Nineties alternative musicians experienced mainstream success as a personal catastrophe

Evidence

At more than three million copies sold, the Seattle band Pearl Jam’s debut, Ten, was the top-selling rock album of 1992—a complete disaster. “With any more popularity,” fretted lead singer Eddie Vedder, “we were going to be crushed, or our heads were going to pop like grapes.” He started wearing a helmet everywhere. — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 3

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Chuck Klosterman’s ‘The Nineties’ treatment of sellout culture, and to the reader’s own knowledge of indie/alt ethos as identity signaling.