10 Song Meanings EVERYONE Gets Wrong

If you could distill the sound of grunge into a single musical phrase, it would probably be the opening lick that starts off Pearl Jam's Alive.

Alongside songs like Smells Like Teen Spirit and Black Hole Sun, this free-flowing lick from Stone Gossard practically defines the disenfranchised generation about to take over the mainstream. It's a shame that Eddie Vedder decided to take things in a bit of an oddball direction though.

While the actual chorus lyrics of Alive are seen to be uplifting, this song was actually a part of a dark mini opera that Vedder had in mind when he was first given the demos by Stone.

Looking through his past experiences with his father, this story was originally supposed to be a harsh story about a kid who finds out his father is dead, and has his mother try to make the moves on him because of his resemblance to his father.

It's almost as plain as day in the lyrics, as the image that Vedder talks about "not being able to forget" in the second verse is really the visual of his mother trying to force sex upon him. Granted, Vedder did say that things have changed since, with the crowd's reaction re-contextualizing the song for him.

Then again, for all the times that you couldn't understand what Eddie was saying, with this song, maybe it was for the best.