Pearl Jam is an American grunge/alternative rock band formed in Seattle, Wa… Read Full Bio ↴Pearl Jam is an American grunge/alternative rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. The band's lineup consists of founding members Jeff Ament (bass guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar), and Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, guitar), as well as Matt Cameron (drums), who joined in 1998. Keyboardist Boom Gaspar has also been a touring/session member with the band since 2002. Drummers Jack Irons, Dave Krusen, Matt Chamberlain, and Dave Abbruzzese are former members of the band. Pearl Jam outsold many of their contemporaries from the early 1990s, and are considered one of the most influential bands of the decade, being dubbed as "the most popular American rock and roll band of the '90s".

Formed after the demise of Gossard and Ament's previous band, Mother Love Bone, Pearl Jam broke into the mainstream with their debut album, Ten, in 1991. Ten stayed on the Billboard 200 chart for nearly five years, and has gone on to become one of the highest-selling rock records ever, going 13× platinum in the United States. Released in 1993, Pearl Jam's second album, Vs., sold over 950,000 copies in its first week of release, setting the record for most copies of an album sold in its first week of release at the time. Their third album, Vitalogy (1994), became the second-fastest-selling CD in history at the time, with more than 877,000 units sold in its first week.

One of the key bands in the grunge movement of the early 1990s, Pearl Jam's members often shunned popular music industry practices such as making music videos or participating in interviews. The band also sued Ticketmaster, claiming it had monopolized the concert-ticket market. In 2006, Rolling Stone described the band as having "spent much of the past decade deliberately tearing apart their own fame."

Pearl Jam had sold more than 85 million albums worldwide by 2018, including nearly 32 million albums in the United States by 2012, making them one of the best-selling bands of all time. Pearl Jam was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017 in its first year of eligibility. They were ranked eighth in a readers' poll by Rolling Stone magazine in its "Top Ten Live Acts of All Time" issue. Throughout its career, the band has also promoted wider social and political issues, from pro-abortion rights sentiments to opposition to George W. Bush's presidency. Vedder acts as the band's spokesman on these issues.

Full Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Jam

Studio albums
Ten (1991)
Vs. (1993)
Vitalogy (1994)
No Code (1996)
Yield (1998)
Binaural (2000)
Riot Act (2002)
Pearl Jam (2006)
Backspacer (2009)
Lightning Bolt (2013)
Gigaton (2020)

Spin The Black Circle
Pearl Jam Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

See this needle
Oh see my hand
Drop, drop, dropping it down
oh so gently
here it comes
touch the flame
Turn me up
won't turn you away

Spin, spin
spin the black circle
Spin, spin
spin the black, spin the black
Spin, spin
spin the black circle
Spin, spin
whoa

Pull it out
a paper sleeve
Oh my joy
only you deserve conceit
Oh I'm so big
and my whole world
I'd rather you
rather you, than her

Spin, spin
spin the black circle
Spin, spin
spin the black, spin the black
Spin, spin
spin the black circle
Spin, spin
whoa

Oh you're so warm
oh, the ritual
as I lay down your crooked arm

Spin, spin
spin the black circle
Spin, spin
spin the black, spin the black
Spin, spin
spin the black circle
Spin, spin

[Repeat: x5]
Spin the black

circle

Spin the black circle
Spin the black circle

Overall Meaning

The song "Spin the Black Circle" by Pearl Jam is an ode to the classic medium of vinyl records and the joy they bring, from the moment of carefully placing the needle onto the spinning disc to the warm sound filling the room. The opening lines "See this needle, oh see my hand, drop, drop, dropping it down, oh so gently, here it comes, touch the flame, turn me up, won't turn you away" describe the ritual of setting up the turntable, adjusting the volume and enjoying the experience. The lyrics also touch on the importance of music and how it can hold more value and significance than a romantic partner, as expressed in the lines "Oh, I'm so big and my whole world, I'd rather you, rather you than her."

Line by Line Meaning

See this needle
Look at the needle.

Oh see my hand
Look at my hand.

Drop, drop, dropping it down
I'm gently lowering the needle to the record.

oh so gently
I'm being really careful with the record.

here it comes
The needle is about to touch the record.

touch the flame
The music is like fire that I'm about to ignite.

Turn me up
Crank up the volume, make it loud.

won't turn you away
The music won't disappoint you, it's worth listening to.

Spin, spin spin the black circle
Play the record, rotate the vinyl.

Pull it out
Take the needle off the record, stop the music.

a paper sleeve
The sleeve that holds the vinyl.