Pearl Jam - Jeremy

This video is the only music video that was ever banned from my household growing up as a kid.

The scene: My older brother who was probably 12 at the time was downstairs watching the video, with me (age 10 and little brother age 8) obviously following his every move. That was until my mother came down... and well she came down at the wrong part. Right at the end of this video. And well to all familiar with it, there was a lot of screaming by my mom and a lot of us saying..."what? come on Mooom" and finally the words "you are banned from watching this video!".

It was a sad day. Pearl Jam was a favorite in our house. It was one of my brothers favorite bands and well he listened to them often. The last time I was home I even had a discussion about the video with my mom and she still maintained her right "to ban it from HER house". Which looking back on, while I'm not a mother but to come downstairs to find my three impressionable young children watching the graphic images, probably would have freaked me out too. So yeah it probably wasn't a bad idea.

But also looking at the video now as a 28 year old, I'm super impressed with Pearl Jams song in general. It obviously means a lot more to me now then when I was 10 and well with the knowledge I have now about the band and their music it was the start of something great for them. Talking about real issues.

Now to get real this song is no joke. Based off the true story of two boys the first was a story that Eddie Vedder found in a newspaper article about a 16 year old boy named Jeremy Wade Delle from Richardson, Texas who shot himself in front of his English on the morning of January 8th, 1991. The second was a boy that Vedder actually knew in high school who was in a similar situation. He didn't kill himself but he shot up an oceanography room in Vedder's own junior high school. This is a real song about real issues. Something that bands these days just don't do anymore....

"Jeremy spoke in class today"

Still some of the most haunting lyrics ever written.