‘Jeremy’: Pearl Jam’s Most Controversial Video Turns 30; remember

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A hit that stems from a tragedy and a video that defined a generation. Exactly 30 years ago, on August 1, 1992, the Pearl Jampremiered the official video of ‘Jeremy’. Written by Eddie Vedder in 1991, the song was inspired by a newspaper note about a young man’s suicide in the state of Texas. It would win an original clip in 1991 – but with the success, came the idea of ​​taking the visual record a step further, yielding to the Pearl Jam several awards, and also his first controversy.

The music

In January 1991, Eddie Vedder was preparing what would become one of the definitive records of the grunge and Seattle scene. the disk havewould be released on August 27 of that year and was already being finalized when the vocalist came across a newspaper call reporting the death of 15-year-old Jeremy Wade Delle – a suicide, carried out with a gun in front of colleagues and a teacher in the middle of the classroom.

“It came from a little paragraph in a newspaper, which means you kill yourself and make a big sacrifice trying to get revenge, but it ends up just like a little paragraph in a newspaper,” Vedder said in an interview about the track in ’93.

“The world turns and you are gone. The best revenge you can have is to live and prove yourself, to be stronger than other people.”

According to the website adventures in historythe song did not register a position on the main American music chart, the Billboard Hot 100, as it was not immediately released as a commercial single. Instead, it was number one on international charts such as the UK, Canada, Australia and even Brazil, even being nominated for a Grammy for Best Rock Song and Best Hard Rock Performance.

The video

The surprising critical and commercial reaction to ‘Jeremy’ was what eventually led to the official video. Initially, the Pearl Jam had recorded an original video in 1991 (watch below), in black and white, with the direction of the photographer Chris Cuffaro – who had to pay for the registration himself after the record company refused epic to pay for the material.

The situation would change with the success of ‘Jeremy’. This time, the chosen director would be Mark Pellingtonwhich at the time already signed clips for bands such as Information Society and U2. With a high budget, the production shot the video at a school in New Jersey. In the script, newspaper images appeared juxtaposed with Bible verses, while images of the band alternated with the narration of the story of a troubled young man, in the midst of a contentious divorce from his parents. At the end of the narrative, the teenager, played by a 12-year-old boy named Trevor Wilsonhe would pull out a scenographic weapon and take it to his mouth, performing a suicide.

Controversy

Given the overly graphic content, ‘Jeremy’ won an edited version for TV, in compliance with the broadcasting rules that prevented sensitive content at the time. In the final cut, the shot where the gun was drawn was cut, showing only the boy’s gaze towards his classmates. This decision, however, led to an ambiguous interpretation of the narrative, since in the following scene, the other teenagers in the scene appeared covered in blood – leaving room for a suicide or homicide ending.

In 1997, Pellington would comment on the cut to the rolling stoneamericana as her ‘biggest frustration’:

“Probably my biggest frustration is that the cut is sometimes misinterpreted as if he shot his teammates. The idea is that it was his blood. [espirrado] on them and they are petrified of it.”

Recently, the real-life mother of young Jeremy also gave an interview, revealing annoyance with the repercussion that the song gave to the death of her son. According to her, ‘that day he died does not define his life’.

These controversies would eventually make the Pearl Jam decide not to record new clips for years. Later, the group would be accused of influencing a young shooter after a massacre at a Washington school. With this baggage, the group’s video hiatus would only be interrupted in 1998, with the video for ‘Do The Evolution’.

Legacy

‘Jeremy’ ended up being the main winner in the Video Music Awards1993 with four awards in total. At the time, Eddie Vedder invited the young Trevor Wilson to the stage during the thank you, saying: “Thanks everyone, this is Trevor, he lives!”. The video would still gain the 11th position in the ranking of VH1 Best Songs of the 90s.

After the release and success of the video, the protagonist Trevor Wilson would have moved from New York to Los Angeles, where he tried his hand at showbiz. The experience, however, ended up disappointing him and he returned to anonymity, dedicating himself to UN work in developing countries. In 2006, he ended up drowning while swimming alone in Puerto Rico and couldn’t resist. He was 36 years old.

In 2020 ‘Jeremy’ would win a remastered version in high definition. The relaunch would mark the National Day of Attention to Gun Violence in the United States. In this video, with the original cut, the complete scene would contemplate the taking of the weapon and the suicide intention originally portrayed in the video. Below, the full and remastered version of ‘Jeremy’:

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