanita", and "The Color Red".
  • Broken Base: Who's the better drummer, Dave Abbruzzese, Jack Irons, or Matt Cameron? Fans are divided on this argument. Dave Krusen and Matt Chamberlain tend to be left out due to their very short tenures. And on a similar note, whether or not Matt Cameron lost his edge from Soundgarden when he joined Pearl Jam.
  • Covered Up: "Last Kiss" is one of the band's biggest hits and best-known songs; hard to tell it's actually a cover of an original song written and released by Wayne Cochran in The '60s. Also its B-side "Soldier of Love" counts; lesser-known examples include "Leaving Here", "Sonic Reducer", "It's OK" and "Gremmie Out Of Control". Mother Love Bone's "Crown of Thorns" may be best known as a Pearl Jam stage number to those who don't know the background as well.
  • Epic Riff: "Even Flow", "Jeremy" (at least on the bass), "Alive", "Rearviewmirror", and "Save You".
  • Fanon Discontinuity: Just about every fan stops Vitalogy after "Immortality" ends. It's certainly a better closer than "Hey Foxymophandlemama, That's Me".
  • First Installment Wins: Ten is generally considered to be an iconic album; none of their other albums have matched its popularity, although Vs. and Vitalogy rival it among critics and fans.
  • Funny Moments:
    • During the '96 Olympic Games, they recorded a Power Ballad written by the engineer who mixed No Code, "Olympic Platinum". It's hysterical.
      How hard can it be?
      How high can I jump?
      How high can I throw?
      How high can I run
      How long can I hold my breath and stay underwater and wave my legs around in perfect unison with my partner who doesn't really understand me and my Olympic dream, my Olympic dream
    • "Bugs". Eddie definitely had to be on something when he wrote that song.
  • Germans Love David Hasselhoff:
    • Pearl Jam are still rather big in America, but they remain absolutely HUGE in Australia. They headlined the biggest festival in the country in 2014 and at least eight of their albums have topped the ARIA charts.
    • Brazil is also a big fan of Pearl Jam, with the band's albums from the 2000s more loved there than in America.
  • Growing the Beard: While Ten isn't a bad album by any stretch of the word, many feel the band escaped their "classic rock" sound stigma and found their footing with Vitalogy.
  • Harsher in Hindsight:
    • "Jeremy", especially its accompanying video, after a rash of school shootings in The '90s (especially Columbine), even though in the song Jeremy shoots himself (although the Gory Discretion Shot makes it easy to get the wrong idea). Once again after Virginia Tech, and yet again after the Sandy Hook shootings. And Parkland. And Santa Fe. And...
    • Also, "Alive" gets pretty eerie to listen to once we realize that with Kurt Cobain's suicide in 1994, Layne Staley's death by drug overdose in 2002, and Chris Cornell's death by suicide in 2017, Eddie is now the last one of the main frontmen of grunge standing.
  • Hype Backlash: From anyone who felt either the production on their debut album Ten was sloppy, or that they were too classic rock to be part of the whole grunge/alternative insurgence. Most infamous among them: one Kurt Cobain. Eddie Vedder actually agreed, which contributed to the experimental nature of Vitalogy.
  • Memetic Mutation:
    • The screaming skeleton pilot from "Do the Evolution" has been used in some versions of the WTF BOOM! meme.
    • Steezus Christ.Explanation 
  • Misaimed Fandom:
  • Narm Charm: "Yellow Ledbetter" has borderline incomprehensible vocals thanks to Eddie Vedder. It's no less moving and touching because of that.
    • "Black" starts out with lyrics and composition comparable to a 14-year old's poem about a girl he broke up with, only for the teenager to start break down crying halfway through as the song orbits into pure chaos.
  • Nightmare Fuel: The video for "Jeremy" mixed this and Tear Jerker. Also, the Animated Music Video "Do the Evolution", a great illustration of Humans Are Bastards.
    • "Hey Foxymophandlemama, That's Me" (AKA "Stupidmop") features looped vocal samples from mental patients note  set to a droning, disconnected instrumental. A pretty unsettling way to end Vitalogy.
    • Eddie's vocals in "Do the Evolution." They start off normally, if not a little tense. As the song progresses, his voice gets increasingly unhinged; by the end of the song, he's screaming his head off.
  • Once Original, Now Common: Just about every Post-Grunge band has aped the band's vocals and guitar sound. The band is not happy about it.
  • Signature Song: "Alive", "Even Flow", "Black" and "Jeremy", as those songs are in nearly every one of their setlists. However, another song the band is heavily identified with, as well as a huge hit for them and very often played on classic rock radio, is their Covered Up version of "Last Kiss".
  • Suspiciously Similar Song: The breakdown riff in "Do The Evolution" sounds similar to the main riff of Michael Jackson's "Beat It".
  • Tough Act to Follow: After the runaway success of Ten, the band felt the pressure of trying to match its success. Eddie in particularly suffered during the production of Vs., saying that "I just didn't feel comfortable in the place we were at because it was very comfortable." Thankfully, the album did sell well and score a few hits.

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