The artist that almost made Eddie Vedder quit music: “I don’t know if I can do it any more”
The decision to hang up a guitar for the last time isn’t something that any rock musician takes lightly. The whole point behind making music is to make sure that someone can relate to their fellow man through song, and the thought of quitting on the spot is something that someone has to think about long and hard, almost wondering if they have anything else to say. While Pearl Jam may have been absolutely necessary during the 1990s grunge movement, that didn’t mean that they weren’t questioning their reasons for being at the top.
Had Eddie Vedder had his way, the band would have had a slow-burn career like his heroes did. He was always a fan of bands like Fugazi and REM, who took the long road to legendary status, but once Ten became one of the biggest records of 1991, everyone started treating him like a rock and roll god and someone who presumably had all of the answers to what life was about.
When you give someone with their own set of problems that kind of attention, though, it can be a recipe for disaster. Even though people like Chris Cornell and Layne Staley managed to lean into their superstardom by being a little goofy or playing up the vocals in Cornell’s case, Vedder was always ready for war from the minute that he started performing in massive stadiums.
It might have been a massive gift to have millions of screaming fans, but looking back on Vedder’s behaviour, it wasn’t all that dissimilar from what Kurt Cobain was dealing with. If the Pearl Jam frontman wanted to be in a decent rock and roll band, though, Cobain was even more desensitised to everything, getting the label of the ‘voice of a generation’ and becoming synonymous with rock despite his punk rock credentials.
Even though the fame helped stabilise both of them, Cobain’s tragic passing wasn’t simply another rock and roll casualty. The next movement of music had been snuffed out in an instant, and while Pearl Jam hadn’t had the best relationship with Nirvana throughout their time in the spotlight, Vedder said he had to take a good look at where Pearl Jam was if they were even going to carry on.
Although grunge was still alive and well on the charts, Vedder thought the loss of Cobain could have been enough for Pearl Jam to hang it up, recalling at the time, “You know, all these people man, all lining up to say that his death was so fucking inevitable… well, if it was inevitable for him, it’s gonna be inevitable for me, too, if this continues. That’s why this could be our last show in fuckin’ forever as far as I’m concerned. Kurt’s death has changed everything. I don’t know if I can do it any more.”
While Pearl Jam did take their foot off the gas slightly when it came to releasing pop material on albums like No Code, the loss of Cobain was precisely when they needed to carry on. The kids who found a voice in this music were now in terrible shape knowing their leader had gone, and if every band around Nirvana suddenly fell apart as well, it would have been proof that all of that pain never really had an outlet.
Vedder did still find a way to keep moving forward, but even Stone Gossard had to thank Cobain for what he gave the world when he was alive, saying that Pearl Jam are half as good as they are today because of him. Most of the Seattle community might have given their left arm to have Cobain back again, but even if he fell at the height of his fame, that doesn’t mean that his music doesn’t still reverberate throughout rock history.
