Musicians have been lip-syncing forever. There are countless examples of it going wrong, too. But don’t expect to find any footage of grunge outfit Pearl Jam fumbling to fake the words to a pre-recorded track in their early years. The band was fiercely anti-lip-syncing. And they took that stance pretty far, considering they refused to even lip-sync for a music video.
The music video in question is connected to the song “Alive”. The single was released in 1991 from the band’s legendary debut album Ten.
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Pearl Jam played a powerhouse set at the club RKCNDY, located in Seattle, that very year. The whole performance was recorded, and clips of it were used to put together the band’s very first music video. The music video for the song “Alive” was unique, though. Pearl Jam hated the idea of lip-syncing so much that they opted to use audio from the actual performance in the music video itself. And, oddly enough, it really does work well.
In an Era Where Lip-Syncing Was Common, Pearl Jam Refused To Be Fake During Performances
At the time that “Alive” hit the airwaves, Pearl Jam had not yet even released their debut album. But the song blew up on Seattle radio, and soon Pearl Jam’s music began to spread beyond Washington. More promotional material was needed, especially in the age of MTV. So, despite not wanting to put together a video at all, the band eventually caved and produced one for “Alive”.
A friend of the band, Josh Taft, recorded their performance at RKCNDY, which also happened to be one of the band’s favorite local venues. It was a sweaty, not-air-conditioned set, but the energy was palpable. The band only played “Alive” twice to get footage for the music video, instead of giving Taft tons of takes to choose from.
The goal here was to differentiate themselves from the polished, overproduced artists that were often seen in music videos on MTV. They really did succeed in that. The live audio from the show, rather than the studio-recorded audio from “Alive”, was used in the black-and-white video. The MV ended up giving the band some serious street credit once it hit MTV, and they became known (like many other grunge bands) for being down-to-earth and art-focused. Though, there was some collateral damage afterwards. The video showed fans stage-diving, which led to a bit of an issue with tons more fans stage-diving at their subsequent shows.
Pearl Jam would go on to use that same methodology for the music video for their follow-up single, “Even Flow”.
Photo by Steve Eichner/WireImage
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