10 Rock Songs Written About Real People
1. Jeremy - Pearl Jam
In the early days of grunge, most lyrics seemed irrelevant for bands. While bands like Soundgarden had breathtaking imagery in their lyrics, it was always more about building atmosphere rather than telling a story. Even Nirvana leader Kurt Cobain was notorious for writing lyrics minutes before a take.
Pearl Jam were a different breed of songwriter though. In the middle of the band's breakthrough release Ten, they had fashioned a song that took a disturbing suburban tale into the rock sphere. Coming from a real news story, Vedder used "Jeremy" to recount the actions of a young boy who committed suicide in front of his class. The verses detail all of horrible things done to Jeremy, from getting picked on at school to the apathy of his parents. By just leaving the chorus as "Jeremy spoke in class today," Eddie Vedder spoke volumes to legions of disaffected youth.
Accompanied by a breathtaking music video, "Jeremy" became one of the most tortured rock songs to ever blow up on the charts. As the band would begin to distance themselves from the rock spotlight, "Jeremy" is a song that plants itself in your psyche as a truly timeless piece of musical reportage.