• Barack Obama, Family Visit Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder During Hawaiian Vacation

    President Barack Obama took some time off from running the country to vacation with his family in Hawaii. Toward the end of the trip, the Obamas stopped by Eddie Vedder's pad in Kailua to visit the Pearl Jam frontman and his family. The First Family spent less than 30 minutes with the rocker and his clan, the Associated Press reports. Vedder has been a supporter of Obama since 2007, when the politician announced he would be running for president. The singer used his position as a public figure in Pearl Jam to criticize the George W. Bush administration — see "Bushleaguer" below. The iconic frontman showed up to a fundraiser for the president in 2012 prior to Obama winning his second candidacy. Vedder talked about how a government security job helped him reach his dream of becoming a professional musician. "It was that job which allowed me to keep affording guitars and microphones," he said, "Rolling Stone" notes. "For me, it all began with that ability to get the proper training for a decent job." "For you to share that story with us, Eddie, speaks volumes not only about you but about this country," Obama responded. "That story captures better than anything what this campaign is about and what this country is about."
  • 7 Songs Featuring Non-Traditional Instruments; Featuring Tracks from The Beach Boys, Nirvana, Pearl Jam and More

    On this day 40 years ago Pink Floyd began working on what would become what many consider to be the band's masterpiece, and what would become one of the bestselling rock albums of all time: Dark Side of The Moon. A Floyd project that fewer people are familiar with is the album that the band meant to do instead of Moon: An album recorded using nothing but household objects. This project, despite the inevitable cult stays that it would attain, probably wouldn't have lived up to the acclaim of the album the band did end up recording. Still, we can't help but appreciate the idea of using non-musical items in a more musical sense. Here are seven songs (if not full albums) that feature some outside instrumentation.
  • Eddie Vedder: 7 Best Solo Tracks for the Pearl Jam Frontman's 50th Birthday [LISTEN]

    Eddie Vedder will forever be linked to one of America's greatest bands - Pearl Jam. He's been fronting the Seattle alt-rockers since 1990, when the members - Jeff Ament, Stone Gossard, Mike McCready and a slew of drummers (currently Matt Cameron) - were just kids leading the then new movement called grunge. Vedder was angry, confused, conflicted and often poetic in the early days. Today (Dec. 23) marks his 50th birthday, and the singer is still at the top of his game vocally and politically.
  • Billy Corgan Trash Talks Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters On 'Howard Stern' [LISTEN]

    Billy Corgan's opinion of himself and Smashing Pumpkins has rarely been anything less than stellar, and during his appearance on The Howard Stern Show this morning (Dec. 9), he made it very obvious how much better he thinks the Pumpkins are than their '90s alt-rock peers. Expanding upon his recent statements that he and Kurt Cobain were their generation's "top two scribes," Corgan dissed the songwriting of two rock titans: Pearl Jam and Foo Fighters.
  • AC/DC SiriusXM Channel Goes Live Nov. 26 Before 'Rock or Bust' Release

    AC/DC will be the next act to get its own, temporary SiriusXM channel. AC/DC Radio will air tomorrow, Nov. 26, through Sunday, Dec. 7, on Channel 25. Midway through the exclusive run, the band's new album, "Rock or Bust," will be released Dec. 2, and the station will be playing cuts from it, the band's back catalog and tunes usually heard on the Classic Rewind rock channel, Blabbermouth noted. A conversation with frontman Brian Johnson and legendary axeman Angus Young will air Thursday, Nov. 27, at 12 p.m. The Town Hall installment will have the boys answering questions about their career from a SiriusXM audience of die-hard fans. It will be moderated by producer Brendan O'Brien, who worked on "Rock or Bust" and 2008's "Black Ice." Visit the Town Hall website for more information. AC/DC dropped music videos for "Play Ball" and the title track recently, and fans can stream the new album over at iTunes in advance of its release.
  • Pearl Jam's Mike McCready Delivers Spine Tingling Rendition Of "The Star Spangled Banner" [WATCH]

    Hold on your caps and get ready to be moved America, because we now have another guitar great rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. Pearl Jam's Mike McCready performed the National Anthem before the Seattle Sounders playoff name on Monday and left not a person in the crowd unmoved. The pioneer of the guitar rendition is Jimi Hendrix, whose version at Woodstock in 1969 remains a shining moment in anthem history and a master class in covering a song.
  • Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, Oasis's Liam Gallagher Among Performers at Who Tribute Concert [WATCH]

    Last night, Nov. 11, rock legends The Who held their annual Teenage Cancer Trust benefit concert in London, featuring guest performances by Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder and former Oasis singer Liam Gallagher, among many others. According to "Rolling Stone," the evening was hosted by The Who frontman Roger Daltrey, though guitarist and lead songwriter Pete Townshend reportedly stayed home, with Daltrey saying the legendary guitarist would “rather do anything than hear his songs played back to him.” Liam Gallagher gave his first public performance since the break-up of his band Beady Eye three weeks ago, singing The Who’s 1965 hit “My Generation,” which he had frequently performed in concert with Oasis. Check out his performance here:
  • Eddie Vedder Of Pearl Jam Takes Photo With Fan, 22 Years After Promising It [WATCH]

    Even though Pearl Jam has been one of the biggest bands in the world since the beginning of their career, they're still a band of the people, as singer Eddie Vedder proved earlier this month to a fan named Joe Wolfe. Vedder took a photo with Wolfe at a recent show in Cincinnati, and though that's not at all uncommon in and of itself, this particular photo had been promised to Wolfe 22 years ago.
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