Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament are two of the Seattle scene’s most foundational musicians from the 80’s and 90’s. Stone and Jeff started playing together in 1984 as members of Green River, which eventually dissolved, leading singer Mark Arm to form Mudhoney.
Later, Jeff played bass and Stone played guitar in Mother Love Bone until their lead singer Andrew Wood died of an overdose just days before their major label debut in March of 1990. Reeling from Andy’s death, Jeff and Stone started recording with Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell on a side project called Temple Of The Dog that featured vocals from a then unknown singer from San Diego named Eddie Vedder.
Later that year, Jeff and Stone asked Eddie to join their new band with guitarist Mike McCready. As Pearl Jam, they released their debut album Ten in August of ‘91-the album went 13 times platinum and charted on Billboard for nearly five years.
Since then, Pearl Jam have released 11 more albums and built a die-hard fan base thanks in part to their outstanding live shows. Last week they released their latest album, Dark Matter, which was produced by Andrew Watt, who's recently worked with Miley Cyrus, Iggy Pop, Post Malone and Ozzy Osborne.
On today’s episode Leah Rose talks to Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament about how Andrew Watt’s encyclopedic knowledge of Pearl Jam helped inspire some of their best performances to date. Stone and Jeff also open up about the inner-workings of their professional relationship, and Stone remembers the first time he met Eddie Vedder, who marked the occasion by passing him a hand-written poem.
You can hear a playlist of some of our favorite Pearl Jam songs here: open.spotify.com/playlist/0L9...
Thanks to GIK Acoustics for their custom-made Portable Isolation Booth. The PIB transforms any space into a studio making it the perfect choice for musicians, voice over artists, and podcasters looking to record crystal-clear audio: gikacoustics.com
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ABOUT BROKEN RECORD
For generations of music lovers, the liner notes on albums were a central part of the way music was heard. You bought an album and it came with an accompanying narrative: a digression, an aside, a backstory-maybe even an invented history. We intuitively understood that great music required not just listening but conversation between the artist and the audience and the audience and the rest of the world.
Broken Record is a podcast that restarts those conversations-in a world without liner notes-for a new audience of music lovers.
Broken Record is hosted by Justin Richmond with interviews by producer Rick Rubin, writer Malcolm Gladwell, and former New York Times editor Bruce Headlam.
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It's crazy and beautiful to think about these two guys' outsized influence on my life (via their music). Thank you for this conversation. It's everything.
Stone nails it when he talks about Jeff's skills. Jeff plays these beautiful counter-melodies underneath everything that shape the song in ways you don't realize right away. His ear for music and his ability to shape a song is incredible.
100%. pearl jam gets so much shit for being just a simple classic rock band. they are so much deeper than that, people just don't really listen to the harmonic complexity and incredible melodic sense of all of their tunes.
@@crestiferj2689loved your comment…
Man. Stone seems really excited about the new album thats good to hear
And not even that good… I wasted $45 on it at record store day! I already put it up for sale on discogs
I loved this interview, she made great questions and gave them time to elaborate the answers. I also found super interesting Jeff and Stone's introspective take on the dynamics of their relationship through time. I don't remember them having discussed this before, at least not with this depth and maturity. All in all a great conversation!
No one has influenced my own playing more than these two... and that's why I've never stopped loving music. Playing or listening... It never loses my interest.
Amazing interview, can't stop admiring these guys.
love these guys.
Man this is a great interview!
AWESOME INTERVIEW!! I LOVE STONE AND JEFF, I LOVE MIKE FREAKIN MCCREADY AND MATT FREAKIN CAMERON AND EDDIE VEDDER, I LOVE THAT MAN!! I'M SO EXCITED, I'M BUYING DARK MATTER. BUT PEARL JAM PLAYING LIVE IS A DIFFERENT LEVEL!! MY OPINION THE BEST LIVE BAND EVER!! I ADORE ANDREW WATT BIG PEARL JAM FAN!! CAN'T WAIT FOR THE DARK MATTER TOUR NEXT MONTH!! 😊🩷🤘✌️ AWESOME INTERVIEW!! THANK YOU FOR SHARING THIS AWESOME VIDEO!! IT'S REALLY AWESOME THAT THEY ARE EXCITED ABOUT THE NEW ALBUM.
Love these guys ❤
This was such an outstanding interview! Great job! Will definitely listen to it a few more times. Thanks for this!
These guy's and good ol McCready don't even know that they actually taught me how to play my guitar ❤thku 👽👽🤟🤟
Two of my favorite people
I'm 15 mins in and I'm already really loving the types of questions the interviewer is asking... eliciting very interesting and revealing answers from the band.
This was so excellent … their joy equals our joy… being in this tour ✌️❤️🤘
Great questions. Lovely Mirrorball recollections. Two of the greats.
Can't wait to see the sold out show in Portland, Oregon May 10th!❤
Enjoy!! Im seeing them twice in September! Very excited! ❤
And it's the last hours of pre-sale to Sept 's Ohana Fest today... Oregon's show will be Great!
That’s in 5 days! I hope you have a fantastic time! Come back and tell us how amazing it was❤
Great interview, thanks.
What Andrew did for Pearl Jam is truly genius. It might be hard to replicate on a following album, but I think they should definitely team up with him again. At this age I think it is time to do exactly what they seem to have done on Dark Matter and have him help them mine or Farm their discography for many of the really creative things they did in the past musically speaking and juxtapose them together in new ways because that's what I think this album did really well
Are you deaf? It's horrendously overproduced.
I have to say that I found it utterly boring from start to finish. Nothing happening at all or I just don’t like tracks. For their albums of the last 20 years backspacer is easily the best but gigaton was a vastly better album then this one. Vs is clearly going to always be their peak.
@@fuckgoogle8661I'd have Vitalogy as their best. Never cared for Vs. it's good but it's a bit sterile or something
love the interview, love this 2
Will you do more soundgarden songs ever? I like the breakdowns a lot! Thanks for being great and teaching me something on every video! Saving up to get your courses! ☮️
Gotta love these 2.
OMG, awesome, But one question, when will we get Rick Rubin and Pearl Jam to work together on a album? That would be lovely 😍
It should have been this one. Dark Matter. Whoever this Andrew Watt guy is, he and his team fucked up this recording. The songs are fantastic. I love this album. I love them all.
Thats the standard now then. Unless they can do the pearl jam high five after each song has finished, knowing they all contributed, put it on a solo album! Love the new record 😊
That’s awesome to hear more about Stone and Jeff’s initial work with Green River, not many interviewers get back there, pretty amazing to think they’ve been working together for this long. I can’t wait to see them live this year!
Pearl Jam ❤❤❤❤
yes.....just saw em 2 years ago at Bourbon and Beyond (Video on my channel) was my 5th show since mid 90s
Album was surprisingly outstanding. 33 years in, didn't anticipate such an effort.
Lol
Interesting they talk about Dave Krusens impact on the first album but still won't give any credit to Dave A who was arguably more impactful on Vs
Absolutely. Not only was he their best drummer, but he even wrote some good songs. He played guitar too. Oh, he drummed on Vitalogy too.
Their lack of respect for Dave A is absolutely criminal. He was by far their best drummer and took them to a peak level. Their overall quality has been declining ever since he was booted.
@@flipjupiter5077His work on Vs and Vitaology has been unmatched. I’ll never forget the huge disappointment first hearing No Code. The drumming was impressive but such a bad fit…like putting ice cream on top of pizza.
❤
I definitely don't know every Pearl Jam song on guitar, but I've learned several of the albums all the way through various times since I was in high school. I am the same age as Andrew Watt, maybe a little younger, strangely we have the same birthday oct 20. And it really shines through what they were saying about how he could reference parts of songs and chords that they've used. Being a guitarist and having listened to all of their albums albums and songs one of the things that I came away from the album was that they really Tastefully injected a lot of their old tricks, but in new ways and with different vibes. And now that I hear what they're saying about Andrew, it makes sense that they had that outside party who is an extreme fan to be able to help them distill a lot of the great things they've done. Like the song upper hand is a combination of so many things they've done in the past put together in a new way. I think he really helped those guys get out of their own way. Don't get me wrong Brendan O'Brien is an excellent producer but they needed this guy on this song. The song The fixer should be about Andrew watt in regards to Pearl Jam
My birthday is October 21. Fellow Libra baby!
SO JOSH K. IS STILL IN THE BAND? AWESOME!!! AND BOOM?
Sounds like Josh was a session player/collaborator for it. I haven't heard anything about Boom being involved in the studio, but I'm sure he'll be around as a touring member.
You're intro makes it sound like Eddie was some random guy that Stone and Jeff met by way of his participation on the Temple of Dog album and that they asked him to be their lead singer after those sessions. He was already the singer of their band and that is why he was included in the Temple of the Dog sessions.
Jeff said after Eddie's first trip he still didn't know if he was in the band. The Temple of the Dog sessions were during that first trip.
@@SoROwCycle Eddie arrived in Seattle on Oct 9th of 1990. It's well-documented that they immediately got to work, playing their first show a few days later on Oct 22nd of 1990 as Mookie Blaylock. The Temple of the Dog sessions were in Nov and Dec of 1990 and he wasn't a "then unknown singer" to Jeff, Stone and Mike, who were the ones that naturally introduced him to Chris.
Would love it if they did a Mirrorball 2.0💪🏻
Some really nice stuff on the record. It's a shame the mixing and mastering sound the way that they do. Super over compressed and crowded. It's tiring to listen to. Also hoping for a Brendan O'Brien remix eventually. Congrats to the band though for capturing the magic and Andrew Watt for bringing it out of them. Just need a different mix and master team. Nix the pop guys!
That's NOT the PJ origin story man. And..10? Has gone on to sell 16 mil 😜
How do you guys figure this is a "heavy" album? Sheesh.
I really like the album.. but what a crappy snare sound...
Drums are too quiet, kick especially, the whole album sounds too wide and thin like a pop album😢
These would be better with video.
The intro guy made it sound as if Cornell found Vedder for Temple of the Dog and then he went on to being in PJ. Bad take.
Songs good, Mix terrible. Can barely hear Mikes solos :(
heroin users passing poems is interesting. wasn't my experience except when coming down but I like the idea.
Ive never had my thing ripped open but i dont think id like it
Unbridled enthusiasm... sounds like another Billy Mumphrey story.
Was wondering if anyone caught the Seinfeld reference...
This is such a great album. But Andrew and his mixer really blew it. This has one of the highest compressed and brickwalling I have seen. Absolute travesty. This needs a remix to take all that compression out. It sounds bloated and ear fatiguing. Andrew and his production style and mastering ruined this album. Even the vinyl sounds crappy. 😅
Exactly. It is a great album but it is one of the worst mixes I've ever heard. The compression killed the dynamics and the drums sound is so bad. The snare is horrible. Sad!
@@imagenesmentales yup. Serban mixed it and is sounds like total crap. These dolts on here think it sounds good. Geez. It sounds horrendous. I had to turn it off on my vinyl. I couldn’t stand it.
@revelry1969 I agree, this is an incredible record. The content, arrangements and performances are stellar. While, there is compression and bricking, I’d be hesitant to weigh Watt and his ‘mixer’ with that complaint. It’s pumped qualities fall more on Matt Colton’s shoulders, as this typically happens during the mastering process. The record is hitting hard on LUFS, not necessarily out of the blue given the industry’s lean into a new normal for last decade. Watt’s mixes (pre-Colton) we’re likely more dynamic. I’d credit Watt’s production style as one of the reasons Dark Matter is an easily accessible record for long time fans. The employment of space designing reverb subtly returns them into earlier form within the vocal department (while steering clear of the over saturated reverse verb and outdated swimming sonics of Ten). Along with strategic harmonies and hook laden pop sensibilities, Dark Matter’s production teeters on the edge of a Heartbreaker record (even the hated snare). I’ll always prefer Dave Abbruzzese on the Kit, but something about the dampened Nashville-style percussion works for this. I wish there were more dynamic qualities (as on Vs & Vitalogy), but I think Watt pulled out brilliant production & approaches, crafting a familiar and beyond album. The vulnerable reprise on Waiting for Stevie being a shining example & lost art. The ‘loudness wars’ began a long time ago - I just see this as a compromise to accommodate the digital requests on main stream artists.
i d be down for a brendan obrien remix
@@vague2263 I didn't care for the mix on Lightning bolt.
The band went down when they kicked out Dave
WTF you yapping about. They started their world tour last night and have practically sold out every arena for the next 6 months. Dave Abbruzzese was their best drummer. But it's been over 20 years and they're still massively successful.
@@flipjupiter5077Popularity doesn’t always mean quality. If that was the case, Taylor Swift be the greatest musical act of all time. I’d agree their quality has been declining since Dave was kicked out.
@@patrickthomas8890 I agree. Popularity doesn't equal quality. Especially in present day music. Dave A. was the best. But they've had many, many great songs since he left. No Code and Yield are considered 2 of their best. Even the last 2, Gigaton and Dark Matter are fantastic. People get old and grow out of things, like listening to bands for example. And remember, Krusen was the drummer on Ten.
It would be truly amazing to make one great, debut album, and then spend the rest of your lives never having to worry about money making progressively terrible, bland, awful, tired music that only corporate lawyers and investment bankers would listen to. I would love that lifestyle, it just sounds fantastic.
Vs is good, c'mon..
Then make a great debut fucking album, duh
@@rickdonnelly3937 That's a good idea Rick Donnelly, I would love to aspire to do that, and then spend the next 30 years letting the singer, who probably has no songwriting experience, and probably also no songwriting skills either, write most of the songs.
@@DavidB-rx3km Pearl Jam musically has always been average, but Vedder wrote, or was the leader on most of the songs on Vitalogy and No Code, which are 2 of the only decent things they ever did. Parts of Yield are good too, but I think that was more band written.
@@Rweaver I've heard some of the members other stuff - Stone Gossard is more than capable, and Matt Cameron is an amazing, quirky songwriter (Wellwater Conspiracy, Limowreck/Mailman). I think it's just a shame as I really did like Ten. BTW, I think Tremor Christ is fantastic!