How well do you know Pearl Jam?

Pearl Jam’s latest tour marks 25 years since the Seattle grunge-rock group released its debut album, “Ten.”

The album has sold more than 12 million copies, and its hits – “Better Man,” “Alive” and “Jeremy” – are as quintessentially ’90s as frontman Eddie Vedder’s distinct, weathered voice. In addition to Vedder, the band is guitarist Mike McCready, guitarist Stone Gossard, bassist Jeff Ament and drummer Matt Cameron.

Pearl Jam plays Thursday, April 21 at Columbia’s Colonial Life Arena. The band last rolled through town in 2008 and played a three-hour show with multiple encores. Reviews of the tour so far say the band is still bringing plenty of that energy to its live shows. The group’s Greenville concert on Saturday April 16 sold out, according to the band’s website, but tickets for the Columbia show are still available.

Before you go, here are five things you might not know about Pearl Jam:

1. The origin of the band’s name is unclear

There are several stories floating around about how Pearl Jam got its name. The band originally called itself Mookie Blaylock, after the star NBA point guard. (“Ten,” the title of PJ’s first album, was his jersey number.) The band changed it to Pearl Jam, possibly after Vedder’s great-grandmother Pearl or an oyster’s process of turning sand into gems, or maybe some other reason. As Gavin Edwards points out in his book, “Music’s Most Enduring Mysteries, Myths, and Rumors Revealed,” “There’s a lot of misinformation on this subject, most of it gleefully spread by the band.”

So why did they really pick Pearl Jam? They just liked it. According to Edwards, “The band came up with ‘Pearl’ at a brainstorming session in a Seattle restaurant; the ‘Jam’ got added after a 1991 trip to New York City that included a Neil Young concert where many of his songs became extended jams.”

2. Dwyane Wade once invited Pearl Jam to shoot hoops

Before Pearl Jam hit the stage in Miami in March, Miami Heat shooting guard Dwyane Wade challenged the band to a basketball game. (We’re guessing he knew about the Blaylock connection.) In a video posted to the Heat’s Facebook page, Wade offers the keys to American Airlines Arena – where Pearl Jam was to perform – and invites the band to “come and shoot hoops.” The matchup wouldn’t be very fair, wrote the Miami New Times, as Vedder stands at “a mere” 5 feet 7 inches, next to Wade’s 6 feet 4 inches.

3. Vedder used to do epic stage dives

In his younger days, Vedder had a habit of climbing stage scaffolding, sometimes as high as 50 feet in the air. He’d often jump into the crowd from 10-15 feet up. It freaked out his bandmates, who thought he was surely going to fall to his death. They expressed their concern, and eventually Vedder cooled it on the acrobatics.

4. The band helped launch Coachella

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival began in 1999, but the annual event at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California might not have happened without Pearl Jam. In 1993, the band performed at the Empire Polo Club while boycotting venues controlled by Ticketmaster. The performance proved the site was viable for hosting large events, leading to the inaugural Coachella Festival.

5. McCready just hit the big 5-0

Mike McCready turned 50 on Tuesday, April 5. McCready is the youngest member and founding member of Pearl Jam.

“I’m very grateful to still be around,” the guitarist told SouthFlorida.com in a recent interview. “Certainly, in terms of the nostalgia aspect, it’s kind of amazing. You know, we’re still around after 25 years and still playing music and happy to be doing so.”

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This story was originally published April 19, 2016 at 5:46 PM with the headline "How well do you know Pearl Jam?."