In the 1990's, the phenomenon called the Big Four was deemed as very influential in the rock music scene. This Big Four is actually a group of bands that seemingly led the rock music scene to the direction of the grunge genre. The Big Four is comprised by Soundgarden, Nirvana, Alice in Chains, and none other than Pearl Jam.

Pearl Jam was formed in the rainy portion of America, Seattle, Washington to be exact. And as of just last year, Pearl Jam has sold over 30 million albums! And this is in America alone! Just imagine how far Pearl Jam's influence can reach right about now!

In 2005, Pearl Jam was nominated for the title of the greatest American rock band of all time. This is highly understandable, with the tracks Pearl Jam has been dishing out for us.

For starters, Pearl Jam's debut album, Ten, remains a strong contender in mainstream radio. This is not surprising because of the many hits off the album. These hits include Jeremy, Black, Alive, and Even Flow. Here's a little piece of trivia: Eddie Vedder co-wrote the lyrics to all of these songs. And this is probably why these songs remain quite the mainstay on rock radio as well.

Now, Jeremy is really a Pearl Jam track worth mentioning. Pearl Jam's vocalist, Eddie Vedder, got his inspiration for the song from the suicide of a high school student named Jeremy Wade Delle, back in 1991. Vedder aimed to impart the message that suicide is not the solution people should turn to, because suicide does not solve anything at all. Talk about a heavy message for one of Pearl Jam's first tracks!

Black discusses the elements of a broken heart, and has also gone on to become one of Pearl Jam's strongest tracks. Several artists have made covers of Black, including Aaron Lewis from the band Staind, the band Stone Sour, and Chris Daughtry, with his acoustic version of the track.

Pearl Jam's Alive is actually part fact, part fiction. The track discusses a portion in Vedder's life, when his mother confesses to him that the father he knows is just his stepfather, not his real father. Vedder poured out his feelings about this into the track, and made Pearl Jam more famous for it.

Then came Pearl Jam's 1993 album V's, with the chart-hitting single Daughter. Now, when Daughter hit the scene, Pearl Jam became a stronger fixture in the music scene. The track became very appealing because it discussed how difficult it was for children with learning disabilities to cope with inevitable hardship. This is because back then, these learning disabilities were not really understood that well. So, the manifestations of such disabilities were misinterpreted as acts of rebellion. To date, the mp3 version of Daughter remains strong on the digital download charts.

After Daughter came another strong Pearl Jam track, entitled Better Man. Eddie Vedder did not compose Better Man for Pearl Jam originally. The track was actually composed when Vedder was still with his previous band. But this was never released by the previous band, and this became a huge advantage for Pearl Jam.

But Pearl Jam saved strong tracks for later, and these are none other than Last Kiss and Yellow Ledbetter. These both come from 2003's compilation album entitled Lost Dogs. Interestingly, Last Kiss and Yellow Ledbetter were released as B-sides in the past. But it was only in the compilation album that these tracks appeared as major single releases.

Last Kiss, in particular, garnered a lot of attention for Pearl Jam. This is despite the fact that Last Kiss is merely a cover of the Wayne Cochran original. The decision to do the cover, though, got the band soaring high on the charts once again.

With all the success Pearl Jam has achieved throughout the years, it's really understandable how they still remain strong in the music scene. Their latest self-titled album released in 2006 does not have an official follow-up yet. But fans worldwide are already asking for Pearl Jam to come up with another album! Although no definite date has been set for their next album, Pearl Jam did promise a tour appearance in Europe early this June. With demands coming from all over the world, Pearl Jam just couldn't decline the offer! And Pearl Jam fans are pleased with this because they're surely in for another treat from America's greatest rock band!