named themselves after what I know to be a "Pearl Jam". Or when they call them selves that do they mean something totally non sexual? They named themselves after one of the band member's grandmothers. Her name was Pearl, and they said she made awesome jam (for toast.)
This sounds like a joke, but it isn't, that's actually where the name comes from. I always thought that it was named after Eddie Vedder's great-grandmothers jam... but I found this on Wikipedia:
"In an early promotional interview Vedder claimed that the name "Pearl Jam" was a reference to his great-grandmother Pearl, who was married to a Native American and had a special recipe for peyote-laced jam.[13] Another theory put forward in Kim Neely's band history Five Against One holds that one of the band members really wanted "pearl" in the new name, and jamming is a common activity done by musicians.[14] In a 2006 Rolling Stone cover story Ament and McCready admitted that Ament came up with "Pearl", and that "Jam" was added after the band saw Neil Young live." | 