Liam Gallagher’s views on Pearl Jam: “rubbish”
The widespread opinions of the Gallagher brothers have provided oft-hilarious content for their devoted fanbase to initially be shocked by and then, after some time, be completely desensitised to. Pretty much every band, singer or artist under the sun has been named “shit” or some other adjectives by one of the two Oasis leaders, Noel and Liam Gallagher, over the years, and the likes of grunge and classic rock acts have been no exception.
Back in 2000, Oasis had been playing on the Saturday night headline slot at the Pinkpop festival in Landgraaf, Netherlands. The band had been sharing the bill with legendary grunge/rock outfit Pearl Jam, but Liam Gallagher was less than impressed by their appearance.
Gallagher had been giving an interview backstage at the iconic music event when he suddenly opened up on the kind of music that was being played. “I’m not into writing fucking morbid music like the rest of these pricks that are playing here,” he said. “They all write bollocks, y’know what I mean, they’re all in pain. Well, my fucking ears are in pain hearing your fucking voice, you twat.”
When the interviewer asked whether he was referring to Pearl Jam, Gallagher just nodded his head in his typical way and said, “[They’re] rubbish.” As expected from the least intelligent Gallagher brother, it’s not the most eloquent explanation.
Then, back in 2017, Gallagher discussed grunge music with the late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, again saying that he has something of a distaste for Eddie Vedder’s band. Hawkins remained impartial throughout, refusing to drag any of his contemporaries’ names through the dirt.
“I did like Nirvana, and I liked some of the tunes,” Gallagher said (via Oasis Mania). “Who else was out at the time? I wasn’t a big fan of Pearl Jam. All the grunge stuff was a bit different for me, I’ll be honest with you. There’s a few bands. I was kind of caught up in all the old stuff. I was kind of into the Monkees and all that when all that stuff was going down.”
Given the fact that Pearl Jam were something of a throwback to the days of classic rock, it’s surprising to find Gallagher discussing his love for a similar act, Guns N’ Roses, in the same breath. Although, it’s fair that Gallagher wasn’t really heavily invested in the Seattle grunge sound, so to hear him tell of his distaste for one of the genre’s mainstays shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise.
