Two of the most iconic bands of the grunge era are undoubtedly Pearl Jam. and Nirvana. And contrary to what was expected – that there was an incorruptible friendship between both groups – the truth is that the leader of Nirvana I had no kind of appreciation for the artistic quality of Eddie Vedder and company.
And it is that, although he always tried to be courteous with the leader of Pearl Jam (in an interview with MTV he said he thought “a very nice guy“); and although both came from more or less the same background (isolated teenagers who found refuge in rock), that does not mean that, necessarily, their musical philosophy was the same.
By the time they rose to fame with their respective bands, Seattle had become the capital of a new breed of alternative music, one that viewed mainstream rock as corrupt, bloated, and redundant. Like punk, the grunge scene demanded a high level of authenticity from its artists. Those who did not measure up to the purity of the underground were despised and considered sellouts. Pearl Jam was one of those bands.
In this context, Cobain frequently criticized Pearl Jam, as he believed that they had simply adopted the aesthetics of the grunge underground scene, when they realized its reach and popularity. In his opinion, they lacked originality and were little more than a commercial rock group, dressed in ripped jeans and leather jackets..
In an early interview with the fanzine FlipsideCobain opened up about why he had always hated bands like Pearl Jam y Alice In Chains.
“These bands have been in the hairspray and cockrock scene for years and all of a sudden they stop washing their hair and start wearing flannel shirts. It doesn’t make any sense to me. There are bands that move from Los Angeles and everywhere to Seattle and then claim they’ve lived there their whole lives so they can get record deals. It really offends me.”
flip side via Far Out Magazine1992.
in the eyes of Cobain, Pearl Jam it was an unworthy addition to the grunge scene because little or nothing had been done to cultivate its aesthetic. They had simply exploited her.
However, it should be noted that the criticism of the interpreter of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was not directed at Eddie Vedder as an individual, if not to what he and his project represented as a group and as artists. In a way, Pearl Jam were one more symptom of a scene that Cobain He considered that he was contaminating himself little by little.
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