“Every independent record store I’ve been to, I’ve gotten something out of it — in terms of great music, or a cool feeling. I always feel a little bit better when I come out of a record store.” –
Mike McCready/Pearl Jam
Everywhere At Once: To say, “we’ve been waiting a long time for this,” would be an understatement, but today, we at Record Store Day are proud announce our Record Store Day 2019 Ambassador: Pearl Jam.
We couldn’t be more pleased. Not just because, like easily two generations of fans, we love Pearl Jam. Or because Pearl Jam have ten studio albums, hundreds of unique live performance releases and official live concert bootleg releases under their belts. Or because 2017 saw them inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame.
We love Pearl Jam, who continue to be critically acclaimed and commercially successful with over 85 million albums sold worldwide, because they are, at their core, music fans… just like us.
And because of this, Record Store Day and Pearl Jam are a match made in music heaven.
RSD co-founder/organizer Carrie Colliton nails it: “I’ve worked in and around record stores for my entire adult life and feel like I’ve grown up with Pearl Jam because of it. My early, early advance copy of Ten came with me on a free-ranging trek through Europe at an impressionable age, some of my craziest and best midnight sales were for Pearl Jam albums, and any one of their songs makes me think of my favorite record store co-workers. This Ambassadorship is a natural fit– a band that stays true to themselves and the people who love them, and a form of retail that does pretty much the same thing.”
Says Mike McCready, guitarist and a founding member of the the band, “Pearl Jam is honored to be Record Store Day’s Ambassador for 2019. Independent record stores are hugely important to me, and have been ever since I was 12 years-old. Before I even really knew what they were — there was a certain feeling of ‘this is a dream come true,’ and it’s a wonderland and there’s so much to learn in here… and it’s still that way.
Support every independent record store that you can. They’re really a good part of society. Know if you love music, this is the place to find it. And it helps people who work here and that’s important, too. And it kind of takes an effort, you have to look for something that you want; you have to talk to people. I had to talk to people to figure out which Aerosmith record to get first or anything back in the day. It’s a place to learn. It’s a place to have fun. And it’s a place to discover new music.
Come out on Record Store Day, but also make it Record Store Year.”
Great idea, Mike. We’ll kick off a great year of Pearl Jam Ambassadorship on April 13, 2019 at record stores around the US, and the world. Find stores to celebrate in and a video from our RSD 2019 Ambassador at recordstoreday.com.
