It was January 8, 1991, when 15-year-old Jeremy Delle turned his gun on himself and killed himself in his classroom and in front of his classmates at Richardson High School in Texas. The news prompted Eddie Vedder to write Jeremy, one of Pearl Jam's most iconic songs.
Jeremy Delle decided to end his own life in order to "take revenge" on the students who abused him. Eddie Vedder read the tragic news in the Dallas Morning News. "Because he was late to class, his teacher sent him to the principal to return with a written truancy. However, he returned with a revolver in his hand. He stood in the middle of the class and said, 'Ma'am, I got what I really wanted.' he pointed the gun to his mouth and shot himself." The police spokesman commented that they did not know where Delle might have obtained the weapon, while stating that "we had no indication that he could do something like this inside the school." He added that the 15-year-old had missed several lessons with unexcused absences. However, no one came forward regarding the bullying Delle was shown to have suffered.
In an interview in 1991, Vedder stated that Delle's story touched him immediately, as it reminded him of a classmate of his own who had a similar episode. "This kid was totally 'freaking out' and one day he came to school with a gun. He shot an aquarium." A year later, Vedder remembered running into this kid.
The title track was the third single from Pearl Jam's seminal album 'Ten' and was released after 'Alive' and 'Even Flow'. The fourth single was "Oceans", which was not as successful, but was the only single from the album to be released in Great Britain. B-side was "Yellow Ledbetter" which never made it onto the band's record.
The recording of the song took a month. The track starts with a 12-string bass and "builds" with three guitars.
The footage of the video clip was shot in a warehouse in a run-down neighborhood of London. Directed by Mark Pellington, who also directed the music video for "Rooster" by Alice in Chains, and was also the director of the Cold Case series.
In an interview with songfacts, Pellington recalled:"At first I didn't pay much attention to the track. But when I learned the story behind it, I remembered things from my own childhood, trash from that era, and I could relate to it. It was filmed in London. I remember Eddie really living it, I remember him performing in front of the camera with a lot of passion and emotion. The rest of the band were like 'we don't want to be in this', so I filmed moments of their faces , and them to simply wander around the space".
In 1993, the video for "Jeremy" won four awards at the MTV Video Music Awards. Video of the Year, Best Group Video, Best Metal/Hard Rock Video, and Best Directed.
At the end of the uncensored footage, we see the actor playing 15-year-old Jeremy enter the classroom, throw an apple at his teacher and put the gun in his mouth. His blood falls on his classmates who try not to see the scene. MTV forced the production to cut the scene in which the gun is shown in the child's mouth. "That didn't go down well," Pellington says, "because the audience thought the kid was pulling out the gun and pointing it at the other kids, which was completely wrong. It was a misconception that associated 'Jeremy' with school shootings." , it was a huge mess."
The protagonist was then 12-year-old Trevor Wilson, who was chosen from among 200 other boys. It was his first professional job as an actor. Although all eyes were on him, Wilson decided not to pursue acting. He took a job at the United Nations and died at the age of 36 when he drowned in Puerto Rico. For many, he is the most characteristic face of grunge, who has never been in a band, along with Spencer Elden of Nirvana's Nevermind.
As his mother had stated, Pearl Jam kept in touch with Wilson and secured him tickets to all their shows whenever he wanted to see them.
Pearl Jam did not release another music video for the next six years. They decided that the videos "diminished" the value of their music, inviting fans to see them in their live performances. Their next video was actually the one for "Do The Evolution", which was an animation work by Todd McFarlane, creator of Spawn.
At 3:30 of Jeremy's video, the rest of the class is shown with their hands over their hearts as a sign of loyalty, and then they do the Nazi salute, a scene that was a comment on the US school system and its conservative nature.
On the classroom board, the following messages are written:“anxiety disorders ,” “environmental stress ,” “hereditary factors .”
In 1996, Barry Loukaitis, a 14-year-old student in Washington, killed two students and a teacher inside his school. His lawyer said Loukaitis was "inspired" by Jeremy's video, which was also shown during the trial.
Vedder himself has stated that both Jeremy and "Why Go" are about the same subject. The lack of parental attention.
In 2018, Jeremy's mother, Wanda Crane, spoke publicly for the first time. She described her child as a sociable, friendly child with many talents. As he stated, he was not the isolated child depicted in the Pearl Jam music video. A classmate of his, Brittany King, said years later that the Pearl Jam music video irritated her. "Disappointing with that part. I thought, you can't know the truth, you weren't there. The story they're telling, it's not true."
In fact, the 15-year-old's parents, Joseph Delle and Wanda Crane, were divorced and Jeremy was living with his father. Vedder finally admitted that he thought to himself that Jeremy was being neglected by his parents, never having spoken to them.
In 2014, Jeremy's director, Mark Pellington, took over directing videos for the Coalition Against Gun Violence. For him, the meaning of the clip was and is to highlight the problems of gun ownership.
Speaking to the New Yorker, he said that if he did the video again, he would focus more on the gun itself. "Yes, I would focus on the gun. That would be the right shot to get the right message across."
The uncensored version of the video clip was first released a year ago on National Gun Violence Awareness Day.
"The increase in gun violence from the debut of 'Jeremy' to the present is striking. We have released the uncensored version of the video, which was unavailable in 1992 due to television censorship rules," they said in a statement. Pearl Jam. "We can prevent deaths caused by mass shootings, frustration, law enforcement, or accidents." They even linked gun violence with the Black Lives Matter movement. "Black Americans are ten times more likely than white Americans to die in homicide incidents involving a firearm."
The lyrics of the track
At home drawing pictures
Of mountain tops
With him on top
Lemon yellow sun
Arms raised in a V
And the dead lay in pools of maroon below
Daddy didn't pay attention
Oh, to the fact that mommy didn't care
King Jeremy the wicked
Oh, ruled his world
Jeremy spoke in class today
Jeremy spoke in class today
Clearly I remember
Pickin' on the boy
Seemed a harmless little fuck
But we unleashed the lion
Gnashed his teeth and bit the recess lady's breast
How could I forget
And he hit me with a surprise left
My jaw left hurting
Dropped wide open
Just like the day
Oh, like the day I heard
Daddy didn't give affection, no
And the boy was something that mommy wouldn't wear
King Jeremy the wicked
Oh ruled his world
Jeremy spoke in class today
Jeremy spoke in class today
Jeremy spoke in class today
Try to forget this (try to forget this)
Try to erase this (try to erase this)
From the blackboard
Jeremy spoke in class today
Jeremy spoke in class today
Jeremy spoke in
Spoke in
Jeremy spoke in
Spoke in
Jeremy spoke in class today
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