Thirty years ago, Pearl Jam debuted in the music world with the album Ten , a huge critical and commercial success that would change everything for the band.
The album's excellent reception marked the fulfillment of a childhood dream for the members, but it also brought pressure and scrutiny from the public. After six music videos for the singles from Ten , including the controversial and iconic "Jeremy," the band decided to go "against the grain" of the industry.
At the time, getting airplay on MTV was one of the biggest publicity opportunities for any group, and that's why record labels were insistent on securing visual recordings to promote new albums.
“We made a lot of decisions that went against what the record label wanted us to do: 'You have to make a video for 'Black' or you'll never sell any more records.' I remember that was important to them. But you know, that didn't happen. So, we were lucky, but it was our decision,” Mike McCready told Classic Rock .
Initially, the guitarist didn't like the idea from his bandmates, precisely because he was afraid of ruining the opportunity he had always dreamed of. After three decades and a successful career, with Pearl Jam still active, he understands the importance of slowing down. "I think they were right. I feel that [if] we're still around today, maybe it's because of that first big decision to try and do things our way," he observed.
Why did Pearl Jam stop recording music videos?
In addition to stopping the release of music videos, the band reduced the number of interviews, took risks with the sound of their albums, and began refusing acrylic packaging for their albums , never following the instructions of executives.
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All of these decisions were risky and seemed to threaten the band's future from a commercial standpoint, but they were never greater than the fascination the group held for its fans, even through the ups and downs. But where did this decision to stop making music videos come from, anyway?
A meeting between Jeff Ament and Mark Eitzel of American Music Club during the Ten changed the bassist's view of music videos. The singer praised "Jeremy," but said the video was bad and had ruined the song for him. "Ten years from now, I don't want people to remember our songs as videos," Ament told Rolling Stone in 1993.
“In retrospect, it was brilliant. It was what we had to do… If we had followed the advice of everyone in the industry, or our own egos, we would have gone after it until everything went down the drain,” Stone Gossard in a 2006 interview .