by Kiall Rowberry

Created on: July 14, 2008

The 1990's was the most influential decade of my life. When they started I was a 10 year old child, the decade ended on my 20th birthday. These are my formative years, so naturally this time had a deep effect on me in many ways.

Probably the biggest impact the decade had on me was musically. It was in this period of time that I found my musical niche. From Nirvana's Nevermind and Metallica's Black album, to the Foo Fighter's There is Nothing Left to Lose, I embraced the mix of heavy guitars, belting drums and deep, resonating vocals.

But one album stands head and shoulders above all others as THE definitive compilation of the 1990's is Pearl Jam's Ten.

The album itself is quite raw, free of post production touch ups that have a tendency of destroying a lot of the soul in music. In fact, the band had only been together as a complete unit a matter of months before the CD was released. This gives the entire album a feeling of being a spontaneous jam session, something that really brings out the best in Eddie Vedder's emotional lyrics.

The first single I heard from the album was the band's debut, Alive, and from the opening, instantly recognisable, guitar riff I was hooked. The power in which Vedder delivers his message is amazing, as evidenced by his strained facial expressions during any live performance.

After buying the CD, I was thrilled to discover that the rest of the songs followed a similar path. Once, Even Flow, Jeremy, Porch and Why Go were all up-tempo, heavy guitar laden tracks, complimented by emotive lyrics.

Other songs held back on the pace a bit to allow Vedder even more freedom to vent. Black, possibly the greatest song the band has written, was almost matched by the equally heartfelt Oceans, Garden, Release and Deep.

Combined, these two starkly contrasting styles gave Ten an intimate feel. It allowed the listener to mix between getting lost in the lyrics and finding release in the sound.

After its first rotation in my CD player, I played Ten almost continuously and I still do. Eventually it became my own personal valve to vent all of my teen angst and find some form of level ground' in my increasingly unsettled life.

So, for me, while I consider the 1990's to be the decade that provided the soundtrack for my life, I will always consider Pearl Jam and their definitive Ten album as the single most important album I have ever heard. Therefore, it is not a difficult choice for me to name Ten as the top album of the decade.

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