Earlier this week, I saw Pearl Jam at New York’s Madison Square Garden. As always, they killed it. And when I say “As always,” I mean that I have been attending this band’s performances for a long time. My first Pearl Jam show was at a New York club called the Limelight on April 12, 1992. The cost: $12.00… plus a $2.75 service fee.
![Pearl Jam ticket stub, Limelight in New York City, April 12, 1992](https://wdhafm.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2024/09/pearljamticketstublimelightjpg-2_1725469104_.jpg?resize=1024,972)
(Actually, this should have been my second Pearl Jam show: I had a ticket to see them as the opening act in November of 1991 on a bill that included the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Smashing Pumpkins. I couldn’t get out of work, so I missed the show!)
But I remember how exciting it was to be a Pearl Jam fan in 1991 and 1992: it was clear from the first listen that their debut, Ten, was an absolute classic. Radio took to the singles really quickly: “Alive,” “Jeremy,” and “Evenflow.” But the album is flawless from start to finish. One of the best songs on the album was “Black” – a gorgeous ballad that wasn’t released as a single, but I recall hearing it on the radio anyway.
Pearl Jam on MTV Unplugged
I remember being surprised to learn that Pearl Jam was being featured on MTV Unplugged in March of 1992. At the time, that franchise generally featured massive stars and legends, and Pearl Jam was neither (yet). Some of the episodes leading up to Pearl Jam featured Boyz II Men, Mariah Carey, Paul Simon, Eric Clapton, Elvis Costello, R.E.M., and Sting. Clearly, someone at MTV had high expectations for Pearl Jam.
And the performance made it clear that they belonged in the company of those legends. The set featured their three singles. But two of the highlights were the album tracks. “Porch” was a furious jam, during which singer Eddie Vedder scrawled “pro-choice” on his arm with a magic marker, letting fans know that the band and their politics would always be intertwined.
But while “Porch” was a song powered by punk rock rage, “Black” showed a bit more range and even, dare I say it, maturity. It’s a song about a sad breakup, but the narrator isn’t angry. He’s just remorseful. When Eddie Vedder sang, “I know someday you’ll have a beautiful life/I know you’ll be a star in somebody else’s sky/But why, why, why can’t it be/Oh, can’t it be mine?” you really felt that.
This week, at Madison Square Garden when Pearl Jam played ‘Black,” people were still really feeling it. The song has lost none of its power. Those of us who have lived with the song for three decades still love it. Unlike some of the other Ten tracks, it never felt overplayed.
But what might it be like to hear the song for the first time? Those of us who are intense music fans bring so much context to everything. And that’s great: we love the music and we love to learn about the musicians, how the songs were created, and the scenes which spawned them. But there’s something beautiful about watching people hear a song with no context at all.
Some People Have Never Heard Pearl Jam!
A lot of people who know little (or nothing) about Pearl Jam have taken to YouTube to share their reactions to “Black.” Some of them reacted to the studio version, and some reacted to the MTV Unplugged version. I thought I’d share some of my favorites. Check them out below.