Unlike Eddie Vedder, Pearl Jam’s Stone Gossard Enjoyed Motley Crue
Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard has come to the defense of Motley Crue after PJ singer Eddie Vedder criticized Crue and '80s hair metal in a January interview. The singer's comment started a war of words between Vedder and Crue's Nikki Sixx.
On Tuesday (Feb. 14), Gossard appeared in an interview with Revolver. Amid other topics, the musician addressed Crue and clarified that he and fellow founding Pearl Jam members Jeff Ament and Mike McCready enjoyed that style of hard rock. He added he even copped Crue's original version of their 1981 debut, Too Fast for Love, on the band's independent Leathur Records before they inked a major deal.
Watch the video down toward the bottom of this post. (The discussion comes at 18:47 in the clip.)
When asked about Vedder's comments, Gossard counters, "Jeff and Mike and I loved hard rock, like went through it all. I bought the first Motley Crue Leathur records. I thought it was, at the time, it was punk-like."
He adds, "It had the same — it's like Motorhead. There were things about it that I was discovering about British hard rock at that time, that also felt rebellious or against the norm or something that made me interested in it. And I always liked heavy — Sabbath and Zeppelin. And then like N.W.A and moving into industrial sort of heavy. But it always had to have a song."
On Jan. 31, Vedder The New York Times Magazine that he "despised" most hair metal of the 1980s. He singled out Motley Crue and their 1987 single "Girls, Girls, Girls" from the album of the same name.
Sixx struck back on Twitter on Feb. 5, calling Pearl Jam "one of the most boring bands in history" and making fun of Vedder's singing style. Pearl Jam responded with a tongue-in-cheek tweet on Feb. 6 that said, "We [love] our bored fans." It included a video of excited concertgoers at a Pearl Jam show.
Vedder again took a swipe at Motley Crue at the Pearl Jam singer's Feb. 6 solo performance in Newark, N.J., at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, supporting his new solo album, Earthling. Ahead of a drum solo from current Vedder band drummer and Red Hot Chili Peppers member Chad Smith, Vedder seemingly invoked Motley Crue's stage theatrics, particularly drummer Tommy Lee's often elaborate setups. He told the audience, "That drum kit — that silver, beautiful machine that he is the engine of — does not need to elevate or rotate to do its job. Let me just point that out."
Pearl Jam are currently planning a follow-up to their 2020 album, Gigaton. Gossard's other band Painted Shield recently dropped a music video for their song "Dead Man's Dream." This summer, Motley Crue plan to mount their twice-postponed Stadium Tour. Crue's Vince Neil recently returned to performing after falling and breaking his ribs during a solo show.