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It's plain and simple: Pearl Jam and Nirvana are the Beatles and Stones of alternative rock-not in their styles or influence, but in their similarities helping to define a genre and an era of music while simultaneously dividing fans with their stark differences.

Like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, both bands introduced the world to new sounds and came from the same area of the world, helping to ignite a Seattle scene that was hailed as "the new Liverpool." The Seattle area, however, is one of their precious few similarities: upon a few listens, these bands couldn't be more different.

Nirvana seemingly burst out of nowhere, having toiled relatively unattached from the Seattle scene through the late '80s without really interacting with any other bands. Pearl Jam, however, is an all-star cast of the Seattle underground, being the phoenix rising from the ashes of legendary local bands such as Green River and Mother Love Bone (lead singer Eddie Vedder's original band, Bad Radio, was based in California until he was provoked to move north).

Nirvana always had a more abrasive sound walking the line between punk and sludgy metal-it is interesting to note that their mainstream breakthrough, Nevermind (1991) was their most uncharacteristic work. Pearl Jam, on the other hand, was more of a classic-rock rooted band with little noticeable punk influence.

While both bands are extremely different sonically, their impact on the music world is felt deeply. Like the Beatles, Nirvana ended what seems like too soon (lead singer Kurt Cobain committed suicide in 1994). Pearl Jam, like the Stones, will probably go on forever. Both are equally important, and it remains to be seen just how important their impact on music will be twenty or so years from now, when the next Seattle takes center stage and history repeats itself. Only 17 years have gone by, and it already seems like we are overdue.

Learn more about this author, Tim Babiasz.
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