In early Pearl Jam interviews, when asked about the meaning of the Seattle band's name, frontman Eddie Vedder would graciously share a colourful and evocative origin story. Pearl Jam, he would reveal, is a reference to his great-grandmother Pearl, who married a Native American, and became known for her unique homemade preserves, in which she blended boiled fruits and sugar with hallucinogenic peyote. A fabulous anecdote, but "total bullshit" as bassist Jeff Ament and guitarist Mike McCready admitted to Rolling Stone magazine in 2006.
Pre-internet, some alternative takes on the meaning behind the band's name also gained traction among fans, not all of them strictly true either. In a recent interview conducted for Rolling Stone, Hollywood star Austin Butler, who shot to fame for his award-wining portrayal of Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann's 2022 bio pic Elvis, learned of one such rumour from actress Zoe Kravitz, his co-star in director Darren Aronofsky's soon-to-be-released crime thriller Caught Stealing. Butler's reaction on hearing it rather suggests he'd have been happier not to have gained such knowledge.
