How did pearl jam get its name?

Answer 1

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It's not known for sure. A few theories:

Vedder's grandmother's name was Pearl and she was married to a Native American that influenced her cooking style. She had a recipe for preserves that included a Native American hallucinogenic substance (Peyote), hence, Pearl Jam. This is widely thought of as BS that Ed told to Rolling Stone.

Another theory is that the members thought it would be funny to have frat boys wearing t-shirts that had the slang for, uh, a male bodily fluid on them.

The one we believe is this one, straight from Ed:

"I remember throwing words and meanings around for band names,..... I was writing songs daily and they seemed more important than the name of the band,.... I didn't grasp at the time how representative it may become,....not to mention we were just making a little record that few people would ever hear,......

so the words came, 2,... one of which was Pearl. The name of my great grandmother,..... married to a contortionist...... He used to fit himself into a suitcase.... One in a long line of peculiar individuals.

Pearl is also a Surfing term when you go headfirst and eat it on the face of a wave....

Janis Joplin's greatest record was called Pearl,..... And of course, Earl the Pearl Monroe who shared the court with Phil Jackson I believe,.... (I often tell people that it was Phil's initials that led us to our name..... ) I thought that was much better than the rumor that Pearl Jam was some sort of slang for "ejaculated liquid"..... harsh,.....

No,..... I feel that the best justification for the name is in reference to the pearl itself,... and the natural process from which a pearl comes from,...... Basically, taking excrement or waste and turning it into something beautiful,...... This is how our band began,..... taking emotions that we wrestled with personally and letting them evolve into songs,..... In this way the songs became vehicles in which to deal with it all,..... Add the volume of loud instruments, amplified vocals,..... moving chord changes,.... And it wasn't just sh*t anymore,.... It was kind of beautiful,.... powerful,,...... UNCULTURED! As Johnny Rotten would say later, "Anger is an Energy...... And Sh*t can be Beautiful. The proof is in the pearl."

Answer 2

The term nirvana refers to a state of spiritual enlightenment which the Buddhist religion claims to be able to attain. The use of this term by Kurt Cobain was probably a sarcastic metaphor, which may have been related to his own sense of being particularly unenlightened.