WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.220 When you look back at the topography of 1990s 00:00:03.220 --> 00:00:06.960 rock music, specifically that seismic shift we 00:00:06.960 --> 00:00:09.000 call grunge, it really does look like a battlefield 00:00:09.000 --> 00:00:11.279 in hindsight. It does. It was a cultural revolution, 00:00:11.500 --> 00:00:14.560 absolutely. It just completely replaced the hairspray 00:00:14.560 --> 00:00:17.239 and, you know, the excess of the 80s with flannel, 00:00:17.260 --> 00:00:21.079 with distortion, and this really distinct brand 00:00:21.079 --> 00:00:25.500 of raw, bleeding heart authenticity. But when 00:00:25.500 --> 00:00:27.379 you look at the generals of that revolution, 00:00:27.640 --> 00:00:30.359 you know, the big four bands, There's this haunting 00:00:30.359 --> 00:00:33.039 realization that you just can't shake. Right. 00:00:33.140 --> 00:00:36.020 Kurt Cobain is gone. Gone. Layne Staley is gone. 00:00:36.299 --> 00:00:38.799 Chris Cornell is gone. It is a heavy legacy. 00:00:38.920 --> 00:00:41.820 I mean, we often romanticize the artistic output 00:00:41.820 --> 00:00:44.079 of that era, and we should, but the casualty 00:00:44.079 --> 00:00:47.259 rate among its leading men was just, it was devastatingly 00:00:47.259 --> 00:00:49.740 high. It was. It was a time of incredibly intense 00:00:49.740 --> 00:00:54.159 expression, but also incredibly intense self 00:00:54.159 --> 00:00:56.899 -destruction. Exactly. But there is one figure, 00:00:57.060 --> 00:00:59.200 one person standing at the center of that storm 00:00:59.200 --> 00:01:01.759 who didn't just survive the wreckage. Yeah. He 00:01:01.759 --> 00:01:03.740 managed to evolve into something completely different. 00:01:03.820 --> 00:01:07.019 He went from being this shy, angry kid, literally 00:01:07.019 --> 00:01:09.659 climbing the stage, rigging, risking his life 00:01:09.659 --> 00:01:12.680 every night to becoming an elder statesman, a 00:01:12.680 --> 00:01:15.859 dedicated political activist and a global icon 00:01:15.859 --> 00:01:18.730 who is still filling stadiums today. We're talking, 00:01:18.750 --> 00:01:20.689 of course, about Eddie Vedder. Of course. And 00:01:20.689 --> 00:01:23.709 that word survival is really the lens through 00:01:23.709 --> 00:01:25.670 which we have to view his entire career, isn't 00:01:25.670 --> 00:01:28.109 it? Oh, absolutely. This isn't just a story about 00:01:28.109 --> 00:01:30.670 a guy who sang in a famous band. This is more 00:01:30.670 --> 00:01:33.709 like a case study on how to navigate sudden crushing 00:01:33.709 --> 00:01:36.510 fame without losing your mind. Or your life. 00:01:36.670 --> 00:01:39.590 Or your life. Yeah. It's about someone who looked... 00:01:39.629 --> 00:01:42.469 directly into the abyss that consumed so many 00:01:42.469 --> 00:01:44.989 of his peers and just found a way to build a 00:01:44.989 --> 00:01:47.650 bridge over it. So today we are doing a massive 00:01:47.650 --> 00:01:50.969 deep dive into a really comprehensive profile 00:01:50.969 --> 00:01:52.989 of Vedder. We aren't just skimming the hits. 00:01:53.030 --> 00:01:54.989 We are going to look at the Mama Son tape that 00:01:54.989 --> 00:01:56.969 started it all. Which is an incredible story 00:01:56.969 --> 00:01:58.890 in itself. It's unbelievable. And we're going 00:01:58.890 --> 00:02:00.989 to look at the intense war he waged against the 00:02:00.989 --> 00:02:03.530 music industry and the personal tragedies that 00:02:03.530 --> 00:02:06.250 really reshaped his entire worldview. We have 00:02:06.250 --> 00:02:08.879 a lot of ground to cover. We need to analyze 00:02:08.879 --> 00:02:11.639 the psychological weight of his childhood in 00:02:11.639 --> 00:02:14.659 Illinois, the surfing epiphany in San Diego that 00:02:14.659 --> 00:02:17.280 honestly changed music history. It really did. 00:02:17.500 --> 00:02:20.520 And how he pivoted from being the reluctant face 00:02:20.520 --> 00:02:23.740 of a generation to being a private citizen who 00:02:23.740 --> 00:02:26.479 just happens to be a rock star. The mission for 00:02:26.479 --> 00:02:28.900 this deep dive is to find the man behind that 00:02:28.900 --> 00:02:31.879 baritone voice. How did a surfer working the 00:02:31.879 --> 00:02:34.219 night shift at a gas station end up fronting 00:02:34.219 --> 00:02:36.379 the biggest band in the world? And maybe more 00:02:36.379 --> 00:02:40.159 importantly, once he got there, why did he try 00:02:40.159 --> 00:02:42.759 so hard to dismantle the very machine that made 00:02:42.759 --> 00:02:45.620 him famous? That's the core question. To answer 00:02:45.620 --> 00:02:47.659 that, I think we have to start with the concept 00:02:47.659 --> 00:02:50.370 of identity. Because for the first, you know, 00:02:50.370 --> 00:02:52.349 the most formative portion of his life, Eddie 00:02:52.349 --> 00:02:54.250 Vedder didn't even know who he really was. Right. 00:02:54.349 --> 00:02:57.110 He wasn't born Eddie Vedder. That name came much, 00:02:57.189 --> 00:02:59.469 much later. Not at all. He was born Edward Louis 00:02:59.469 --> 00:03:02.349 Severson III. Yeah. This was in Evanston, Illinois, 00:03:02.490 --> 00:03:05.710 back in 1964. But the defining event of his early 00:03:05.710 --> 00:03:07.789 life, the thing that shaped everything, happened 00:03:07.789 --> 00:03:10.770 before he could even form memories. His biological 00:03:10.770 --> 00:03:13.490 father, Edward Severson Jr., and his mother, 00:03:13.590 --> 00:03:17.979 Karen, they divorced in 1965. Eddie was just 00:03:17.979 --> 00:03:21.759 an infant. A baby, yeah. And his mother quickly 00:03:21.759 --> 00:03:23.780 remarried a man named Peter Mueller. And this 00:03:23.780 --> 00:03:25.659 is where the deception begins. It's kind of the 00:03:25.659 --> 00:03:28.780 original sin of his biography in a way. That's 00:03:28.780 --> 00:03:31.219 a perfect way to put it, precisely. Eddie was 00:03:31.219 --> 00:03:33.719 raised believing that Peter Mueller was his biological 00:03:33.719 --> 00:03:37.800 father. He grew up as Edward Mueller. Wow. And 00:03:37.800 --> 00:03:39.680 this wasn't just, you know, a passive omission 00:03:39.680 --> 00:03:41.300 where they just didn't talk about it. It was 00:03:41.300 --> 00:03:43.819 an active construction of a reality that wasn't 00:03:43.819 --> 00:03:46.120 true. He built his entire childhood identity 00:03:46.120 --> 00:03:49.400 around this man being his dad. And the home environment 00:03:49.400 --> 00:03:51.979 itself in Evanston sounds incredibly complex. 00:03:52.060 --> 00:03:54.479 I mean, the source material mentions that the 00:03:54.479 --> 00:03:56.159 family fostered children, which is something 00:03:56.159 --> 00:03:58.719 I hadn't realized before. Yes, and not just one 00:03:58.719 --> 00:04:01.419 or two. They fostered seven younger children 00:04:01.419 --> 00:04:05.800 in a group home setting. Seven. Now, just pause 00:04:05.800 --> 00:04:07.800 and think about the psychology of that for a 00:04:07.800 --> 00:04:10.460 young boy. You're living in a house that is, 00:04:10.500 --> 00:04:14.110 by its very nature, It's filled with other kids 00:04:14.110 --> 00:04:16.569 coming and going. Right. You're navigating this 00:04:16.569 --> 00:04:20.290 chaotic family structure where attention is, 00:04:20.290 --> 00:04:22.689 you know, the very scarce resource. It just creates 00:04:22.689 --> 00:04:24.949 a baseline of instability. It's almost like a 00:04:24.949 --> 00:04:27.629 crowded loneliness. You're surrounded by people, 00:04:27.709 --> 00:04:29.970 but your own place in the hierarchy must have 00:04:29.970 --> 00:04:32.610 been so confusing. And then in the mid 70s, the 00:04:32.610 --> 00:04:35.290 family just uproots and moves. They move to San 00:04:35.290 --> 00:04:38.649 Diego County. And this move is absolutely critical 00:04:38.649 --> 00:04:41.389 because it introduces the two pillars that would 00:04:41.389 --> 00:04:43.370 essentially save his life later on. Music and 00:04:43.370 --> 00:04:45.790 the ocean. Music and the ocean. He gets a guitar 00:04:45.790 --> 00:04:48.550 from his mother for his 12th birthday. And there's 00:04:48.550 --> 00:04:50.689 this quote where he reflects on this time saying, 00:04:50.810 --> 00:04:54.769 when I was around 15 or 16, I was all alone except 00:04:54.769 --> 00:04:57.569 for music. And he gravitated toward quadrophenia 00:04:57.569 --> 00:05:00.420 by The Who, which. If you know that album, it's 00:05:00.420 --> 00:05:02.639 so, so telling. Oh, it's a roadmap. It's a rock 00:05:02.639 --> 00:05:05.639 opera about a teenager with a split personality 00:05:05.639 --> 00:05:09.019 dealing with angst and fashion and just trying 00:05:09.019 --> 00:05:11.540 to belong. It's basically the soundtrack for 00:05:11.540 --> 00:05:13.759 an identity crisis. It was the perfect mirror 00:05:13.759 --> 00:05:15.899 for what he was about to experience because in 00:05:15.899 --> 00:05:18.759 his late teens, the floor just completely fell 00:05:18.759 --> 00:05:21.800 out from under him. Okay. His mother and his 00:05:21.800 --> 00:05:24.339 stepfather, Peter Mueller, they get a divorce. 00:05:24.800 --> 00:05:27.920 His mother moves back to the Chicago area, but... 00:05:28.250 --> 00:05:31.389 Eddie stays behind in California. He wants to 00:05:31.389 --> 00:05:33.470 finish high school. So he's on his own. He's 00:05:33.470 --> 00:05:35.170 living independently, trying to find his footing. 00:05:36.050 --> 00:05:38.189 And that is when his mother drops the bomb. The 00:05:38.189 --> 00:05:40.370 truth comes out. She tells him that Peter Mueller 00:05:40.370 --> 00:05:43.769 was not his father. His real father was a man 00:05:43.769 --> 00:05:48.230 named Edward Severson Jr. But the revelation 00:05:48.230 --> 00:05:50.589 came with a second, just crushing blow. What 00:05:50.589 --> 00:05:53.370 was that? She told him, you actually met him 00:05:53.370 --> 00:05:56.720 once. Wait, what? He had met his biological father 00:05:56.720 --> 00:05:58.279 without even knowing it? That sounds like something 00:05:58.279 --> 00:06:00.519 out of a Dickens novel. It's unbelievable. He'd 00:06:00.519 --> 00:06:02.139 been introduced to him as a child, but he was 00:06:02.139 --> 00:06:04.319 told this man was just a family friend of his 00:06:04.319 --> 00:06:06.660 parents. You know, just an acquaintance he saw 00:06:06.660 --> 00:06:10.740 briefly. So he has this fractured memory of a 00:06:10.740 --> 00:06:13.959 man he didn't know was his father. Exactly. And 00:06:13.959 --> 00:06:16.720 then came the final piece of the tragedy. By 00:06:16.720 --> 00:06:19.100 the time he learned the truth, Edward Severson 00:06:19.100 --> 00:06:22.220 Jr. was already dead. Oh, no. He had died of 00:06:22.220 --> 00:06:25.660 multiple sclerosis. That is a Greek tragedy level 00:06:25.660 --> 00:06:28.000 of irony. I mean, you're handed your identity 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:30.439 and your grief in the exact same sentence. Here's 00:06:30.439 --> 00:06:32.579 who you are. And oh, by the way, you will never 00:06:32.579 --> 00:06:34.740 get to explore it because he is gone. It's a 00:06:34.740 --> 00:06:37.319 really unique form of trauma. It's like grieving 00:06:37.319 --> 00:06:39.899 a ghost. You're not missing a relationship you 00:06:39.899 --> 00:06:42.379 had. You're mourning the impossibility of ever 00:06:42.379 --> 00:06:44.420 having one. Right. And for you listening, if 00:06:44.420 --> 00:06:46.000 you're a fan of Pearl Champ, this story isn't 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:49.160 just, you know, biographical trivia. This narrative 00:06:49.160 --> 00:06:52.439 is... the literal architecture of the song alive. 00:06:52.800 --> 00:06:54.759 Son, she said, have I got a little story for 00:06:54.759 --> 00:06:57.199 you? That's it. It is almost a transcript of 00:06:57.199 --> 00:06:59.500 that conversation. Vedder didn't just write a 00:06:59.500 --> 00:07:02.860 song about generic teen angst. He wrote a journalistic 00:07:02.860 --> 00:07:05.579 account of the moment his entire life fractured. 00:07:05.819 --> 00:07:08.240 And that trauma became the engine for his art. 00:07:08.420 --> 00:07:11.480 It gave him this depth of pain that just resonated 00:07:11.480 --> 00:07:13.740 with millions of people, even if they didn't 00:07:13.740 --> 00:07:16.339 know the specific details. Exactly. But before 00:07:16.339 --> 00:07:18.779 the art could pay the bills, he had to survive 00:07:18.779 --> 00:07:22.360 the economics of, just being a teenager on his 00:07:22.360 --> 00:07:24.639 own. The sources really paint a picture of a 00:07:24.639 --> 00:07:27.519 guy who was grinding, you know, not some privileged 00:07:27.519 --> 00:07:31.120 kid playing rock star. He was. The pressure of 00:07:31.120 --> 00:07:33.480 supporting himself financially while trying to 00:07:33.480 --> 00:07:36.639 finish school was just too much. He actually 00:07:36.639 --> 00:07:39.220 dropped out of Sandy Guido High School. During 00:07:39.220 --> 00:07:41.259 his senior year. During his senior year. Yeah. 00:07:41.319 --> 00:07:43.439 Because he was working the night shift at a drugstore 00:07:43.439 --> 00:07:46.660 in Encinitas just to pay rent on an apartment. 00:07:47.199 --> 00:07:49.839 He couldn't balance the school books and the 00:07:49.839 --> 00:07:52.040 financial books, so to speak. I think that's 00:07:52.040 --> 00:07:54.279 such an important detail because later when he 00:07:54.279 --> 00:07:56.899 becomes this huge rock star, people can forget 00:07:56.899 --> 00:07:59.439 that he wasn't handed anything. He was a working 00:07:59.439 --> 00:08:02.379 class guy. Absolutely. He eventually got his 00:08:02.379 --> 00:08:04.980 GED from Oakton Community College. But yeah, 00:08:05.000 --> 00:08:06.860 he worked as a security guard at a hotel. He 00:08:06.860 --> 00:08:09.879 pumped gas. He was a laborer. A laborer. And 00:08:09.879 --> 00:08:12.199 that blue -collar ethic never really left him. 00:08:12.439 --> 00:08:14.519 Even on stage, he always looked like he had just 00:08:14.519 --> 00:08:16.839 come from a shift at the warehouse. Yeah, totally. 00:08:17.199 --> 00:08:19.519 And during this time, he changed his last name 00:08:19.519 --> 00:08:22.879 to Vador, which was his mother's maiden name, 00:08:23.019 --> 00:08:26.629 as a way to reclaim some sense of identity. In 00:08:26.629 --> 00:08:28.910 the late 80s, he's back in San Diego, and he's 00:08:28.910 --> 00:08:30.649 just immersing himself in the local music scene. 00:08:30.790 --> 00:08:32.669 He was in a few bands with some great names, 00:08:32.830 --> 00:08:38.049 Surf and Destroy, The Butts. The Butts is a classic 00:08:38.049 --> 00:08:41.049 garage band name. But the serious project, the 00:08:41.049 --> 00:08:43.909 one that got him some attention, was a band called 00:08:43.909 --> 00:08:46.909 Bad Radio. And they were described as progressive 00:08:46.909 --> 00:08:49.889 funk rock, which was very much the flavor of 00:08:49.889 --> 00:08:51.590 the time in Southern California. Oh, yeah. You're 00:08:51.590 --> 00:08:53.629 thinking Red Hot Chili Peppers, Fishbone, that 00:08:53.629 --> 00:08:55.570 whole scene. But Vedder wasn't really a funk 00:08:55.570 --> 00:08:58.129 guy, was he? At his core. Not at his core, no. 00:08:58.470 --> 00:09:00.629 The sources say he was pushing them toward a 00:09:00.629 --> 00:09:04.019 more alternative, a harder sound. You can kind 00:09:04.019 --> 00:09:06.179 of see his artistic compass was already pointing 00:09:06.179 --> 00:09:08.840 north towards Seattle, even if you didn't know 00:09:08.840 --> 00:09:11.480 it yet. He had a heavier, darker sensibility. 00:09:11.779 --> 00:09:14.519 He did. It didn't quite fit with the upbeat funk 00:09:14.519 --> 00:09:17.480 vibes. And speaking of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, 00:09:17.600 --> 00:09:20.059 there is a crucial connection here that changes 00:09:20.059 --> 00:09:24.240 everything. And it involves Jack Irons. The drummer. 00:09:24.500 --> 00:09:26.240 Right, the former drummer for the Chili Peppers. 00:09:26.440 --> 00:09:28.700 He and Eddie struck up a friendship in the San 00:09:28.700 --> 00:09:30.539 Diego scene. They'd play basketball together. 00:09:30.779 --> 00:09:35.009 In 1990... Jack Irons basically becomes the conduit 00:09:35.009 --> 00:09:37.710 for destiny. He hands Eddie a cassette tape. 00:09:37.830 --> 00:09:40.350 This is it. The Mama's Son tape. This is legendary 00:09:40.350 --> 00:09:42.809 stuff. It's like the Excalibur of grunge history. 00:09:43.009 --> 00:09:45.909 It really is. So Irons had received this demo 00:09:45.909 --> 00:09:49.110 tape from some guys in Seattle, Stone, Gassard, 00:09:49.110 --> 00:09:51.409 and Jeff Ammon. From Mother Love Bone? Well, 00:09:51.470 --> 00:09:54.090 formerly of Mother Love Bone. They had just been 00:09:54.090 --> 00:09:56.879 through their own... Massive tragedy. Their band 00:09:56.879 --> 00:09:59.299 was poised to be the next big thing. But their 00:09:59.299 --> 00:10:02.000 lead singer, Andrew Wood, had just died of a 00:10:02.000 --> 00:10:04.919 heroin overdose. So they were grieving, but they 00:10:04.919 --> 00:10:06.820 were looking for a new vocalist to try and keep 00:10:06.820 --> 00:10:09.299 the music going. Irons was supposed to pass the 00:10:09.299 --> 00:10:11.419 tape to another singer, but he gave it to Vedder 00:10:11.419 --> 00:10:14.240 instead. So let's set the scene. Eddie is working 00:10:14.240 --> 00:10:17.299 the graveyard shift at a gas station. He's listening 00:10:17.299 --> 00:10:19.879 to these instrumental tracks, and they're heady, 00:10:19.960 --> 00:10:23.779 they're moody, complex rock music. And then he 00:10:23.779 --> 00:10:26.429 goes surfing. and the ocean provides the breakthrough 00:10:26.429 --> 00:10:29.370 vetter says the lyrics just came to him while 00:10:29.370 --> 00:10:31.149 he was out in the water sitting on his board 00:10:31.149 --> 00:10:33.909 dealing with the cold and the fog wow he rushed 00:10:33.909 --> 00:10:36.570 back from the beach still wet and recorded the 00:10:36.570 --> 00:10:39.690 vocals but here's the key thing he didn't just 00:10:39.690 --> 00:10:42.269 write three separate songs he wrote a mini opera 00:10:42.269 --> 00:10:45.429 this is the mamasan trilogy we're talking alive 00:10:45.429 --> 00:10:49.200 once And footsteps. We've already touched on 00:10:49.200 --> 00:10:51.720 Alive being autobiographical, but how did the 00:10:51.720 --> 00:10:54.480 other two fit into this opera concept? This is 00:10:54.480 --> 00:10:57.659 where his creative genius just explodes. He took 00:10:57.659 --> 00:11:00.440 his real life, the boy discovering the lie about 00:11:00.440 --> 00:11:02.940 his father, which is Alive, and then he fictionalized 00:11:02.940 --> 00:11:05.299 the aftermath to explore the darkness. Okay, 00:11:05.379 --> 00:11:07.480 so he's building a narrative. A very dark one. 00:11:07.620 --> 00:11:10.100 In the second song, Once, the character snaps 00:11:10.100 --> 00:11:11.980 into the weight of that trauma and becomes a 00:11:11.980 --> 00:11:14.460 serial killer. The lyrics are incredibly violent 00:11:14.460 --> 00:11:17.679 and disturbed. Then in the third song, Footsteps, 00:11:17.860 --> 00:11:20.620 the character is in prison. He's on death row 00:11:20.620 --> 00:11:24.120 awaiting execution and he's looking back on what 00:11:24.120 --> 00:11:26.700 went wrong. So he processed his own trauma by 00:11:26.700 --> 00:11:29.980 taking it to its absolute darkest, most violent, 00:11:30.120 --> 00:11:32.759 logical, extreme and fiction. Exactly. That's 00:11:32.759 --> 00:11:35.639 catharsis through storytelling. He's saying this 00:11:35.639 --> 00:11:37.899 pain could make someone crazy. And then he writes 00:11:37.899 --> 00:11:39.960 the story of the person who actually went crazy. 00:11:40.080 --> 00:11:42.759 Precisely. It was a way for him to exercise the 00:11:42.759 --> 00:11:45.450 demons without becoming them. So he records these 00:11:45.450 --> 00:11:47.750 vocals over the instrumental tracks, dubs the 00:11:47.750 --> 00:11:50.490 tape and mails it back to Seattle. Now, you have 00:11:50.490 --> 00:11:53.269 to imagine being Stone Gassard and Jeff Amon. 00:11:53.289 --> 00:11:57.689 You are grieving Andrew Wood, who was this. This 00:11:57.689 --> 00:12:00.769 flamboyant, glam rock front man, very colorful, 00:12:01.009 --> 00:12:03.269 very extroverted. A completely different energy. 00:12:03.450 --> 00:12:05.870 And you pop in a cassette from some random surfer 00:12:05.870 --> 00:12:08.409 in San Diego and out comes that voice. It must 00:12:08.409 --> 00:12:10.309 have been shocking. I mean, it was deep, it was 00:12:10.309 --> 00:12:13.389 resonant, and it possessed a gravity that Andrew 00:12:13.389 --> 00:12:15.429 Wood never had. It wasn't just an audition tape. 00:12:15.549 --> 00:12:18.149 Yeah. It was a fully realized artistic statement. 00:12:18.190 --> 00:12:20.230 They were instantly impressed. By the unique 00:12:20.230 --> 00:12:23.299 sound, the emotional weight, all of it. They 00:12:23.299 --> 00:12:25.039 flew him up to Seattle immediately. And this 00:12:25.039 --> 00:12:27.100 leads to a moment that I think is the real birth 00:12:27.100 --> 00:12:30.019 of Eddie Vedder as we know him. It happens before 00:12:30.019 --> 00:12:32.320 Pearl Jam is even fully formed. We're talking 00:12:32.320 --> 00:12:34.940 about the Temple of the Dog project. This is 00:12:34.940 --> 00:12:37.559 such crucial context. So Temple of the Dog was 00:12:37.559 --> 00:12:40.460 a tribute album for Andrew Wood organized by 00:12:40.460 --> 00:12:43.259 Chris Cornell of Soundgarden. A super group of 00:12:43.259 --> 00:12:45.519 Seattle musicians. Right. And Vedder arrives 00:12:45.519 --> 00:12:48.419 in town. He's the new guy. He's shy. He doesn't 00:12:48.419 --> 00:12:50.600 know anybody. And he's walking into a room full 00:12:50.600 --> 00:12:52.220 of people who have known each other for years 00:12:52.220 --> 00:12:54.879 and are all mourning a best friend. That is a 00:12:54.879 --> 00:12:57.259 tough room to work. You're the outsider stepping 00:12:57.259 --> 00:13:00.720 into a wake. It is a very tough room. But then 00:13:00.720 --> 00:13:02.799 comes the hunger strike session. Yeah. Chris 00:13:02.799 --> 00:13:05.120 Cornell had written this song, and he was struggling 00:13:05.120 --> 00:13:08.220 to record the vocals. He had this idea for a 00:13:08.220 --> 00:13:11.230 duet in his head. A low vocal and a high vocal, 00:13:11.509 --> 00:13:13.690 but he was trying to sing both parts himself. 00:13:13.990 --> 00:13:15.809 And he couldn't do it. He was running out of 00:13:15.809 --> 00:13:18.190 breath. He couldn't make the transition from 00:13:18.190 --> 00:13:20.389 the low register to the high one fast enough. 00:13:20.649 --> 00:13:22.909 And Eddie is just sitting in the back of the 00:13:22.909 --> 00:13:25.070 rehearsal space, just waiting for his own band 00:13:25.070 --> 00:13:28.409 to practice. He is. He's just watching. But he 00:13:28.409 --> 00:13:31.590 sees Cornell struggling. And without being asked, 00:13:31.629 --> 00:13:34.370 without any ego, he just, he walks up to the 00:13:34.370 --> 00:13:36.730 microphone. And starts singing. Starts singing 00:13:36.730 --> 00:13:39.019 the low part. I don't mind stealing bread. Just 00:13:39.019 --> 00:13:42.139 that deep, rumbling baritone. And Cornell, who 00:13:42.139 --> 00:13:44.960 had one of the greatest rock voices in history, 00:13:45.259 --> 00:13:48.200 he just instinctively takes the high harmony. 00:13:48.659 --> 00:13:51.240 Instantly. Cornell later said he was completely 00:13:51.240 --> 00:13:54.620 amazed because Eddie sang it exactly the way 00:13:54.620 --> 00:13:57.120 he had heard it in his head. It was pure musical 00:13:57.120 --> 00:13:59.399 instinct. That moment feels like a knighting 00:13:59.399 --> 00:14:01.899 ceremony. You have Chris Cornell, who was basically 00:14:01.899 --> 00:14:04.159 the king of Seattle at that point, validating 00:14:04.159 --> 00:14:07.139 the new kid. Mike McCready, Pearl Jam's guitarist, 00:14:07.240 --> 00:14:10.080 said Cornell essentially gave Vedder his blessing 00:14:10.080 --> 00:14:12.940 right then and there. It forged a bond between 00:14:12.940 --> 00:14:15.559 them that was incredibly deep. Cornell became 00:14:15.559 --> 00:14:17.940 like an older brother to Vedder. And for the 00:14:17.940 --> 00:14:19.879 rest of the Seattle scene, it signaled that this 00:14:19.879 --> 00:14:22.659 guy from San Diego, he belonged. It wasn't just 00:14:22.659 --> 00:14:25.480 about talent. It was about musical empathy. So 00:14:25.480 --> 00:14:29.120 the band forms. They originally call themselves 00:14:29.120 --> 00:14:31.759 Mookie Blaylock after the NBA player, which is 00:14:31.759 --> 00:14:35.940 just peak 90s humor. It really is. But when they 00:14:35.940 --> 00:14:38.039 sign to Epic Records, they have to change the 00:14:38.039 --> 00:14:40.639 name. They go with Pearl Jam. And as a nod to 00:14:40.639 --> 00:14:43.779 Mookie, they title their debut album 10, which 00:14:43.779 --> 00:14:47.860 was his jersey number. And 10. Well, it's really 00:14:47.860 --> 00:14:50.019 hard to overstate the cultural footprint of that 00:14:50.019 --> 00:14:52.440 album. It's mass. It went 13 times platinum. 00:14:52.600 --> 00:14:54.919 Yeah. It remains one of the highest selling rock 00:14:54.919 --> 00:14:57.700 albums of all time. Alive, Even Flow, Black, 00:14:57.860 --> 00:15:00.320 Jeremy was just hit after hit after hit. And 00:15:00.320 --> 00:15:03.419 specifically the Jeremy video. That video was 00:15:03.419 --> 00:15:06.080 absolutely everywhere. Oh, yeah. It won Video 00:15:06.080 --> 00:15:09.480 of the Year at the MTV VMAs. Eddie Vedder's face, 00:15:09.659 --> 00:15:12.299 you know, those intense wide eyes. It became 00:15:12.299 --> 00:15:15.059 the face of rock music for a solid year. And 00:15:15.059 --> 00:15:17.250 that is exactly when. the trouble started because 00:15:17.250 --> 00:15:19.610 eddie vetter did not want to be the face of anything 00:15:19.610 --> 00:15:22.509 this is the recoil we see this happen with artists 00:15:22.509 --> 00:15:24.309 but usually they you know they lean into the 00:15:24.309 --> 00:15:26.450 fame or they complain about it but they keep 00:15:26.450 --> 00:15:28.490 cashing the checks right vetter ran the other 00:15:28.490 --> 00:15:32.950 way fast he felt the pressure physically He's 00:15:32.950 --> 00:15:35.190 spoken about how disturbing it was when fans 00:15:35.190 --> 00:15:36.909 would come up to him thinking he could save their 00:15:36.909 --> 00:15:40.330 lives or fix their problems. He called them impossible 00:15:40.330 --> 00:15:43.370 expectations. He was terrified. Terrified that 00:15:43.370 --> 00:15:45.289 the fame was going to hollow him out and turn 00:15:45.289 --> 00:15:47.850 him into a product. He hated the commodification 00:15:47.850 --> 00:15:51.539 of his own emotions. So the band... adopts this 00:15:51.539 --> 00:15:53.700 strategy of withdrawal. And this is fascinating 00:15:53.700 --> 00:15:56.059 because it goes against every single rule of 00:15:56.059 --> 00:15:58.379 capitalism in the music industry. They stopped 00:15:58.379 --> 00:16:00.740 making music videos. Just think about the magnitude 00:16:00.740 --> 00:16:03.139 of that decision for a second. They had just 00:16:03.139 --> 00:16:05.340 one video of the year. They were the darlings 00:16:05.340 --> 00:16:09.139 of MTV. And they just said, nope, we are never 00:16:09.139 --> 00:16:11.679 doing that again. No videos for V's or Vitology. 00:16:11.879 --> 00:16:14.820 None. They refused to do press. They just wanted 00:16:14.820 --> 00:16:16.620 the music to be the only thing that mattered. 00:16:16.779 --> 00:16:19.190 They were trying to cool down the heat. But then 00:16:19.190 --> 00:16:21.169 they took it a step further. They decided to 00:16:21.169 --> 00:16:23.850 go to war with the very infrastructure of the 00:16:23.850 --> 00:16:26.470 touring industry itself. The Ticketmaster battle. 00:16:26.669 --> 00:16:29.110 The Ticketmaster battle. This defines the mid 00:16:29.110 --> 00:16:32.629 -90s for Pearl Jam. Absolutely. In 1994, the 00:16:32.629 --> 00:16:34.889 band discovers that Ticketmaster is adding these 00:16:34.889 --> 00:16:37.549 service fees to their tickets that the band felt 00:16:37.549 --> 00:16:40.409 were just exploitative. They wanted to keep ticket 00:16:40.409 --> 00:16:42.649 prices low, you know, for the working class fans. 00:16:42.809 --> 00:16:45.690 Right. When Ticketmaster refused to budge. Pearl 00:16:45.690 --> 00:16:48.850 Jam canceled their entire summer tour and filed 00:16:48.850 --> 00:16:50.529 a complaint with the U .S. Justice Department, 00:16:50.789 --> 00:16:53.710 alleging a monopoly. They tried to tour without 00:16:53.710 --> 00:16:56.669 Ticketmaster. They were playing in fairgrounds, 00:16:56.669 --> 00:16:59.309 parks, these random venues. It was a logistical 00:16:59.309 --> 00:17:02.169 nightmare. It was complete chaos. Yeah. And frankly, 00:17:02.250 --> 00:17:04.069 they lost a lot of money. They couldn't tour 00:17:04.069 --> 00:17:07.170 efficiently for three years. But it cemented 00:17:07.170 --> 00:17:09.710 their reputation as a band with unshakable integrity. 00:17:10.069 --> 00:17:12.630 It showed the fans, we care more about your wallet 00:17:12.630 --> 00:17:16.089 than our own. 100%. But that integrity, it came 00:17:16.089 --> 00:17:18.769 with a cost inside the band, too. We have to 00:17:18.769 --> 00:17:20.950 talk about the firing of Dave Abruzzi. The drummer, 00:17:21.029 --> 00:17:22.710 right. He was the drummer during the explosion. 00:17:22.869 --> 00:17:25.789 He played on V's and Vitology. He did. But he 00:17:25.789 --> 00:17:28.289 was a bit more of a rock star type. He enjoyed 00:17:28.289 --> 00:17:30.970 the fame. He drove a nice car. And crucially, 00:17:31.049 --> 00:17:32.930 he did not agree with the Ticketmaster boycott. 00:17:33.279 --> 00:17:34.960 He thought it was hurting the band. He thought 00:17:34.960 --> 00:17:37.099 it was damaging their career. Yeah. So you have 00:17:37.099 --> 00:17:41.299 this philosophical split. You have Vedder, who 00:17:41.299 --> 00:17:44.500 is trying to deconstruct the fame, and Abruze, 00:17:44.559 --> 00:17:46.740 who's basically saying, why are we making this 00:17:46.740 --> 00:17:48.980 so hard on ourselves? And Vedder won that argument. 00:17:49.220 --> 00:17:53.480 He did. Abruze was fired in August of 1994. And 00:17:53.480 --> 00:17:56.460 who did they bring in to replace him? Jack Irons. 00:17:56.500 --> 00:17:58.779 Jack Irons. The friend who gave Eddie the tape 00:17:58.779 --> 00:18:01.420 in the first place? It brought the circle all 00:18:01.420 --> 00:18:04.619 the way back to that original connection. It 00:18:04.619 --> 00:18:07.799 was Vedder securing his vision for what the band 00:18:07.799 --> 00:18:10.940 should be. You can hear this turmoil in the music 00:18:10.940 --> 00:18:13.460 from that period. Vedder's was so aggressive, 00:18:13.599 --> 00:18:16.059 almost like an animal backed into a corner. And 00:18:16.059 --> 00:18:18.619 then Vitology was frantic and weird and almost 00:18:18.619 --> 00:18:21.039 claustrophobic. And Vedder started playing rhythm 00:18:21.039 --> 00:18:24.089 guitar more. pushing for a punkier, roarer sound. 00:18:24.329 --> 00:18:26.250 By the time they get to albums like No Code and 00:18:26.250 --> 00:18:28.490 Yield, Vedder is explicitly trying to make the 00:18:28.490 --> 00:18:31.269 music less catchy. He actually said, if we get 00:18:31.269 --> 00:18:33.109 any bigger, our heads are going to pop like grapes. 00:18:33.269 --> 00:18:36.369 He wanted to shed the bandwagon fans. He wanted 00:18:36.369 --> 00:18:38.930 to shrink the audience down to a manageable size 00:18:38.930 --> 00:18:42.130 so they could survive. He was actively sabotaging 00:18:42.130 --> 00:18:45.130 his own commercial appeal to save his soul. He 00:18:45.130 --> 00:18:46.849 even tried to hide his name. I mean, he used 00:18:46.849 --> 00:18:48.809 pseudonyms in the liner notes like Jerome Turner 00:18:48.809 --> 00:18:51.529 for his artwork. And West Seattle. West Seattle. 00:18:51.769 --> 00:18:53.549 He was trying to disappear into the background. 00:18:53.869 --> 00:18:57.230 But interestingly, as he pulled back from the 00:18:57.230 --> 00:19:00.130 Pearl Jam machine, he found a new way to express 00:19:00.130 --> 00:19:03.549 himself that was actually safer for him. Soundtracks. 00:19:03.670 --> 00:19:05.410 Soundtracks. This makes perfect sense, right? 00:19:05.509 --> 00:19:07.410 When you're doing a soundtrack, you are serving 00:19:07.410 --> 00:19:09.730 a story. You're not selling Eddie Vedder. It 00:19:09.730 --> 00:19:12.150 liberated him. Completely. He did that amazing 00:19:12.150 --> 00:19:14.690 work for Dead Man Walking with Nusrat Fateh Ali 00:19:14.690 --> 00:19:17.970 Khan, blending rock with Qawwali music. He covered 00:19:17.970 --> 00:19:20.950 the Beatles for I Am Sam. But the masterpiece 00:19:20.950 --> 00:19:24.650 of this era for him as a solo artist has to be 00:19:24.650 --> 00:19:27.109 Into the Wild. The Sean Penn film from 2007. 00:19:27.509 --> 00:19:29.690 It is the perfect marriage of artist and subject. 00:19:30.119 --> 00:19:32.119 The story of Christopher McCandless, this young 00:19:32.119 --> 00:19:34.359 man who just walks away from society, burns his 00:19:34.359 --> 00:19:36.339 money and goes to live in the Alaskan wilderness. 00:19:36.680 --> 00:19:39.259 It's the ultimate escape. It mirrors Vader's 00:19:39.259 --> 00:19:41.980 own desire to escape the machinery of the modern 00:19:41.980 --> 00:19:44.759 world. And the soundtrack is so stripped back. 00:19:44.799 --> 00:19:47.039 It's folk music. It's just Eddie and a guitar 00:19:47.039 --> 00:19:49.619 or a mandolin. And it won him a Golden Globe 00:19:49.619 --> 00:19:52.559 for the song Guaranteed. It proved that he could 00:19:52.559 --> 00:19:55.059 carry a project entirely on his own without the 00:19:55.059 --> 00:19:57.799 volume and the weight of Pearl Jam. It was vulnerable. 00:19:58.400 --> 00:20:00.920 and intimate. A huge moment for him. A pivotal 00:20:00.920 --> 00:20:03.140 moment where he stepped out as a songwriter, 00:20:03.299 --> 00:20:06.319 not just a frontman. And he doubled down on that 00:20:06.319 --> 00:20:10.099 intimacy with ukulele songs in 2011. Which, I 00:20:10.099 --> 00:20:12.259 have to say, if you told a grunge fan in 1992 00:20:12.259 --> 00:20:15.740 that the guy screaming Jeremy would one day release 00:20:15.740 --> 00:20:18.440 an entire ukulele album. They would have laughed 00:20:18.440 --> 00:20:20.299 you out of the room. Absolutely. But it shows 00:20:20.299 --> 00:20:23.460 his confidence. He no longer needed to scream 00:20:23.460 --> 00:20:26.180 to be heard. He had nothing left to prove. He 00:20:26.180 --> 00:20:28.180 could sit on a stool with his tiny instrument 00:20:28.180 --> 00:20:31.140 and still completely command the room. We've 00:20:31.140 --> 00:20:33.779 talked about his music, but we can't fully understand 00:20:33.779 --> 00:20:36.380 Vader without looking at his activism. He has 00:20:36.380 --> 00:20:39.500 never, ever been the shut up and sing type. Never. 00:20:39.799 --> 00:20:42.480 Not for a second. He views the microphone as 00:20:42.480 --> 00:20:44.980 a responsibility. If you have the attention of 00:20:44.980 --> 00:20:46.960 millions of people, you have to say something 00:20:46.960 --> 00:20:48.960 that matters. You can go all the way back to 00:20:48.960 --> 00:20:52.220 1992 to their MTV Unplugged performance. One 00:20:52.220 --> 00:20:54.339 of the most famous performances ever? During 00:20:54.339 --> 00:20:57.299 the song Porch, he gets up, he climbs up on his 00:20:57.299 --> 00:21:00.460 stool, pulls out a magic marker, and just writes, 00:21:00.809 --> 00:21:03.730 pro -choice on his arm in massive black letters 00:21:03.730 --> 00:21:06.910 for the cameras. He was literally branding himself 00:21:06.910 --> 00:21:10.250 with his politics on a global stage. And he followed 00:21:10.250 --> 00:21:12.569 that up with an essay for Spin magazine called 00:21:12.569 --> 00:21:16.490 Reclamation, all about abortion rights. But his 00:21:16.490 --> 00:21:18.849 activism goes much deeper than just slogans. 00:21:18.849 --> 00:21:20.730 He puts in the work. You have to look at the 00:21:20.730 --> 00:21:23.269 West Memphis Three case. This was the case where 00:21:23.269 --> 00:21:25.789 three teenagers in Arkansas were convicted of 00:21:25.789 --> 00:21:27.789 murder. And the conviction was based largely 00:21:27.789 --> 00:21:29.690 on the fact that they were outcasts who wore 00:21:29.690 --> 00:21:31.970 black and listened to heavy metal. It was a modern 00:21:31.970 --> 00:21:34.390 day witch hunt. And Vedder saw himself in those 00:21:34.390 --> 00:21:37.049 kids. He saw how society demonizes the outsider. 00:21:37.390 --> 00:21:39.730 He became a massive supporter of their legal 00:21:39.730 --> 00:21:43.049 defense. But he went further than that. He actually 00:21:43.049 --> 00:21:45.009 befriended Damien Echols, the one who was on 00:21:45.009 --> 00:21:47.490 death row. I didn't know that. They collaborated 00:21:47.490 --> 00:21:51.089 on a song, Army Reserve. They were sending tapes 00:21:51.089 --> 00:21:53.130 back and forth while Echols was still in prison. 00:21:53.369 --> 00:21:55.829 That's a serious dedication. And he was there 00:21:55.829 --> 00:21:58.089 when they were finally released in 2011, right? 00:21:58.150 --> 00:22:00.069 He was at the hearing. It wasn't a photo op for 00:22:00.069 --> 00:22:02.630 him. It was a decade -long commitment to justice. 00:22:03.029 --> 00:22:05.490 And then there's his charity work. He also co 00:22:05.490 --> 00:22:07.549 -founded the EB Research Partnership with his 00:22:07.549 --> 00:22:11.309 wife, Jill McCormick. Epidermolysis bullosa is 00:22:11.309 --> 00:22:13.829 this horrific genetic skin condition that affects 00:22:13.829 --> 00:22:17.329 children. Their skin is as fragile as a butterfly's 00:22:17.329 --> 00:22:19.900 wings. That's awful. Vedder has helped raise 00:22:19.900 --> 00:22:23.339 over $25 million for research into a cure. This 00:22:23.339 --> 00:22:26.180 is the shift. This is the angry young man becoming 00:22:26.180 --> 00:22:29.259 the responsible elder. He's using his accumulated 00:22:29.259 --> 00:22:32.200 power to affect tangible change in the world. 00:22:32.420 --> 00:22:34.460 Now, we do have to touch on the personal tragedies. 00:22:34.519 --> 00:22:36.640 Because while he survived the pressures of fame, 00:22:36.799 --> 00:22:38.619 he couldn't stop death from happening around 00:22:38.619 --> 00:22:41.480 him. And the most public of these was the Roskilde 00:22:41.480 --> 00:22:45.440 Festival in 2000. This is just... It's the darkest 00:22:45.440 --> 00:22:50.299 day in Pearl Jam's history. June 30. 2000. In 00:22:50.299 --> 00:22:53.140 Denmark. The band was playing their set, the 00:22:53.140 --> 00:22:55.880 crowd surged forward in the mud, and nine fans 00:22:55.880 --> 00:22:58.059 were crushed to death. It's an absolute nightmare 00:22:58.059 --> 00:23:00.720 to be standing on stage realizing that the joy 00:23:00.720 --> 00:23:03.099 you were trying to create is turning into a tragedy 00:23:03.099 --> 00:23:05.720 right in front of you. And the timing was just 00:23:05.720 --> 00:23:08.299 heartbreaking. Vedder had been told moments before 00:23:08.299 --> 00:23:10.500 the set that Chris Cornell's daughter had just 00:23:10.500 --> 00:23:12.920 been born. Oh, wow. So he was celebrating new 00:23:12.920 --> 00:23:15.589 life, and then an hour later... He was witnessing 00:23:15.589 --> 00:23:18.630 mass death. That kind of emotional whiplash. 00:23:18.630 --> 00:23:20.970 I mean, how do you even begin to recover from 00:23:20.970 --> 00:23:23.670 that? It nearly broke the band. They seriously 00:23:23.670 --> 00:23:26.170 considered quitting. They felt responsible, even 00:23:26.170 --> 00:23:28.450 though an investigation cleared them of any wrongdoing. 00:23:28.630 --> 00:23:30.369 It changed everything. It changed them forever. 00:23:30.470 --> 00:23:32.670 They had to completely rethink how they toured, 00:23:32.750 --> 00:23:35.509 demanding these strict new safety protocols from 00:23:35.509 --> 00:23:38.630 venues. Vedder said he leaned heavily on his 00:23:38.630 --> 00:23:40.980 friend Pete Townsend of The Who. during that 00:23:40.980 --> 00:23:43.240 time. The Who connection just keeps coming up. 00:23:43.299 --> 00:23:45.519 He's a real mentor figure for him. He really 00:23:45.519 --> 00:23:48.299 is. In fact, way back in 1993, when Vedder was 00:23:48.299 --> 00:23:51.519 completely overwhelmed by fame and was contemplating, 00:23:51.519 --> 00:23:54.140 you know, suicide or just quitting, it was Pete 00:23:54.140 --> 00:23:56.259 Townsend who talked him off the ledge. Really? 00:23:56.720 --> 00:23:58.720 Yeah. He told him to keep going, that his voice 00:23:58.720 --> 00:24:01.119 was important. It's amazing to see that lineage 00:24:01.119 --> 00:24:05.160 one generation's icon saving the next. But sadly, 00:24:05.319 --> 00:24:08.130 Vedder couldn't save everyone. The death of Chris 00:24:08.130 --> 00:24:11.150 Cornell in 2017. That was the blow that really 00:24:11.150 --> 00:24:13.910 shook the foundation. Cornell was the older brother. 00:24:14.390 --> 00:24:16.549 He was the one who welcomed Eddie to Seattle. 00:24:16.789 --> 00:24:20.009 With Cornell gone and Layne Staley and Kurt Cobain 00:24:20.009 --> 00:24:22.710 already gone, Vedder was suddenly the last man 00:24:22.710 --> 00:24:25.250 standing of that specific brotherhood. It must 00:24:25.250 --> 00:24:27.930 be an incredibly lonely position to be in, to 00:24:27.930 --> 00:24:29.609 be at the top of that mountain all by yourself. 00:24:29.690 --> 00:24:32.410 I can't imagine. He has spoken about the grief, 00:24:32.529 --> 00:24:34.670 saying he'll love Cornell forever. It's just... 00:24:35.289 --> 00:24:37.670 A profound loss. But to end on a slightly lighter 00:24:37.670 --> 00:24:39.130 note, there is one place where it seems like 00:24:39.130 --> 00:24:41.930 Eddie finds pure, unadulterated joy. Wrigley 00:24:41.930 --> 00:24:45.390 Field. The Chicago Cubs. He is a diehard superfan. 00:24:45.569 --> 00:24:48.789 He is. He sang Take Me Out to the Bowl Game during 00:24:48.789 --> 00:24:51.269 the World Series. He wrote a tribute song called 00:24:51.269 --> 00:24:53.890 All the Way for the legendary Ernie Banks. And 00:24:53.890 --> 00:24:56.069 when the Cubs finally won the World Series in 00:24:56.069 --> 00:24:58.990 2016, Eddie was right there on the field celebrating 00:24:58.990 --> 00:25:00.990 with them. It connects him all the way back to 00:25:00.990 --> 00:25:03.710 his childhood in Evanston. It humanizes him. 00:25:04.119 --> 00:25:06.299 He's not a rock god in that moment. He's just 00:25:06.299 --> 00:25:08.359 a guy who loves his baseball team. I love the 00:25:08.359 --> 00:25:11.200 concept of the Vedder Cup, too. Yes. The nickname 00:25:11.200 --> 00:25:13.740 for the baseball series between the Seattle Mariners 00:25:13.740 --> 00:25:16.420 and the San Diego Padres. Because he has deep 00:25:16.420 --> 00:25:18.920 roots in both cities. Exactly. The fans call 00:25:18.920 --> 00:25:20.799 it the Vedder Cup. It's just this great little 00:25:20.799 --> 00:25:23.619 nod to his dual identity. So here we are in the 00:25:23.619 --> 00:25:27.140 2020s. Eddie Vedder is now in his 60s. He's in 00:25:27.140 --> 00:25:29.400 the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Rolling Stone 00:25:29.400 --> 00:25:32.200 ranks him as the seventh best lead singer of 00:25:32.200 --> 00:25:35.779 all time. But what is the real legacy here? What's 00:25:35.779 --> 00:25:38.380 the final takeaway? I think the legacy is that 00:25:38.380 --> 00:25:41.579 he provided a blueprint for integrity in an industry 00:25:41.579 --> 00:25:44.640 that doesn't often reward it. He showed that 00:25:44.640 --> 00:25:46.799 you can reach the absolute pinnacle of commercial 00:25:46.799 --> 00:25:49.940 success without selling your soul. He fought 00:25:49.940 --> 00:25:53.019 Ticketmaster before anyone else did. He supported 00:25:53.019 --> 00:25:56.119 causes before they were trendy. And he kept his 00:25:56.119 --> 00:25:58.799 band together. Pearl Jam is still touring, still 00:25:58.799 --> 00:26:02.579 making vital music. That longevity is incredibly 00:26:02.579 --> 00:26:05.940 rare. He refused to become a casualty. He refused 00:26:05.940 --> 00:26:09.660 to let the myth of the tortured artist kill the 00:26:09.660 --> 00:26:12.799 actual man. Exactly. He is the survivor who learned 00:26:12.799 --> 00:26:15.180 how to live. So I want to leave you with this 00:26:15.180 --> 00:26:17.119 final thought. Go all the way back to that Mama 00:26:17.119 --> 00:26:20.259 Son tape. The surfing epiphany. Okay. Vedder 00:26:20.259 --> 00:26:23.480 took the most painful fact of his life, the death 00:26:23.480 --> 00:26:25.980 of a father he never knew, and he turned it into 00:26:25.980 --> 00:26:30.559 alive. He used art to process the poison. If 00:26:30.559 --> 00:26:33.680 he hadn't found that outlet, if he hadn't written 00:26:33.680 --> 00:26:36.220 those songs, would he have had the emotional 00:26:36.220 --> 00:26:38.259 tools to survive everything that came later? 00:26:38.480 --> 00:26:40.619 That's the ultimate question, isn't it? Did writing 00:26:40.619 --> 00:26:43.779 alive actually literally keep him alive? It's 00:26:43.779 --> 00:26:45.579 something to think about. It'd be better. The 00:26:45.579 --> 00:26:47.440 Survivor, thanks for joining us on this deep 00:26:47.440 --> 00:26:48.920 dive. It was a pleasure. We'll catch you next 00:26:48.920 --> 00:26:49.079 time.