I. Introduction
Grunge rock, a slow punk sound with heavy distortion. Basically it
was sleazy rock n’ roll, just rock minus the harmonic part. This was
the new sound in Seattle that had started the late 80s, early 90s rock
craze. Seeing this new craze business men jumped the opportunity to make
profit off of this sudden craze. The result was many young no name bands
suddenly making it big. Pearl Jam
was one of these lucky bands.
Stone Gossard, back-up vocalist and guitarist, and Jeff Ament, basest,
started out in a band by the name Green River with a bunch of local
friends in the mist of the Seattle rock scene. They soon grew through
many band changes into the heart and body of Pearl Jam. But it was the
extremely vocalist Eddie Vedder that brought the name Pearl Jam to
popularity. Then with the added talents of long time friend Mike
McCready, guitarist, and former, Red Hot Chili Peppers, drummer, Jack
Irons, where what finally toped the band off and gave it that well
furnished rock sound they have.
With Green River their sound was good, but it was like everyone else's,
or at least a mixture of everyone else's sound. Pearl Jam is something
more. It has it's own sound, greatly ado to Vedder's immense artistic
skills.
II. Seattle Scene
"Green River helped set off a revolution. Stone Gossard and
Jeff Ament (Pearl Jam) and Mark Arm (Mudhoney) spent the `80s raging out
at the Metropolis, the legendary all-ages hardcore club in Seattle.
Growing tired of the dogma of punk and finding a common interest in `70s
trash-rock like the Stooges, Alice Cooper and The New York Dolls, Green
River formed, and (along with The Melvins and Sound
Garden) started
playing a heavier sound. One part metal, one part punk, one part sleaze.
If you've ever wondered what Pearl Jam would look like in mascara look
no further... These are the twisted roots of the Seattle
explosion..."
- Taken from the Sub Pop
catalogue, Seattle, 1993
Every band has it's origin or growth spot that created them, and for
Pearl Jam it was Seattle, Washington in the `80s. Just like Elvis in
Fifties Memphis, or the Beatles in Sixties Liverpool.
Except for a whole lot of rain Seattle was small town. It had it's
moments like Elvis being seen on the Seattle Center grounds in It
Happened At The World’s Fair, or it's sixty-one bridges and the space
needle. But it wasn’t till the eighties that the rest of the US really
started noticing the northwestern town.
No one can really say who started Grunge rock. People have probably been
playing it for centuries. The earliest Grunge band I was able to take
record of was The Fugs. A band that played through the sixties with
their lone style of Grunge. The band seemed to magnify the Grunge of
there music to the point that it drove them out of the music business.
The Fugs left a really a ugly hole, on account to their success, for
anyone who wanted to follow their path in Grunge rock. So basically that
path went unused until the "Boom".
What happened in Seattle in the mid 80s that caused the all the bands to
sprout up playing Grunge, nobody really knows. But before you could say,
"Supercalafrajalistic Expialadoeshis" Grunge had become a
major hit in underground Seattle. When I say underground I mean, pubs,
basements, garages, and any other suitably cheap areas for no name bands
to play. And so Grunge rock was born, bringing names like, The Melvins,
Nirvana, Soundgarden, Malfunkshun, and Green River.
III. Green River
A. The Root
Green River is considered the mother of Pearl Jam. Even though the
roots can be traced back further, Green River is where Stone and Jeff
met. Without Stone and Jeff there would be no Pearl Jam.
Spanning from 1982 - 1987, Green River consisted first of Jeff Ament
from Deranged Diction, and Mark Arm, Steve Turner, and Alex Vincent from
Mr Epp. I wasn’t until 1985 that Stone Gossard from the Ducky Boys
joined the band.
B. Jeff Ament
Jeff was born on March 10, 1963, originally from Missoula,
Montana, moved to Seattle when he was 19 he moved to Seattle with his
band Deranged Diction. The band had moved to try and get in on "The
Seattle Scene", which was just getting started. Instead they just
ended up breaking up and Jeff formed Green River with Mark Arm, Steve
Turner, and Alex Vincent, who's band Mr. Epp had just folded.
Jeff Ament didn't get into being a bass guitarist till his late teens.
As a kid his main interest was basketball. He was a regular
all-conference basketball player at his high school he attended, Big
Sandy High. But Jeff had always liked music. When he was four he used
listen to his uncle’s Beatles and Santana records. He soon grew to
being a big Heavy Metal Fan. His favorite bands where, Iron Maiden,
Areosmith, and Judas Priest.
Green River wasn’t much of a real serious band at the time, it was
more for fun. The group did a few gigs now and then. But it wasn’t
until Stone Gossard joined and they started getting serious.
C. Stone Gossard
Born on July 20, 1965, Stone Gossard was a major Led Zeppelin
fan growing up. Most of Stone's riffs (guitar tunes) he plays, seem to
have an influence from the Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page. Stone has calm
character which he inherited from his father, a lawyer. But his mother,
an artist, was a bigger influence upon his life, sending him to
alternative school and being around more than his father. Stone, his
actual name, was given to him by his mother, who also named his sister,
Star. Stone grew to be a keen student of the arts, taking courses like
music, ensembles, chorus and theory, jazz, dance, theater and visual
arts studies classes at school.
Near the beginning of 1985, Stone Gossard had just left the band The
Ducky Boys. He was soon recruited into Green River by old high school
friends Steve Turner and Alex Vincent. Stone had played with Steve, and
Alex in the halls of their alternative learning high school. The school,
Northwest High, was an expensive private school, focusing mostly on the
arts. Many of the teachers that work there still remember the boys. They
even kept two of Pearl Jam's platinum records on the wall in the office,
and brag the words, "Grunge rock was birthed from these
corridors..."
D. The Band
With the line up Arm(Vocals), Gossard(Guitar), Vincent(Drums),
Ament(Bass), and Turner(Guitar), Green River was complete, and started
playing seriously. Right after recruiting Gossard they released their
first 12-inch record independently. The record was called, Come On Down,
which was available by mail order through the New York-based Homestead
Records indie. As far as success went with, Come On Down, it wasn't very
far. The record was an obvious first attempt. Not happy with the bands
success basest, Steve Turner left
right away. Near the end of 1986 a
replacement for Turner was found (Bruce Fairweather, who came from
Jeff’s old band Deranged Diction), the band started recording the five
track record, Dry As A Bone. "...things got a lot better and people
started liking us..." Says Mark Arm, referring to Green Rivers more
successful record, Dry As A Bone. Then in 1987 Green River produced it's
last record, Rehab Doll, just before the band's breakup that year's
Halloween night.
E. The Break Up
Halloween night 1987, Green River was supporting the band Jane's
Addiction at The Scream Club, in Los Angeles. Mark had wanted to invite
some friends using the limited guest-tickets that the band had. But Jeff
insisted on giving them away to the record company A&R’s
representives, on hope that they might get noticed. Things didn’t turn
out as well as Jeff had intended. Only two of the five A&R men that
he had invited showed up, and only arrived in time to see Green River
play. Things got even worse backstage after the show. Backstage Mark
tried to get into fight with Jeff, but Jeff refused, with that Mark gave
his promise to leave Green River. That was one promise Mark did keep.
After declaring his breakup with Green River, Mark left to seek out his
old friend, Steve Turner. Steve and Mark then got together with other
friends and formed the now popular band, Mud Honey. As for the rest of
Green River well, Andy Wood is what happened to them.