“Put in that gravestone”: The gig Eddie Vedder considered the true end of grunge
The entire era of grunge was never supposed to unfold in the way it did. The Seattle scene was always happy being relatively insulated, so when they were being seen as the next massive movement in rock and roll, the last thing that most bands wanted to do was play the corporate game like they were Guns N’ Roses or The Rolling Stones. Although Pearl Jam were always proud of their roots in classic rock, Eddie Vedder knew there were moments when the scene they knew and loved was breathing its last breath.
Granted, none of the members of Pearl Jam subscribed to the “grunge” ideology. That was the kind of genre that was used by a bunch of journalists looking to cash in on a trend, and when looking at what every band had to offer, it’s easy to see why it was a bit strange to put them in the same pot. Nirvana didn’t sound like Alice in Chains, nor did either sound like Soundgarden, so why put them all in the same category?
Out of all the bands in Seattle, though, Pearl Jam seemed like they were the most ready for primetime. Vedder wasn’t at all comfortable with being one of the biggest names in music, but listening to their massive riffs and his booming voice, they had all of the trademarks that people would be copying for years, whether that was Scott Stapp trying his best to sing like him or heartthrobs on TV sporting his trademark look.
Throughout every album they made in the 1990s, though, people in Seattle always knew how to put the band in their place. Stone Gossard spoke at length about how Kurt Cobain kept them on good behaviour most of the time, and even Mark Arm of Mudhoney held onto his traditional values of what he wanted to do, but as soon as Cobain passed away, the wind was knocked out of everyone.
Many point to that sad day in April 1994 as when everything came crashing down, but it’s not like everything collapsed around one person. Pearl Jam had plenty more great albums to make, like Yield, and Soundgarden were on the cusp of releasing Superunknown with ‘Black Hole Sun’, but as soon as the genre reached the 2000s, Vedder knew that watching Melvins playing was enough to sound the death knell for the genre.
Buzz Osborne had practically founded the genre before anyone cared in the mid-1980s, but when looking back on that time, Vedder felt that their recent shows were when things got pretty rough, saying, “The Melvins played Seattle, they played ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ and Leif Garrett was singing and Krist Novoselic came outonstage and took a couple photos. I think that capped the end. It’s official. It’s over. Put a stick in that gravestone.”
It’s not like Vedder doesn’t have somewhat of a point. The idea of grunge by the 2000s had become more of a fashion than a proper genre of music, and when looking at some of the heinous things that came from the post-grunge scene with acts like Puddle of Mudd and Staind, it was probably for the best that grunge be put out of its misery than have to carry on as a tired husk of itself.
It’s not like Pearl Jam didn’t still make good music after the 1990s ended, either. Everything from Binaural to Lightning Bolt to Dark Matter has had some fine moments throughout their runtimes, but it’s important for them to have grown into a traditional rock and roll band rather than have the shadow of grunge hanging over them.
