Pearl Jam is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. One of the key bands in the grunge movement of the early 1990s, Pearl Jam has outsold and outlasted many of its contemporaries and is considered one of the most influential bands from that decade, dubbed "the most popular American rock and roll band of the '90s". The band has consisted of guitarists Stone Gossard and Mike McCready, bassist Jeff Ament, and vocalist and guitarist Eddie Vedder since its formation. The band had a revolving cast of drummers throughout their early days, including Dave Krusen, Matt Chamberlain, Dave Abbruzzese, and Jack Irons. The band's longest-tenured drummer was Matt Cameron, who joined the band in 1998 and departed in 2025. Keyboardist Boom Gaspar has also featured with the band as a session and touring musician since 2002.
Formed after the demise of Gossard and Ament's previous bands, Green River and Mother Love Bone, Pearl Jam broke into the mainstream with their debut album Ten (1991). Ten stayed on the US Billboard 200 chart for nearly five years, and has gone on to become one of the highest-selling rock albums ever, being certified 13× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Released in 1993, Pearl Jam's second album, Vs., sold over 950,000 copies in its first week of release, setting the record for most copies of an album sold in its first week of release at the time. Their third album, Vitalogy (1994), became the second-fastest-selling CD in history at the time, with more than 877,000 units sold in its first week.