pearl jam wants to be loved again:

after a decade of lying low, the band returns to its rock roots with 'riot act'

by steve morse, globe staff, 11/3/2002

new york - for the past decade, pearl jam seemed to try as hard as possible to stay in the shadows - not an easy thing for multi-platinum artists to do.


they didn't disappear. but these seattle survivors, who managed to escape the tragedies that felled former peers nirvana and alice in chains, embarked on an increasingly experimental, and persistently anti-industry, path.

the members refused to make mtv-style videos. they tried to circumvent ticketmaster and play nontraditional concert venues. they sometimes put out singles with little commercial appeal, such as the puzzling ''who you are'' in 1996 (''we tried to throw the market off-base with that one, '' says singer eddie vedder in a recent interview).

and they released some indulgent, navel-gazing music on their last three albums, ''no code,'' ''yield,'' and ''binaural.''

even the album titles suggested a band in retreat.

they were rewarded with dwindling record sales - down to 700,000 for ''binaural.'' that's not bad for your average rock group, but way off the nearly 9 million that pearl jam's debut, ''ten,'' sold in the early '90s.

now comes ''riot act,'' the band's new album, which shows a pearl jam regaining - and proudly, at last - the power that made it the top-selling american rock band of the '90s. due out november 12, the disc sends a bracing, hard-rock message to anyone who thought that pearl jam was finished. fans should love it, radio stations seem happy (the single ''i am mine'' already is a big hit), and the timing is perfect, because the band, like a pro athlete, is in its ''contract year.'' its label, epic records, must re-sign the group or lose it after this cd.

expect pearl jam to call its own shots on its next recording contract, too. ''we do want a bigger piece of the pie, because we're getting a small sliver right now,'' says bassist jeff ament.

he and his bandmates are talking at manhattan's soho grand hotel, where they took over several penthouse suites (the assumption was that epic was treating them nicely in hopes of signing them again).

what a contrast between the penthouse setting and the street-tough rock 'n' roll on the new album, which for the first time in years finds the band consistently reclaiming its raw, guitar-fueled seattle roots.

''it's the most live-sounding studio record that we've ever done,'' says singer eddie vedder, who is sitting on a balcony, firing up a cigarette, and taking a break from scribbling in his journal. ''many of the songs were done in one take.''

it's a renewed cry for the rock credibility that had been slipping away, as well as a reminder of the idealism that has marked the band's best work. as the emotive, baritone-voiced vedder sings in the new single: ''there's no need to hide/we're safe tonight.'' elsewhere he sings: ''there's just one word i believe in - and that's love.''

''riot act'' is not only the latest chapter from a band that has not sold out (have you ever heard a pearl jam song in a tv ad?) but a potent comeback statement, period. the album title implies ''getting your act together,'' says ament. and, most important, vedder is back on his game. he wails against the world's injustices, rips the president (the song ''bushleaguer'' won't go over well in the white house), bemoans the sadness of 9/11, and yet finds hope in such songs as ''ghost'' and ''thumbing my way,'' with the verse, ''no matter how cold the winter, there's a springtime ahead.''

''eddie has a real social conscience ... he's against war and intolerance, so we have a lot in common,'' says howard zinn, the populist professor emeritus at boston university, who has been hanging out with vedder and even attended a recording session at seattle's studio x. vedder, in return, has read zinn's book, ''a people's history of the united states,'' and considers him a prime influence on some of his new, protest-minded lyrics.

above all, pearl jam has remained a product of the do-it-yourself punk ethic (the new album is partly dedicated to punk legend dee dee ramone). the band continues to have total control in the studio and oversees its own artwork for album designs. also, in a radical gesture (and with the label's help), it even put out its own bootleg recordings on its last tour. pearl jam released cds from 40 shows that sold 25,000 to 30,000 copies each, totaling more than 1 million. diehard pearl jam fans were in heaven.

pearl jam may be symbols of rock idealism, but it realizes that music is a business. ''we don't buy into the typical trappings [of stardom],'' says guitarist stone gossard. ''but at the same time, we're a band that wants to make money. and business is part of the equation that we're involved in. we're not trying to reject business, but it's more about setting some parameters, like how much time are you going to do media things and how far are you going to go to make your record sell. i think we go just far enough so that we're happy with it.''

the band's maturity is increasingly obvious - and is the key reason for pearl jam's survival.

''all of us are now around 36 years old,'' says gossard. ''there is a natural evolution that people go through in their 30s, particularly when you've been in a band for a long time. i think we've let go of a lot. we've grown to accept each other's personalities and even grown to cherish some of the differences. i just think we're a more emotionally balanced band in terms of our daily interactions with each other. it's all pretty sane in terms of our lifestyles. there was time when we were all freakin' drunk and out of control.''

despite its lack of interest in image-making, pearl jam's chemistry has never been tighter. it is enhanced by new drummer matt cameron (formerly of soundgarden) and by a recommitment from guitarist mike mccready, who has been clean and sober for nearly three years. pearl jam knows it has been lucky, especially looking back on the self-destructive deaths of nirvana's kurt cobain (suicide) and alice in chains' layne staley (heroin overdose).

''layne's death made me cherish life a lot more,'' says mccready, who once made an album with staley in the side band mad season. ''i hadn't heard from him in three or four years. i was under the impression that he was going to die, but i never knew when. he was a real sweetheart of a guy ... but he became a real recluse. i wasn't shocked by his death, but it made me focus on my sobriety 10 times more than i usually do.''

''we have a lot of respect for each other,'' vedder says of his bandmates, while also praising friends in seattle who don't let pearl jam develop an attitude. ''there really is a strong community in seattle - and it doesn't allow you to get too high on the horse. i can specifically thank the band mudhoney for that and for making wisecracks about how seriously i thought our impact was. if you call music an `art form' around mudhoney's mark arm, you're going to quickly want to strike that remark from the record. he keeps you humble.

''also, it's fortunate that we haven't got lost in the industry world of celebrity and stardom. we kind of weaned ourselves off of that early. we didn't really enjoy it. there wasn't much that was tangible to it.''

this story ran on page n1 of the boston globe on 11/3/2002.
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