LONG ROAD

A critical consideration of one of rock’s most durable and inscrutable acts.

For young casual music listeners, Pearl Jam may seem like an oldies band, best known for early-1990s hits like “Alive” and “Jeremy.” Yet they’re not a nostalgia act; they still release records and deliver high-energy live shows. Though they’re not a jam band, they attract a rabid, bootleg-hungry fan base that rivals those of the Grateful Dead or Phish. Veteran music critic Hyden, whose last book, This Isn’t Happening, focused on Radiohead’s Kid A, explores these cultural disconnects. As he points out, there are plenty of reasons why Pearl Jam could have collapsed during their heyday—they cycled through multiple drummers and addiction issues—but Hyden credits their endurance to frontman Eddie Vedder’s emotional candor and the support he sought from veteran rock stars like Neil Young and Pete Townshend. (In contrast, Hyden argues, other grunge-era frontmen fell victim to their own isolation, most notably Kurt Cobain.) Pearl Jam’s effort to preserve a measure of integrity amid their stardom was often mocked—especially during a quixotic mid-’90s battle with Ticketmaster—but Hyden argues that dedication and focus allowed them to weather crises like a 2000 concert in Denmark during which nine people were trampled and died. The author is a hardcore fan—he’s listened to all 72 CDs the band released of its 2000 tour—but a thoughtful one, noting the feebleness of their recent albums while pinpointing their top-tier performances. Hyden offers little original reporting—he didn’t interview the band for the book—but he’s an informed, engaging interpreter of the band’s music and their place in rock history. If they seem like odd survivors, perhaps it’s because they’ve avoided chasing trends. “They are a middle-aged rock band that looks and acts like a middle-aged rock band,” writes the author.

A music biography well suited to fans of both the band and 1990s pop culture.