By the end of the 90s, Pearl Jam were not a band interested in hits. They didn’t have hits, they didn’t make hits, they wouldn’t have known what a hit was if it came up and “Hi, my name is Jeremy, do you remember me?”. They had moved on into what now looks like a rock solid move of future-proofing, still playing arenas but tweaking their sound and exploring new territory with every record. One tradition that the band had upheld since their early days at the other end of the decade, though, was an annual Christmas single released to their fan club, and it was one of these that gave them one of their biggest ever chart successes.
Pressed by their team to ready their Christmas collection in 1998, the Seattle rockers recorded a version of the 1961 Wayne Cochran song Last Kiss during a soundcheck at Washington’s Constitution Hall and it was duly sent out to fan club members backed with a take on the soul song Soldier Of Love. As far as Pearl Jam were concerned, that was that, but radio stations had other ideas.
