Anyone who knows me well is aware of my reverence for Eddie Vedder. The above picture has been the focal point of my dorm room decor since my sophomore year. More often than not, people who visit my room ask me “who is that dude holding the ukulele?” Even worse, some of them have never heard of Eddie Vedder and I am forced to condense his brilliance to a mere sentence or two. If you are unfamiliar with Eddie Vedder and still want to be my friend, this post is for you.
Here are 10 reasons you should love Eddie as much as I do:
- Lead singer/guitarist of Pearl Jam since 1990. A quarter of a century later and Pearl Jam is still performing and producing great music. Check out this awesome footage of them playing at the Pinkpop festival in the Netherlands back in 1992
(note the extreme 90s hair).
http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGO-L0–BkA - Wrote and performed the entire soundtrack for Into the Wild.
Into the Wild is the true story of a guy who leaves society to go live alone in the Alaskan wilderness. *Spoiler* He later dies from eating poisonous plant. The album is appropriately haunting and sorrowful. Listen below:http://https://open.spotify.com/album/3H2Mr0PkWDtgdgVKt6c8c6
- Johnny Depp joined him onstage in 2010 for an especially heart-warming performance of “Society”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlKaec-GHCM
- Performed a heart-wrenching tribute to Lou Reed in Baltimore the day he died (October 27th, 2013). I was actually there and can confirm that the entire venue was tearing up. He followed this with a cover of the Velvet Underground’s “Waiting for the Man).
- Released a solo album of ukulele songs in 2011 – because Eddie Vedder can do anything.
http://https://open.spotify.com/album/6aAJSaFsL79u7AGas96NqB
- Weird Al wrote a song about him called “My Baby’s in Love With Eddie Vedder”.
(Thanks to wikipedia, I discovered this earlier today.) - He and Beyonce are basically best friends. Well, maybe not, but they did a duet of Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song” at the Global Citizen Festival earlier this year and it was spectacular.
- He dresses up with his kids for Halloween.
- One time, he slowdanced with Kurt Cobain backstage at the VMAs.
Even though Nirvana and Pearl Jam had a bit of a rivalry, being the two major grunge bands of the 90s, Kurt and Eddie respected each other. This clip reveals their true affection for one another. - He makes faces like this when he sings. As you can see, nothing’s really changed.
In conclusion, everything Eddie Vedder touches turns to gold. I hope I’ve now turned you all into superfans like myself.