For the next installment of our series looking back at the Diamond selling albums of the 1990s, we're revisiting the 1991 debut album Ten by Pearl Jam. Though it wasn't an immediate smash upon release, Ten built success on the back of singles like "Alive," "Evenflow," and "Jeremy" with heavy support from radio and MTV. Though the band pulled the plug on videos from then until their 1998 album Yield, demand for the band didn't diminish, as the follow-up Vs. became one of the bestselling debut weeks in music history. But Pearl Jam was not without their detractors, criticizing everything from Eddie Vedder's singing style to album production choices, lyrical content, their credibility as "Seattle band," dismissed as nothing more than classic rock, and more. Much has been said and written over the two-plus decades since its release, so is there really much more to explore? Yes, there is. Like, was Jeff Ament's bass playing the secret sauce that drove the Pearl Jam engine? Is the derided reverb-tinged production actually what makes the album special? And in the world of Gen Z and Alpha sporting Nirvana t-shirts, is Pearl Jam relevant to anyone under forty? Or have they become the new Grateful Dead?
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