Pearl Jam's Fight Against Gun Violence

     Oconomowoc. Virginia Beach. Atlanta. Boulder. The gun violence public health crisis has already taken hundreds of lives this year. Pearl Jam has been advocating against gun violence for more than 30 years, one of the leading voices, let alone among celebrities and musicians, in seeking to raise awareness about the toxic stew of misguided policies, misconstrued messages, and mental illness that too frequently ends in death.

     "Jeremy" is a song about an actual incident that took place three decades ago in Texas in which a high school sophomore named Jeremy Wade Delle, described as an "outcast," shot himself in front of his English class. It reached number Number Five on the Mainstream Rock and Top Rock Charts before its release as a single in 1995, which put it at Number 79 on the Billboard Chart and the Top 100 in a dozen other nations.

     "Glorified G" is a song mocking gun enthusiasts, notably former drummer Dave Abbruzzese, who bragged about purchasing two. In spite of not being released as a single, it charted at Number 39 in the Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart and was a live staple for years.

     Vedder, in particular, was an active critic outside the studio of both George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush for their policy on weapons, among other things. Serving as the liaison for most of Pearl Jam's social justice work, he was a proponent of the assault rifle ban passed in 1994 and has since become more vocal on the issue of gun violence, which has once again become a contentious political issue in the past decade.