A double-decade of Pearl Jam

The Seattle grunge band that once called itself Mookie Blaylock, after the NBA player, is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year with a Cameron Crowe documentary and a companion coffee table book, “Pearl Jam: Twenty” (Simon & Schuster: 384 pp., $40). It’s a book-length timeline, zeroing in on specific dates in the band’s history and giving fans exciting backstage glimpses that capture the explosive grunge music scene. You’ll see Eddie Vedder climb stage riggings at concerts all over the world, Mike McCready jam with Neil Young, and a host of other familiar faces (Bruce Springsteen and Dave Grohl among them) cycle through these pages. Today, Vedder marvels at the band’s journey, not to mention that Pearl Jam has weathered its success and managed to stay intact. “[I]t was always our goal to make the next records,” he says near the end, explaining the key to the band’s survival. “I still think that’s why we’re making music together, because we’re still wondering where it might go.”

— Nick Owchar