"Alive" is the debut single by American rock band Pearl Jam. It was released on July 7, 1991, 51 days before the release of the band's debut album, Ten, on which "Alive" appears. Written by guitarist Stone Gossard, the song originated as an instrumental titled "Dollar Short" and was included on a demo tape circulated in hopes of finding a singer for the group.
The tape made its way into the hands of vocalist Eddie Vedder, who was working as a security guard for a petroleum company in San Diego, California, at the time. He listened to the tape shortly before going surfing, where lyrics came to him. Vedder mailed the tape back to Seattle. Upon hearing the tape, the band invited Vedder to come to Seattle and he was asked to join the band. and number 26 on Total Guitar<nowiki>'</nowiki>s list of the "100 Hottest Guitar Solos". When interviewed about his famous solo, McCready was quick to disclaim creative credit for it, saying he basically "copied Ace Frehley's solo from 'She', which was copied from Robby Krieger's solo in The Doors' 'Five to One'." Aside from that influence, it strongly highlights the influences of Jimi Hendrix on McCready's playing, including extensive wah pedal use, frequent whammy bar dips and vibrato, as well as the use of a battered Stratocaster guitar. During many live shows he has been known to break into the outro lead solo for Black Sabbath's "War Pigs".
Lyrics
The song is the first piece of the three songs in what Vedder later described as a "mini-opera" entitled Mamasan,
Release and reception
While the "Alive" single was released commercially to international markets in 1992, an early version of the track was released on the Coca-Cola Pop Music Sampler in 1991. The album version was released as a single in the United States on June 27, 1995, and was only available as a more expensive import version beforehand. Prior to its commercial release, "Alive" was released as a promotional CD and cassette featuring different artwork and B-sides. While "Wash" was also a B-side to the commercial singles, "I've Got a Feeling" was only on this version of the single. The guitar solo at the end of "Alive" was also different from the Ten version, and there are a few other noticeable differences between the two. The B-side "Wash" can also be found as an extra track on European releases of Ten and as an alternate version on the compilation album, Lost Dogs (2003).
Gossard said that "not a lot of people thought ["Alive"] was a great single when we released it ... I don't think that the record company thought it was a slam-dunk. They went, 'Oh! This seems like the best one so far.'" The song peaked at number 16 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and number 18 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. Although the album's follow-up singles would find more success on the rock charts, "Alive" was nevertheless important in bringing attention to the band. The single also spent a record-breaking 61 weeks on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart.
Steve Huey of Allmusic said that while "Alive" has a "big, stadium-ready chorus," it also is "subtler, less macho, and less grandiose than true arena rock." Regarding the song's guitar solo, Huey said, "It adds a final epic touch to the song, as though the lyric-centered part of the song simply wasn't enough to achieve complete catharsis." In 2021, American Songwriter and Kerrang each ranked the song number two on their lists of the greatest Pearl Jam songs.
"Alive" is featured in the 2007 video game, SingStar Amped, for the PlayStation 2. The song is also featured in the 2008 video game, Rock Band 2. In March 2009, the rest of the album Ten was also made available as downloadable content for the Rock Band series. A live version of "Alive" taken from the band's September 20, 1992, concert was made available as a downloadable bonus track for the Rock Band series for those who purchased the Ten re-release through Best Buy.
In July 2009, Australian radio station Triple J polls the Hottest 100 of All Time which "Alive" was voted #25 on the list, although the song was voted higher in the 1998 hottest 100 of all-time list at #3. In 2021, it was ranked number 416 on Rolling Stones list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
Accolades
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:left;"
! scope="col"| Year
! scope="col" style="width:10em;"| Publication
! scope="col" style="width:10em;"| Country
! scope="col"| Accolade
! scope="col"| Rank
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! scope="row"| 1993
| Rolling Stone
| United States
| Top 100 Music Videos
| style="text-align:center;"| 51
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! scope="row"| 2003
| Q
| The 1001 Best Songs Ever
| style="text-align:center;"| 497
|-
! scope="row"| 2004
| Kerrang!
| 666 Songs You Must Own (Grunge)
| style="text-align:center;"| 3
|-
! scope="row"| 2006
| Total Guitar
| 100 Hottest Guitar Solos The black-and-white video consists of a filmed live performance of the band filmed on August 3, 1991, during a Pearl Jam concert at RKCNDY in Seattle, Washington; thus, different from most music videos, the version of the song heard in the clip is actually being played in the concert rather than being a lip-sync from the record version. The video was released in September 1991.
Regarding the live video, Ament said, "Initially, it was a problem in terms of talking the record company into taking it seriously...That people didn't think we could pull it off made us want to do it even more. We felt we could do a better version of it. Sonically, it's an inferior version of the song. But it's live." The video was nominated for Best Alternative Video at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards.
Live performances
"Alive" was first performed live at the band's October 22, 1990, concert in Seattle, Washington at the Off Ramp Café. Pearl Jam performed the song for its appearance on MTV Unplugged in 1992. The song was performed on Saturday Night Live in April 1992 in support of Ten. "Alive" has gone on to become the band's second most performed live song at over 880 performances, behind only "Even Flow" which has been played over 940 times.
|2
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! scope="row"| Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)
|53
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!scope="row"|Holland Airplay (Music & Media)
|16
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!scope="row"|Spain Airplay (Music & Media)
|15
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Year-end charts
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!scope="col"|Chart (1992)
!scope="col"|Position
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!scope="row"|Australia (ARIA)
|38
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