Music Eddie Vedder Taught Me - Part 2
This is a continuation of a blog about all of the bands and artists I am a fan of because of Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam. Read part 1 HERE
Fugazi
Eddie frequently talks about Fugazi, and for good reason. Not only are they a great band, but everything they do is DIY. They’ve turned down million dollar record contracts because they did not want to lose their ethics. Of course, through Fugazi I got turned on to Minor Threat, Ian Mckaye’s first band, which is also incredible. I think a lot of people find it surprising that a band as massively successful as Pearl Jam would be singing the praises of a band like Fugazi, but that’s what makes them great and probably why they’ve stuck around for so long. Pearl Jam have done what they wanted to do without compromising their values. A lot of artists are afraid to take this path because you could lose your audience. It’s scary. But, it’s important for Pearl Jam to show it can be done. They are still playing stadiums and they didn’t have to compromise.
Fugazi’s DIY ethics and critical lyrics have been a huge inspiration to me as an artist. For one, last year I released an album called Self Isolation that I recorded by myself in my basement only using my free Garageband. I also have taken more risk with lyrics. This extremely hard for me. I don’t have a massive fan base. I play small venues in rural areas where I could easily alienate people. But, are those people really going to become fans anyway?
Anyway, here is my favorite live performance by Fugazi:
The Ramones
The Ramones were a band I always knew about and liked, but I really learned to appreciate them through Eddie Vedder. The Ramones take two things I really love, 1960s style pop and raw power, and combines them. It’s got melody but it also makes you want to break stuff. Johnny Ramone became a huge guitar inspiration for me and Dee Dee’s song writing abilities taught me that simplicity can sometimes express the most complicated feelings. Joey taught me how to be cool. Let’s not forget the raw power of Marky, CJ, and Tommy either. Here one of my favorite live performances by The Ramones:
Mono Men
Eddie Vedder frequently covered the Mono Men song “Watch Outside” in the late 90s. This is another lesser known garage band from Seattle that should have gotten more attention than they did. They were also featured in the documentary “Hype!” about the Seattle scene in the 90s. If you are fan of good old fashion Garage Rock, then you will love the Mono Men. Give ’em a listen.
By the way, I got to play this song with some musicians last year that I threw together a show with. Seriously, we barely knew each other.
X
Along with The Germs and Social Distortion, X was one of the original Punk bands from Los Angeles. They also added a little bit of Rockabilly influence into their music, which is a huge plus for me. Eddie and the gang have played tons of X songs live.
I have always loved Billy Zoom’s guitar tone. I’ve also been a giant fan of Mike Ness’ guitar tone and playing. I found out not too long ago that Mike Ness had his amp modded by Billy Zoom. It made a ton of sense. I actually got to see X play at Riot Fest in Chicago a couple of years ago and it was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen.
R.E.M.
Another band I had known about for a long time and was already a casual fan, but Eddie Vedder definitely made me dive deep into their catalog. There’s an obvious connection to The Replacements, my favorite band of all time, but I learned a lot about melody and guitar playing from R.E.M. Peter Buck played mostly clean and without much trickery or shredding. It was just good.
Here’s probably my favorite song of theirs. However, that might change tomorrow.
Patti Smith
A great poet and singer that I was turned onto from PJ covering “People Have the Power,” a truly inspirational song. She came up from the New York punk scene in the 1970s with the Ramones and I’ve become a huge fan of hers. If you get. the chance check out not just her records but her books too. Also, another fun fact, Springsteen gave her the song “Because the Night.”
Here she is doing the incredibly powerful “People Have the Power” at the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame in 2000:
Damien Echols & the West Memphis 3
This is not a band but a pretty significant situation I learned from a Pearl Jam live performance.
VH1 used to air the Pearl Jam’s Touring Band 2000 movie pretty regularly. I saw it one night and I had to go to the mall to get it on VHS as soon as I could. Still didn’t have a DVD player at this point. During the song “Evolution” Eddie changes the lyrics to “Free the West Memphis 3” and opens his jacket to reveal a t-shirt with the same slogan and the mug shots of 3 young men. Check out the video, it happens at the 1:30 mark.
At first, I thought the West Memphis 3 was another band I needed to check out. So, I went on the internet (we may not have had a DVD player, but we had the internet at least) and I learned that the West Memphis 3 were actually three kids from Arkansas that were falsely imprisoned for the murder of three children. I became fascinated with the case and read everything I could about it. These kids were put in prison because the prosecution claimed that they killed these kids as a satanic ritual. The basis of their argument was that they listened to heavy metal music, dressed in black, and looked weird. There was really no other evidence against them. The whole town believed these accusations, especially the parents of the victims.
At the time I lived in a small town in West Virginia, and I could easily see how something like this could happen. I learned about the Paradise Lost documentaries and I watch them all. I started to tell everyone I could about the case. Even my parents, who are highly conservative folks, could not believe the injustice of this case and began telling their friends and neighbors about it as well.
Eleven years later the West Memphis 3 were finally freed from prison. According to books and articles, Eddie Vedder played a huge role in getting them released. Damien Echols, the “ring leader” wrote a book that was published after his release and he came to Chicago on a book tour. I got the chance to meet Damien at the event and get my copy of his book signed. One of the things I will never forget about meeting Damien was how gentle he was. It was as if you could feel from him that he could never hurt anyone. You would think all of those years on death row would have hardened him, but he was kind, warm, and it was peaceful to be in his presence.
Me with Damien Echols
I am still amazed that a 30 second clip of a Pearl Jam song led me to 12 years of being an advocate for a cause. But, that is probably why Eddie Vedder did that. How many other advocates were created from that moment? It bothers me to hear people say that artists need to shut up any play their music. No they don’t. They should use their platform for good. Which is what Pearl Jam does.
Please visit http://wm3.org for more information on Damien and the case.