by Mark Yarm
6 It was at that time that Eddie took it over Eric Weisbard with Jessica Letkemann, Ann Powers, Chris Norris, William Van Meter, and Will Hermes, “Ten Past Ten,” Spin.com, August 2001. Reprinted with permission from Spin. All rights reserved.
7 I felt that with any more popularity we were going to be crushed Brian Hiatt, “Eddie Vedder’s Embarrassing Tale: Naked in Public,” RollingStone.com, June 20, 2006.
8 We were slow-dancing on a gym floor Brian Hiatt, “The Second Coming of Pearl Jam,” Rolling Stone, June 29, 2006.
9 Yeah, some kind of fucking summit Eric Weisbard et al., “Ten Past Ten.”
CHAPTER 33: Into the Night
1 I was actually in a store buying some beer Nick Bowcott, “Seattle Do Nicely: Jerry Cantrell,” Guitarist, April 1993.
2 It’s a dark album Katherine Turman, “Digging Out of the Dirt,” Los Angeles Times, August 1, 1993.
3 [“Rooster”] was all my perceptions of his experiences Jerry Cantrell, liner notes for Alice in Chains’ Music Bank box set, Columbia Records, 1999.
4 We were like hog wild, man Jon Wiederhorn interview with Jerry Cantrell, 1995; © Jon Wiederhorn.
CHAPTER 34: Fuck Hollywood!
1 Singles was in the can for a year before it came out Eric Weisbard with Jessica Letkemann, Ann Powers, Chris Norris, William Van Meter, and Will Hermes, “Ten Past Ten,” Spin.com, August 2001. Reprinted with permission from Spin. All rights reserved.
2 They were playing covers, and somebody got into a fight Ibid.
3 Mudhoney has an amazing song on the soundtrack Jeff Gilbert, “The Mouths That Scored: Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder and Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell Reflect on Their Success,” Guitar World Presents Nirvana and the Seattle Sound, 1993.
CHAPTER 35: A Problem with Weights and Measures
1 We were really sad about it, of course Jason Roberts, “A Sound Called Alice,” Guitar, December 1993.
2 We were touring with Nirvana to “You were dead for 11 minutes, Mike.” Loveline with Mike & Dr. Drew, radio interview with Mike Starr, February 16, 2010.
CHAPTER 36: Radio Friendly Unit Shifters
1 Our A&R man at the time, Gary Gersh, was freaking out Phil Sutcliffe, “King of Pain,” Q, October 1993.
CHAPTER 38: All the Rage?
1 I thought a lot of people were gonna be freaked out Jon Wiederhorn interview with Sean Kinney, 1995; © Jon Wiederhorn.
2 The second record, that was the one I enjoyed making the least Eric Weisbard with Jessica Letkemann, Ann Powers, Chris Norris, William Van Meter, and Will Hermes, “Ten Past Ten,” Spin.com, August 2001. Reprinted with permission from Spin. All rights reserved.
3 Recording Vs., there was a lot more pressure on Ed Ibid.
4 There’s a great song we recorded for Vs. Ibid.
5 Maybe I wasn’t ready for attention to be placed on me Ibid.
6 The record-breaking debut week of Pearl Jam’s “Vs.” Craig Rosen, “Sales Suggest Pearl Jam, Nirvana Are Here to Stay,” Billboard, November 6, 1993.
7 A $4 million-a-year major league baseball pitcher Michael Perlstein, “Slam Jam: Rocker, Cy Young Winner Team Up in Decatur Street Brawl,” The Times-Picayune, November 19, 1993; © 2010 The Times-Picayune. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.
8 I was with Blackie and Ed from Urge Allan Jones, “I’m Not Your Fuckin’ Messiah,” Melody Maker, May 21, 1994.
9 But I never threw a punch Ibid.
CHAPTER 39: In the Rocket
1 Kurt had gone all out for me David Fricke, “Life After Death,” Rolling Stone, December 15, 1994.
2 [Someone] called and said he’d passed in Rome Austin Scaggs, “On an Honor Roll,” Rolling Stone, July 28, 2005.
3 I was flying from L.A. up to Seattle The Last 48 Hours of Kurt Cobain, TV documentary, directed by John Dower, World of Wonder, 2007.
CHAPTER 40: Sitting in the Rubble
1 We used to go shooting together Steven Goldsmith and Dan Raley, “Friend Innocently Bought Shotgun for Cobain,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, April 15, 1994.
2 Hi, I’m Kurt Loder with an MTV News special report MTV News live broadcast, April 8, 1994.
3 We were these young people from southwest Washington Video interview with Krist Novoselic, November 18, 1999, courtesy of Experience Music Project Oral History Program.
4 There are some people that you meet in life Jo Whiley, BBC Radio 1 interview with Dave Grohl, November 8, 2009.
5 When I first found out, I was in a hotel room Robert Hilburn, “He Didn’t Ask for All This,” Los Angeles Times, May 1, 1994.
CHAPTER 41: Fucking Great Products
1 We were rehearsing at the Moore Theatre Jon Wiederhorn interview with Sean Kinney, 1995; © Jon Wiederhorn.
CHAPTER 42: Some Imploding Going On
1 The first record or two, Ed and I could talk Eric Weisbard with Jessica Letkemann, Ann Powers, Chris Norris, William Van Meter, and Will Hermes, “Ten Past Ten,” Spin.com, August 2001. Reprinted with permission from Spin. All rights reserved.
2 Vitalogy was the first record where Ed was the guy Ibid.
3 Vitalogy was a little strained Ibid.
4 I have to ask another question “Pearl Jam’s Antitrust Complaint: Questions About Concert, Sports, and Theater Ticket Handling Charges and Other Practices,” from the hearing before the Information, Justice, Transportation and Agriculture Subcommittee of the Committee on Government Operations, House of Representatives, June 30, 1994.
5 I am not going to answer that question Ibid.
6 That whole thing was a joke Weisbard et al., “Ten Past Ten.”
7 Dave was a different egg for sure Ibid.
8 It was the nature of how the politics worked in our band Ibid.
9 We’d be playing parks and racetracks Dave Simpson, “Pearl Jam: ‘People Get That This Means Something,’ ” The Guardian, August 13, 2009.
10 I thought I was going to die Brad Kava, “Vedder Days,” San Jose Mercury News, November 3, 1995.
11 We were afraid there’d be a riot Weisbard et al., “Ten Past Ten.”
12 Eventually they came out with a press release Ibid.
CHAPTER 43: The Mad Season
1 We had a lot of meetings Jeff Gilbert, “Alive: Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready Says Goodbye to Drugs and Alcohol and Is a Better Man for It,” Guitar World, April 1995; © Jeff Gilbert.
2 A lot of hallucinogenic mushrooms grow in the area Ibid.
3 I was under the mistaken theory I could help him out Charles R. Cross, “The Last Days of Layne Staley,” Rolling Stone, June 6, 2002.
4 A lot of the songs that Jerry and Layne wrote Jon Wiederhorn interview with Sean Kinney, 1995; © Jon Wiederhorn.
CHAPTER 46: 70 Percent Off All Flannel
1 After Kurt’s death, I was about as confused as I’ve ever been Capitol Records press release, Foo Fighters biography, 1995. 503 That fucking letter saved my life Ibid.
2 I liked coke a lot TAD: Busted Circuits and Ringing Ears, documentary, directed by Ryan Short and Adam Pease, King of Hearts Productions, 2008.
CHAPTER 47: Fell on Black Days
1 During the Down on the Upside period David Peisner interview with Chris Cornell, 2010; © David Peisner.
2 The bass rig wasn’t working in sound check Ibid.
3 It was mentally, physically, and spiritually a fucked-up point David Peisner, “Alive in the Superunknown,” Spin, September 2010.
4 Everyone wanted to put out the record to capitalize Jason Fine, “Hot Band: Screaming Trees,” Rolling Stone, August 22, 1996.
5 I mean, there was a time when I thought I didn’t have any choice Stevie Chick, “Mark Lanegan,” Loose Lips Sink Ships, February 2004; © Stevie Chick.
CHAPTER 48: Lost Nine Friends We’ll Never Know
1 Matt said, “Sure, I’ll do it” Eric Weisbard with Jessica Letkemann, Ann Powers, Chris Norris, William Van Meter, and Will Hermes, “Ten Past Ten,” Spin.com, August 2001. Reprinted with permission from Spin. All rights reserved.<
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2 Right before we went on that night Ibid.
3 Well, this particular show, the barrier was 30 meters away Ibid.
4 OSLO—Danish police have confirmed that the organizers Kai R. Lofthus, “Loss of Life Fails to Halt Festival; Nine Killed as Crowd Rushes Stage During Pearl Jam Set,” Billboard, July 15, 2000.
5 We were part of an event that was disorganized Weisbard et al., “Ten Past Ten.”
6 The reason those people died Ibid.
7 The intensity of the whole event starts to seem surreal Ibid.
8 Some of us thought maybe we should cancel Ibid.
9 I saw them in Seattle, the last show Ibid.
CHAPTER 49: My Friend, but Not My Friend
1 He died the day after my birthday Loveline with Mike & Dr. Drew, radio interview with Mike Starr, February 16, 2010.
2 I wish I wouldn’t have been high Celebrity Rehab 3, “Family Weekend” episode, aired on VH1 February 18, 2010.
3 I went home and I blacked out Ibid.
4 The rock world lost one of its more honest voices this weekend MTV News report, weekend of April 20, 2002.
5 It’s like one of the world’s longest suicides Charles R. Cross, “The Last Days of Layne Staley,” Rolling Stone, June 6, 2002.
6 Was there more I could have done to help Layne? Mark Eglinton, “Alice in Chains Interview: Jerry Cantrell on Fighting Back to the Top,” thequietus.com, November 16, 2009.
7 It felt like when Layne passed away Martin Kuiper video interview with Jerry Cantrell and Sean Kinney, FaceCulture.com, January 11, 2010; © FaceCulture 2010.
8 “Died of a heroin overdose” Ibid.
Mark Yarm is a former senior editor at Blender magazine. He has written for Wired, Men’s Health, Esquire, Salon.com, and many other publications. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Bonnie. For more information, visit MarkYarm.com.