The Jeremy Wade Delle Inspired Song by Pearl Jam
Each song has indeed a story to tell, just like with the popular song Jeremy of the American grunge band Pearl Jam. The lyrics to Jeremy by Pearl Jam were written by the vocalist and main lyricist of the group, Eddie Vedder and the music written by bassist Jeff Ament. The song’s music was written before the band’s Alice in Chains tour in February 1991. The single was released in 1992 and it is the third single on the album Ten, which was released in 1991. The song reached the number 5 spot on the Mainstream and Modern Rock Billboard charts.
The story behind the lyrics to Jeremy by Pearl Jam is actually based on two different stories. The song Jeremy was inspired by the 15-year old boy Jeremy Wade Delle from Richardson High School in Richardson, Texas. Jeremy shot himself on the mouth in front of a class of 30 students on a Monday morning of January 8, 1991 at 9:45. Vedder, the main lyricist and vocalist of Pearl Jam felt that he had to make something of the news article and give importance to it. His classmates described Delle as a loner who had been in counselling. On that Monday morning, Delle came in late to class that he was asked to get an admittance slip from the school office. When he returned, he walked directly in front of the class and said, ‘Miss, I got what I really went for’ and put the barrel of a .357 caliber Magnum in his mouth and shot himself to death before anyone else could react.
The other story that the lyrics to Jeremy by Pearl Jam was based on, involves a student that Vedder himself knew from junior high. Vedder said that he knew somebody named Brian in San Diego, California who did the same thing as Delle. Although that person did not take his life, he ended up shooting an oceanography room. However, Vedder also says that it is Jeremy that he thinks about when singing the song.
Jeremy was commercially released into the international market in 1992. However, the commercial singles was only released in the US in June 25, 1995. Originally, Jeremy did not chart on Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, but during the re-released in June, the song peaked at no. 79. Jeremy was also included in the 2004 greatest hits album of Pearl Jam entitled ‘Rearviewmirror (Greatest Hits 1991-2003)’. A new, remixed version of Jeremy was also included in the Ten re-issue in 2009. The single has been certified Gold by the RIAA and it received nominations for Best Rock Song and Best Hard Rock Performance at the Grammy Awards in 1993. The song has become more popular with its music video which was released in 1992. It became a hit and was awarded with four MTV Video Music Awards which includes Best Video of the Year.
In recent months Pearl Jam have been busy working on many new projects, including a multi-stop tour. Pearl Jam tickets are now available for purchase online.
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