Something to Believe In

Along with mainstream grunge bands like Nirvana and Soundgarden, Pearl Jam has made history in 90's music. With their debut album Ten their instrumental jams rocketed to relative fame. The band has three guitarists, and one of them is the lead singer Eddie Vedder. Vedder is the frontman and writes most of the band's music and lyrics.

After their first and their second album, Pearl Jam had won a Grammy and a MTV Music Video Award. Vedder and the band handled fame differently than most others. After a tour overcharge, they engaged in a boycott of Ticketmaster, who Vedder said was a concert "monopoly." The band, wanting to keep music fresh and for the people, refused to make more music videos because their song "Jeremy" won four awards from MTV including Video of the Year. Vedder said "Before music videos first came out, you’d listen to a song with headphones on, sitting in a beanbag chair with your eyes closed, and you’d come up with your own visions, these things that came from within. Then all of a sudden, sometimes even the very first time you heard a song, it was with these visual images attached, and it robbed you of any form of self-expression." Vedder also wrote the wildly popular song "Better Man," which even overtook pop charts.  Eddie Vedder also wrote a series of three songs described as a Momma-Son mini-opera inspired by his personal experience of finding out the man he thought was his father was actually his adopted stepfather, and that his real father was dead.

Vedder is a vegetarian and supports the Green Party.  Pearl Jam often play
s benefit concerts and Vedder has collaborated with many rock artists, including some of my personal favorites: The Strokes and drummer Jack Irons of Red Hot Chili Peppers.  Pearl Jam's strong emotional rock round that doesn't disregard the need for a good chorus combined with Vedder's riffs and talent for songwriting has made this band and it's frontman a transcendent entity. 

"I think at some point along the way we began feeling we wanted to give people something to believe in because we all had bands that gave that to us when we needed something to believe in. That was the big challenge for us after the first record and the response to it. The goal immediately became how do we continue to be musicians and grow and survive in view of all this... The answers weren’t always easy, but I think we found a way."

Sources: 

Photo 2, 04/25/13, uproarradio.com

http://www.uberproaudio.com/who-plays-what/187-pearl-jams-eddie-vedder-guitar-gear-rig-and-equipment 

Photo 1, 04/25/13, tumblr.com

http://eddie-vedder.tumblr.com/post/15300983543

Quote, 04/25/13, Wikipedia.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Jam