Pearl Jam was introduced to the world on July 7, 1991 when the song 'Alive' was released - 51 days before their debut album 'Ten' hit stores.

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Some months earlier, Eddie Vedder had been singing in punk bands and working in a gas station in San Diego, CA. From a friend, drummer Jack Irons, he was given a copy of a cassette containing instrumental demo recordings of a fledgling band from Seattle. They were looking for a singer and a drummer. Jack Irons had declined to join (at that time) but maybe Vedder could see himself in the band?

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Vedder listened to the tape, then went surfing.

Between sets of waves, lyrics came to him. He sent the band a tape with his vocals over the demo and he received an invitation to Seattle to meet. He got the job.

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The introduction of Pearl Jam to an MTV audience posed a conflict between them and their record company: Pearl Jam would not lip sync a video. The video would have to be filmed at a concert and the audio would have to be actual live performance. 

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Director Josh Taft shot the video on August 3, 1991 at the Seattle all-ages club RKCNDY. Footage of crashing waves bookend the stirring footage of the band in action, a nod to the time and place of the lyrical inspiration;  Vedder supported on a surfboard in the pacific, rising and falling with the push of waves. In the water, on the board, memories and visions of a mother, a son, a father. On the stage, at the club, the band plays as Vedder leans backwards and drops.

The crowd catches him, holds him. 

He is riding a new wave. 

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