“Best on the planet”: the artist Eddie Vedder considered his best friend
Most artists can only hope to have a handful of friends in the industry after a while. No one is able to get to the top of the mountain alone, but once everyone gets to that massive level of success, there comes a point where people whom you thought were friends start to feel like strangers once they start treating you differently in public. Although Eddie Vedder usually did whatever he could to play down every aspect of any rockstar ego, he did have a few people to keep his feet on the ground.
Because when Pearl Jam first blew up, the last thing that Vedder wanted to be was a rock and roll god. He may have had the same pictures on his walls that every rock and roll fan did in his prime, but there was a difference in the way that he approached his music compared to what Robert Plant had been doing. His music was far more personal, and he wanted to keep it close to his chest.
That kind of protection almost hurt the band’s chances at singles, as well. The frontman knew that a song like ‘Black’ should never become a hit because of how personal it was, and when the band started selling in droves thanks to hits like ‘Jeremy’ and ‘Daughter’, he initially hid tunes like ‘Better Man’ from the group for fear that they would hear and encourage him to release a version of it.
Vedder may have been playing down his ego for a variety of reasons, but it also came from the type of people he looked up to back in the day. He was always a punk at heart, and even if not every one of Pearl Jam’s songs reflected that he always wanted to carry on the same kind of raw aesthetic that he heard in some of his favourite bands like Fugazi and The Clash when he was a kid.
“The truth is – I’m a little sensitive, and this is a close, personal relationship.”
eddie vedder
If there was any one person who kept his mind on the big picture, though, it was Johnny Ramone. Despite them being completely at odds with each other on topics like politics, the Ramones guitarist was always a straight shooter and made sure that he spoke his mind on any issue. That can be a bit abrasive for someone who isn’t used to it, but by the time Ramone passed away, Vedder started to realise the importance of what he had done for him when they had spent time together.
Writing the tune ‘Life Wasted’, Vedder felt that he needed some way to commemorate his fallen friend, saying, “The truth is – I’m a little sensitive, and this is a close, personal relationship. I’ll just say it. F–k it. Right up front. Half the record is based on the loss of the guy who turned out to be the best friend I ever had on the planet. And that was Johnny Ramone.” And considering his position, making the band’s self-titled album about him was the least Vedder could do.
Ramone may have done everything he could to get his band on the biggest stages possible, but there were always going to be limits on where they could go. As much as they loved the idea of playing stadiums, a combination of bad luck, timing, and an all-around lack of shits to give about what the media said was always going to make them difficult, which is a shame considering how much money they could have made had they stuck around for the pop-punk revolution.
But Vedder’s small tribute wasn’t only about commemorating the memory of one of his closest musical allies. It was a reminder that even though someone might disagree with you on something or be a nightmare to argue with, you should never count them out as long as you still care about each other.
