Ten is the debut studio album by American rock band Pearl Jam, released on August 27, 1991, through Epic Records. Following the dissolution of their previous band Mother Love Bone in 1990, bassist Jeff Ament and guitarist Stone Gossard began rehearsing with new guitarist Mike McCready. The group recorded a five-song instrumental demo tape featuring Matt Cameron on drums. Copies of the demo were eventually given to drummer Dave Krusen and vocalist Eddie Vedder, both of whom were invited to audition for the band in Seattle. Many of the songs on Ten began as instrumental jams or Mother Love Bone songs for which Vedder composed new melodies and lyrics.
Despite its reputation as a quintessential grunge album, Ten is often noted for displaying a stronger classic rock influence than other contemporary grunge releases, drawing comparisons to the work of Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. The album is also characterised as having an anthemic, rich sound. The album has since been ranked by several publications as one of the greatest albums of all time. By February 2013, it had sold 10 million copies in the US, becoming the 22nd record to do so in the Nielsen SoundScan era, and has been certified 13× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Ten remains Pearl Jam's most commercially successful album.
Background
Guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament had played together in the pioneering grunge band Green River. Following Green River's dissolution in 1987, Ament and Gossard played together in Mother Love Bone during the late 1980s. Mother Love Bone's career was cut short when vocalist Andrew Wood died of a drug overdose in 1990, shortly before the release of the group's debut album, Apple. Devastated, it took months before Gossard and Ament agreed to play together again. Gossard spent his time afterwards writing material that was harder-edged than what he had been doing previously. After a few months, Gossard started practicing with fellow Seattle guitarist Mike McCready, whose band Shadow had broken up; McCready in turn encouraged Gossard to reconnect with Ament. The three then went into the studio for separate sessions with Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron and former Shadow drummer Chris Friel to record some instrumental demos. Five of the songs recorded—"Dollar Short", "Agytian Crave", "Footsteps", "Richard's E", and "E Ballad"—were compiled onto a tape called Stone Gossard Demos '91 that was circulated in the hopes of finding a singer and drummer for the trio. Ament stated, "We knew we were still a long way from being a real band at that point."
The recording sessions for Ten were completed in May 1991. Krusen left the band once the sessions were completed, checking himself into rehab. In June, the band joined Tim Palmer in England for mixing. Palmer decided to mix the album at Ridge Farm Studio in Dorking, a converted farm that according to Palmer was "about as far away from an L.A. or New York studio as you can get." In 2006, Vedder said, "I can listen to the early records [except] the first record...it's just the sound of the record. It was kind of mixed in a way that was...it was kind of produced."
More recently Jeff Ament was quoted in The Seattle Times with a new perspective on the mixing “I probably hadn’t listened to that record in 25 years, unless there’s a song we haven’t played very much and we’re trying to go back. A song like ‘Deep’ or something. But it was cool. I listened to (mixer) Tim Palmer’s original mix of it and I really enjoyed what Tim did for that record. I think for a long time, I wanted us to be a more straight-ahead rock band. I felt like all of us wanted a more straight-ahead, drier sound. It reminded me of the reason that we decided to work with him in the first place.”
According to Guitar World, Mike McCready's undisguised Stevie Ray Vaughan passion saw him bring Strats back into vogue. The guitarist described his playing on "Black" and "Even Flow" as an SRV “rip off”. Both guitarists used Marshall JCM800s for dirty tones and Fenders for clean parts.
Music and lyrics
Ten has been described as a grunge, alternative rock, Vedder's lyrics for Ten deal with subjects like depression, suicide, loneliness, and murder. The album also tackles social concerns such as homelessness ("Even Flow") and the use of psychiatric hospitals ("Why Go"). The song "Jeremy" and its accompanying video were inspired by a true story in which a high school student shot himself in front of his classmates.
Many listeners interpreted "Alive" as an inspirational anthem due to its decidedly uplifting instrumentals and chorus. Vedder has since revealed that the song tells the semi-autobiographical tale of a son discovering that his father is actually his stepfather (his real father having died long ago), while his mother's grief turns her to sexually embrace her son, who strongly resembles the biological father. (the third song, "Footsteps", appeared as a B-side on the "Jeremy" single). Vedder explained that the lyrics told the story of a young man whose father dies ("Alive"), causing him to go on a killing spree ("Once") which leads to his capture and execution ("Footsteps"). It was later revealed that Vedder's lyrics were inspired by his long-held hurt in discovering at age 17 that the man he thought was his father was not, and that his real father had already died.
Ten features a two-part track entitled "Master/Slave" that both opens and closes the album. The first part begins the album, before "Once" starts, and the second part closes the album, after "Release". It begins about ten seconds after the album's closer "Release" as a hidden track, but both count as one track on the CD. The song is entirely instrumental (except for random unintelligible words Vedder utters throughout) with a dominant fretless bass line making up the core of the song (which Ament referred to in a 1994 Bass Player magazine interview as "my tribute to (fretless bass instrumentalist) Mick Karn"), along with some guitar and sounds that seem to come from the drums. Producer Rick Parashar stated in 2002, "As I recall, I think Jeff had, like, a bass line...I heard the bass line and then we kind of were collaborating on that in the control room, and then I just started programming on the keyboard all this stuff; he was jamming with it and it just kind of came about like that."
Outtakes
The album's singles featured two B-sides from the Ten recording sessions which were not included on the album, "Wash" and "Yellow Ledbetter". The former was a B-side on the "Alive" single while the latter was featured on the "Jeremy" single and eventually became a radio hit in 1994. Both songs were included on the 2003 Lost Dogs collection of rarities, although the included version of "Wash" is an alternate take. The song "Alone" was also originally recorded for Ten; a 1992 re-recorded version of the song is on the "Go" single. Another version of "Alone", with re-recorded vocals, appears on Lost Dogs. According to McCready, "Alone" was cut from Ten because the band already had enough mid-tempo songs for the album.
The song "Footsteps" began as an instrumental demo and was compiled onto the Stone Gossard Demos '91 tape. Vedder added vocals to this version after he received the demo tape. The music for "Footsteps" was also used for Temple of the Dog's "Times of Trouble". This version of "Footsteps" is also featured on Lost Dogs, however a harmonica intro has been overdubbed on to the recording.
Other songs rejected from the album but later included on Lost Dogs are "Hold On" and "Brother", the latter of which was turned into an instrumental for Lost Dogs. The version of "Brother" with vocals appears on the 2009 Ten reissue and became a radio hit that same year. Both "Breath" and "State of Love and Trust" were recorded with the intention of the two songs possibly appearing in the film Singles. The versions heard in the film and on its soundtrack were recorded a year later in 1992.
Release and promotion
Packaging
The album's cover art features the members of the band at the time of recording in a group pose and standing in front of a wood cut-out of the name "Pearl Jam", with their hands risen high and holding one another's. The wood cut-out was constructed by Jeff Ament. Ament said, "The original concept was about really being together as a group and entering into the world of music as a true band...a sort of all-for-one deal." Lance Mercer receives credit for photography, and both Lisa Sparagano and Risa Zaitschek are credited for design. Pearl Jam's original name was taken from the professional basketball player Mookie Blaylock.
In some versions (mainly CD and cassette releases), the cover is in gatefold form, folded in such a way that only the band members' hands are visible.
Tour
Ament stated that "essentially Ten was just an excuse to tour", adding, "We told the record company, 'We know we can be a great band, so let's just get the opportunity to get out and play.'" Drummer Dave Abbruzzese joined the band for Pearl Jam's live shows supporting the album. Halfway through its own planned North American tour, Pearl Jam cancelled the remaining dates in order to take a slot opening for the Red Hot Chili Peppers on the band's Blood Sugar Sex Magik tour in the fall of 1991 in North America. The spot was arranged by Jack Irons, who had called his former band asking for them to get an opportunity to his friend Vedder. The Smashing Pumpkins and Nirvana were also supporting acts. Nirvana was initially brought in because the tour promoters decided that Pearl Jam should be replaced with a more successful act, The band would only do this again in 2016 at Philadelphia's Wells Fargo Center, as the arena management homaged the band's tenth straight sellout concert in the city. Following the European leg, Pearl Jam did another tour of North America. Goldstone noted that the band's audience expanded, saying that unlike before, "everyone came." Ament said, "We'd been on the road over 10 months. I think there just came a point about half way through that tour it was just starting to get pretty intense. I mean just being away from home, being on the road all the time and being lonely or being depressed or whatever." The band would go on to play the 1992 Lollapalooza tour with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Soundgarden, Ministry and Ice Cube, among others.
2009 re-release
On March 24, 2009, Ten was reissued in four editions (Legacy, Deluxe, Vinyl, and Super Deluxe). It was the first reissue in a planned re-release of Pearl Jam's entire catalogue that led up to the band's 20th anniversary in 2011. The extras on the four editions include a remastering and remix of the entire album by producer Brendan O'Brien, re-designed packaging, six bonus tracks ("Brother", "Just a Girl", "Breath and a Scream", "State of Love and Trust", "2,000 Mile Blues", and "Evil Little Goat"), a DVD of the band's 1992 appearance on MTV Unplugged (including a bonus performance of "Oceans", which along with "Rockin' in the Free World" was originally excluded from the broadcast version), vinyl versions of the album, an LP of the band's September 20, 1992 concert at Magnuson Park in Seattle (also known as Drop in the Park), a replica of the original Momma-Son demo cassette, and a replica of Vedder's composition notebook containing personal notes and mementos.
Regarding his remix of the album, O'Brien stated, "The band loved the original mix of Ten, but were also interested in what it would sound like if I were to deconstruct and remix it...The original Ten sound is what millions of people bought, dug and loved, so I was initially hesitant to mess around with that. After years of persistent nudging from the band, I was able to wrap my head around the idea of offering it as a companion piece to the original—giving a fresh take on it, a more direct sound." Since Billboard considers the Ten reissue a catalog item, Ten did not appear on the Billboard 200, Top Modern Rock/Alternative, or Top Rock Albums, since those charts do not include catalog items. The reissue also re-entered the Australian Albums Chart at number 11, giving it a new peak chart position in Australia and its highest chart placing since June 14, 1992.
Tying in with the re-release of the album in March 2009, the entire album was made available as downloadable content for the Rock Band series of video games. In addition, three Ten-era bonus tracks were made available for the Rock Band video game for those who purchased the Ten re-release through Best Buy: "Brother", "Alive", and "State of Love and Trust", the latter two as live versions taken from the band's September 20 concert.
Critical reception
Ten has been met with widespread critical acclaim. In a contemporary review for Rolling Stone, music critic David Fricke praised Ten, saying that Pearl Jam "hurtles into the mystic at warp speed." He also added that Pearl Jam "wring a lot of drama out of a few declarative power chords swimming in echo." Allan Jones of Melody Maker suggested in his review of Ten that it is Vedder who provides Pearl Jam "with such a uniquely compelling focus". In Q, Dave Henderson called it "raucous modern rock, spiked with infectious guitar motifs and powered with driving bass and drums," and said it "may well be the face of the 90's metal." Don Kaye of Kerrang! defined the album as "introspective and charged with a quiet emotional force". Greg Kot wrote in the Chicago Tribune, "Occasionally overwrought and unrelentingly humorless, the music nonetheless exerts a hypnotic power at its best." with reviewer Angela Lewis deeming the band unworthy of comparisons to Nirvana and Soundgarden.
Reviewing Ten in retrospect, AllMusic staff writer Steve Huey called it a "flawlessly crafted hard rock masterpiece" and felt that Vedder's "impressionistic lyrics" are more effective through his passionate vocal delivery rather than their "concrete meaning." Ten, in 2003, was ranked number 207 on Rolling Stones list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and 209 in a 2012 revised list. In 2020 it was raised to the 160th position on the list, which was carried over for the 2023 edition. Readers of Q voted Ten as the 42nd greatest album ever; however, three years later the album was listed lower at 59th. In 2003, VH1 placed it at number 83 on their list of the 100 greatest albums of rock and roll. In 2006, British Hit Singles & Albums and NME organised a poll of which, 40,000 people worldwide voted for the 100 best albums ever and Ten was placed at number 66 on the list. It was also ranked number 15 in the October 2006 issue of Guitar World on the magazine's list of the 100 greatest guitar albums of all time. In 2007, the album was included at number 11 on the list of the "Definitive 200" albums of all time developed by the National Association of Recording Merchandisers. The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. In December 2020, the album was announced as one of many inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame as part of the 2021 class. In 2022, Stuart Berman and Jeremy D. Larson of Pitchfork included the album in their list of "The 25 Best Grunge Albums of the '90s". In 2025, Em Casalena of American Songwriter included the album in the site's list of "4 Grunge Albums That Are Way Better Than Nevermind".
{| class="wikitable"
|+Accolades for Ten
|-
!scope="col"| Publication
!scope="col"| Country
!scope="col"| Accolade
!scope="col"| Year
!scope="col"| Rank
|-
| Guitar World
| United States
|scope="row"| "100 Greatest Guitar Albums of All Time"
| 2013
| 1
|-
| National Association of <br />Recording Merchandisers
| United States
|scope="row"| "Definitive 200"
| 1999
| 11
|-
|rowspan="2"| Q
|rowspan="2"| United Kingdom
|scope="row"| "100 Greatest Albums Ever"
| 2012
| 209
|-
|rowspan="2"| Spin
|rowspan="2"| United States
|scope="row"| "Top 90 Albums of the 90s"
| 1999
| 33
|-
|scope="row"| "100 Greatest Albums, 1985–2005"
| 2005
| 93
|-
| VH1
| United States
|scope="row"| "100 Greatest Albums of Rock & Roll"
| 1998
| 15
|-
| Nieuwe Revu
| Netherlands
|scope="row"| "Top 100 Albums of All Time"
| 1994
| 25
|-
| Musik Express/Sounds
| Germany
|scope="row"| "The 100 Masterpieces"
| 1993
| 68
|-
| Rolling Stone
| Germany
|scope="row"| "The 500 Best Albums of All Time"
| 2004
| 20
|-
| Juice
| Australia
|scope="row"| "The 100 (+34) Greatest Albums of the 90s"
| 1999
| 101
|-
| Viceversa
| Italy
|scope="row"| "100 Rock Albums"
| 1996
| 99
|}
Commercial performance
Ten initially sold slowly upon its release, but by the second half of 1992 it became a breakthrough success, attaining an RIAA gold certification. The album spent a total of 264 weeks on the Billboard charts, making it one of the Top 15 charting albums ever.
By February 1993, American sales of Ten surpassed those of Nevermind, the breakthrough album by fellow grunge band Nirvana. Ten continued to sell well two years after its release; in 1993 it was the eighth best-selling album in the United States, outselling Pearl Jam's second album, Vs. As of February 2013, Ten has sold 13 million<nowiki> </nowiki>copies in the United States according to Nielsen SoundScan,
Ten produced three hit singles: "Alive", "Even Flow", and "Jeremy", all of which had accompanying music videos (The music video for "Oceans" was released only outside of the U.S.). The singles all placed on the Mainstream Rock and Modern Rock charts. The song "Black" reached number 3 on the Mainstream Rock chart, despite never being released as a commercial single. The video for "Alive" was nominated for the MTV Video Music Award for Best Alternative Video in 1992. "Jeremy" became one of Pearl Jam's best-known songs, and received nominations for Best Rock Song and Best Hard Rock Performance at the 1993 Grammy awards. The video for "Jeremy", directed by Mark Pellington, was put into heavy rotation by MTV and became a huge hit, receiving five nominations at the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards, of which it won four, including Video of the Year and Best Group Video.
Track listing
Original release
Note
Momma-Son cassette
Drop in the Park LP
Personnel
Pearl Jam
- Dave Krusen – drums, timpani on "Oceans"
- Jeff Ament – fretless bass, 8-string bass, 12-string bass on "Why Go", "Jeremy", and "Deep"
- Eddie Vedder – vocals
- Mike McCready – lead guitar
- Stone Gossard – rhythm guitar
Additional musicians
- Rick Parashar – piano, organ, percussion
- Walter Gray – cello
- Tim Palmer – fire extinguisher and pepper shaker on "Oceans"
Production
- Pearl Jam – production
- Rick Parashar – production, engineering
| style="text-align:center;"| 2
|-
|-
!scope="row"| Finnish Albums The Official Finnish Charts
| style="text-align:center;"| 14
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|}
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable"
|-
! scope="col" | Chart (2020–2026)
! scope="col" | Peak<br />position
|-
|-
|-
|-
|}
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable"
|+Weekly chart performance for the 2009 re-release of Ten
! scope="col" | Chart (2009)
! scope="col" | Peak<br />position
|-
|-
!scope="row"| Croatian Albums Chart
| style="text-align:center;"| 24
|-
!scope="row"| Irish Albums (IRMA)
| style="text-align:center;"| 38
|-
|-
|-
|-
!scope="row"| US Top Internet Albums (Billboard)
| style="text-align:center;"| 1
|}
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Chart (2014–2025)
! Position
|-
! scope="row"| Hungarian Physical Albums (MAHASZ)
| 29
|-
!scope="row"| Polish Albums (OLiS)
| style="text-align:center;"| 1
|}
Year-end charts
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable"
|+Year-end chart performance for Ten by Pearl Jam
!Chart (1992)
!Position
|-
!scope="row"|Canadian Albums (RPM)
|style="text-align:center;"|12
|-
!scope="row"|Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)
|style="text-align:center;"|15
|-
!scope="row"|German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)
|style="text-align:center;"|46
|-
!scope="row"|UK Albums (OCC)
|style="text-align:center;"|79
|-
!scope="row"|US Billboard 200
|style="text-align:center;"|11
|}
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable"
|-
!Chart (1993)
!Position
|-
!scope="row"|Canadian Albums (RPM)
|style="text-align:center;"|48
|-
!scope="row"|Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)
|style="text-align:center;"|56
|-
!scope="row"| New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)
|style="text-align:center;"| 11
|-
!scope="row"|UK Albums (OCC)
|style="text-align:center;"|94
|-
!scope="row"|US Billboard 200
|style="text-align:center;"|8
|}
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable"
|-
!Chart (1994)
!Position
|-
!scope="row"|Australian Albums (ARIA)
| style="text-align:center;"|62
|-
!scope="row"|Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)
|style="text-align:center;"|71
|-
!scope="row"| New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)
|style="text-align:center;"| 23
|-
!scope="row"|UK Albums (OCC)
|style="text-align:center;"|128
|-
!scope="row"|US Billboard 200
|style="text-align:center;"|58
|}
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
!Chart (1995)
!Position
|-
!scope="row"|Australian Albums (ARIA)
|style="text-align:center;"|49
|-
!scope="row"|US Billboard 200
|style="text-align:center;"|106
|}
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
!Chart (1996)
!Position
|-
!scope="row"|US Billboard 200
|style="text-align:center;"|185
|}
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
!scope="col"|Chart (2002)
!scope="col"|Position
|-
!scope="row"|Canadian Alternative Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)
|align=center|167
|-
!scope="row"|Canadian Metal Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)
|align=center|85
|}
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
!Chart (2019)
!Position
|-
!scope="row"|Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)
|style="text-align:center;"|78
|}
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
!Chart (2020)
!Position
|-
!scope="row"|Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)
|style="text-align:center;"|84
|}
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
!Chart (2021)
!Position
|-
!scope="row"|Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)
|style="text-align:center;"|121
|-
!scope="row"|US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)
|style="text-align:center;"|67
|}
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
!Chart (2022)
!Position
|-
!scope="row"|Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)
|style="text-align:center;"|137
|}
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|-
!Chart (2023)
!Position
|-
! scope="row"| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)
| 123
|}
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|-
!Chart (2024)
!Position
|-
! scope="row"| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)
| 97
|}
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|-
!Chart (2025)
!Position
|-
! scope="row"| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)
| 104
|-
! scope="row"| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)
| 94
|}
Decade-end charts
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|+Decade-end chart performance for Ten
!Chart (1990–1999)
!Position
|-
!scope="row"| US Billboard 200
| style="text-align:center;"|14
|}
Certifications
See also
- List of 1991 albums
- List of 1990s albums considered the best
- List of best-selling albums in the United States
References
External links
- Ten at Discogs (list of releases)