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The Meaning of “Black” by Pearl Jam, the Band’s Most Enigmatic Song

The Meaning of "Black" by Pearl Jam, the Band's Most Enigmatic Song

“Black” by Pearl Jam was meant to be a deep cut off of the juggernaut album “Ten,” one of the most important of the grunge era. Instead, it became one of the group’s most famous and enduring tunes, not least of all because of the emotionality introduced by singer Eddie Vedder in the performance and lyrics.

The meaning of the song is, purposely, perhaps, vague. Pearl Jam’s songs, most often, are designed to be interpreted in various ways. That’s part of the joy of hearing them. Still, where did the idea for “Black” originate, why is it such a contrasting song to the rest of the tunes on “Ten,” and why does it strike such a chord with audiences? This is what I am looking at today.

The Meaning of "Black" by Pearl Jam, the Band's Most Enigmatic Song

Pearl Jam’s Journey to Making the “Ten” Album and “Black”

The story of how Pearl Jam came to be is nearly as famous as the band’s songs. It’s the story of disaster and rebirth. It’s the careers nearly cut down before they truly began, which then exploded into the stratosphere. And, yes, it’s the story of success so large that it nearly then killed the members of Pearl Jam.

The origin story of Pearl Jam involves a few rock musicians fated to meet. In Seattle, Mother Love Bone was bringing something different to the local rock scene. While bands like Soundgarden and Mudhoney played punk and Black Sabbath-inspired music, singer Andrew Wood loved Queen and Van Halen.

Mother Love Bone seemed destined to be the first band of the Seattle underground to make it big. Their dirty glam stomp had made their debut album, “Apple”, a moderate hit, and expectations high for a follow-up.

Sadly, Andy Wood passed away before these dreams could be fulfilled. The band broke up. Two of the band’s members, Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard, would find themselves trying to pick up the pieces.

They’d recruited hotshot virtuoso Mike McCready, who had played in a number of ill-fated Los Angeles heavy metal bands. And they were hoping to make a record in tribute to Andy Wood, spearheaded by Chris Cornell, the singer of Soundgarden and Wood’s best friend.

The Meaning of "Black" by Pearl Jam, the Band's Most Enigmatic Song

Eddie Vedder’s Audition Tape

That’s when an auction tape arrived for Gossard and Ament. There had been many sent to them. Most of them were made by people who loved Wood and tried to imitate his style. This didn’t.

Singing over some backing tracks that Gossard and Ament had put together came a deep baritone voice that sounded haunted, restrained, yet filled with rage. The voice belonged to a surfer from San Diego, Eddie Vedder. He’d sung for other alternative rock bands before, but this would be a change.

Gossard and Ament called Vedder up. The singer was polite and shy. They asked if he’d like to join their new band. He’d have to move to Seattle, though, and give this his best.

Vedder agreed. Before long, he had also befriended Cornell. His vocals found their way on the Temple of the Dog album, the tribute to Andy Wood.

With the support of his new Seattle friends, Vedder adjusted to the position of singer of a band now dubbed Pearl Jam. They played underground rock, known by some as indie rock or alternative. They liked heavy rock, but also Santana and Bad Company.

The Meaning of "Black" by Pearl Jam, the Band's Most Enigmatic Song

The Meaning of the Lyrics to “Black”

Vedder was, by nature, a modest and introverted singer. He struggled to find his footing in the band and to overcome stage fright.

But he was genuinely angry, too. The audition tape hadn’t lied. Yes, he was haunted. But that didn’t make him hard to work with. It just made the intensity of the singing and the lyrics all that much more powerful.

“Black” contains some of the most emotionally charged lyrics on “Ten.” But it’s far from the only song like this. “Alive” and “Once,” sent by Vedder on the audition tape dubbed “Mamasan,” tell the story of a young man who finds out that his father is not his biological relative. This makes him spiral into madness. He has an incestuous relationship with the mother and goes on a killing spree.

Meanwhile, “Jeremy,” one of the biggest hits off the album, was inspired by bullying and by a school shooting. Vedder dealt with weighty topics on the record.

A Song of Loss and of Growth

The lyrics to “Black” come from a similar place of loss and hurt. Eddie Vedder later explained that the song is about first romantic relationships and the unavoidability of them falling apart.

In the Pearl Jam Twenty book, Vedder writes: “The song is about letting go,” said Vedder. “It’s very rare for a relationship to withstand the Earth’s gravitational pull and where it’s going to take people and how they’re going to grow. I’ve heard it said that you can’t really have a true love unless it was a love unrequited. It’s a harsh one, because then your truest one is the one you can’t have forever.”

Like many of the songs from “Ten,” the music was written by guitarist Stone Gossard. Before Eddie Vedder wrote lyrics for it, it was known simply as “E Ballad.”

Vedder delivers, arguably, the best vocal performance of his entire career here. Some conspiracy theories have been formed around the song because of the passion captured in the singing and the enigmatic lyrics.

Some fans believed for years that the tune is about an ex-girlfriend forced to have an abortion. Lyrics like “Oh, the pictures have all been washed in black, tattooed everything” indicate a terrible event between the two people described earlier in the song.

Vedder has not provided further explanation. Still, whenever it is performed, the singer delivers it with similar depth and anxiety. “Black” has, thankfully, never become a mellow pop-rock ditty.

The Meaning of "Black" by Pearl Jam, the Band's Most Enigmatic Song

No Music Video for “Black”?

“Black” also represented the first, in a long line, of moments where Pearl Jam resisted the directives of musical industry bosses.

“Ten” was a surprising, monstrous success. While Nirvana’s “Nevermind” is more famous, “Ten” is the best-selling grunge album of all time.

The album produced three big hits, “Alive,” “Even Flow”, and “Jeremy.” The first two had music videos clipped from the band’s live performances, while “Jeremy” was promoted with a glossy, albeit controversial video.

Sony Records pushed to promote ” Black ” as a single and have a music video filmed for it. The song was already being played heavily on rock radio. The band, Vedder in particular, declined to film a music video for “Black.”

In the end, a compromise was struck. “Oceans” did receive a low-profile music video but didn’t receive the same kind of attention that the music label hoped for.

However, it established a pattern. Pearl Jam would, for the most part, would refuse to film music videos for the next years and went about promoting the band in their own way.

The Legacy of “Black”

“Black” is one of the most famous Pearl Jam songs and one of the most beloved from the early 1990s alternative-rock boom. Not having a music video made for it and not being released as an independent single didn’t hurt its popularity in the slightest.

It features some of Eddie Vedder’s best singing. In fact, Vedder’s style would be often copied throughout the decade that followed.

The song has been covered before, most notably by Aaron Lewis of the post-grunge band Staind. It is something of a rock ballad staple by now.

Like some of the best songs of that era, “Black” is a haunting masterpiece. Vedder may have explained the meaning of the lyrics. But we all feel that the secret goes deeper than that. And that is part of the reason why we always return to it.

About author

Eduard Banulescu is a writer, blogger, and musician. As a content writer, Eduard has contributed to numerous websites and publications, including FootballCoin, Play2Earn, BeIN Crypto, Business2Community, NapoliSerieA, Extra Time Talk, Nitrogen Sports, Bavarian FootballWorks, etc. He has written a book about Nirvana, hosts a music podcasts, and writes weekly content about some of the best, new and old, alternative musicians. Eduard also runs and acts as editor-in-chief of the alternative rock music website www.alt77.com. Mr. Banulescu is also a musician, having played and recorded in various bands and as a solo artist.
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