This book brings to life and updates Pearl Jam’s tumultuous ascent to superstardom. It follows the band through its successes — its first album, Ten, went multiplatinum — and its controversies, including a media-charged rivalry with Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain, band tensions, personnel changes, and substance abuse. Clarke also delves into the personality of lead singer Eddie Vedder, who refuses to make videos or grant interviews. 50 black-and-white photos are included in this updated biography of one of the most popular groups today.

Chapter 14: The Involuntary Recluse

Although he was the last man to join the original line-up back in 1990, Eddie has long since been acknowledged by his colleagues as the spiritual leader of the group. Obviously on stage he takes the lead, but his keenness for benefit shows, the album artwork, his reluctance to be interviewed and his involvement in the managerial side of the band have fuelled rumors that the rest of the band are cowed by his power drive: "Other band members look to him to make decisions," a confidential source at the band's label, Epic, told Rolling Stone. "Everybody gets input, but Eddie leads the way." Another Epic staffer was more direct, saying Eddie was a "control freak" and spoke of everyone having to "walk on eggshells".
Amidst rumors of internal conflicts, some people have suggested that his four band colleagues live in fear of either being sacked or of Eddie leaving, and that the dismissal of Abbruzzese (who was recognized as annoying Eddie, although Gossard did the firing) sent a message of discipline to the rest of the remaining members. All this suggests that Pearl Jam rest on a fragile foundation, as might be substantiated by the number of side projects these individual members pursue.

In fact, Pearl Jam's five members have always pursued other projects on their own. Perhaps the most notable of these has been Stone Gossard's own record label, Loosegroove Records. Based in Seattle (where else?) Loosegroove had satisfied Gossard's wish to help out struggling bands in their early days. In this fashion, he has released records by such diverse acts as Weapon of Choice, Malfunkshun (which used to feature Mother Love Bone singer Andrew Wood), hip hop band Pros and Concepts, Devilhead, and Critters Buggin' (which features former Pearl Jam drummer Matt Chamberlain). Another act that Loosegroove release is Brad, which is the band that features Gossard himself, along with Satchel's Sean Smith.

Ament formed the pseudo-eastern Three Fish. McCready started off with the brooding Mad Season (alongside Alice In Chains' Layne Staley and Martin Barrett from Screaming Trees, whose Mark Lanegan also helped out) but has since played in a myriad of side projects, including work with his jazz-based Tuatura, and the rockier Minus Five. Even Eddie himself has dabbled outside the band, with his soundtrack work with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and some spoken-word contributions to a tribute album to Jack Kerouac. Before he departed, Dave Abbruzzese had played drums on Course Of Empire's God's Jig.

In more contented times, these side projects were seen as mere diversions from the main cause, but with the decline in the band's popularity, they were being cited as evidence that the other members of the band were arranging their post-Pearl Jam careers already. Eddie himself did not deny he had considered the possibilities of calling it a day when he told Spin, "Hopefully, people will continue to extend me the benefit of the doubt. If not . . . well, I've gotten a lot, and I appreciate it all. But I could also see myself trading it all in."

The band, of course, deny this is in their minds. Gossard admits he has allowed Eddie to encroach into songwriting more and more, but with reason: "If it had remained always my band," he told Musician magazine, "my natural tendency would have been to get more complex and arrange things more and more. That wouldn't necessarily be good for Eddie, or anyone else in the band. Of course, I enjoy being self-indulgent. And I look forward to the time when I can become more indulgent with my songwriting. But this band is a family, and it's a process that we have to grow with together. There's no getting around the fact that Eddie is the man. As far as emotional and spiritual energy goes, he is the leader of this band. But Eddie does not make all the decisions. Eddie can listen to reason; Eddie can be swayed or talked in or out of certain things. Eddie allows other people to lead in this band and to have certain roles that are very fundamental to the decision-making process. Eddie is a natural leader. Jeff and I have been very much in control of previous bands we've worked in. But the way Eddie grew into being the leader of this band was the most gradual, slow and respectful process that I've ever been involved in. That's not to say Eddie's never done anything malicious. But he never grabbed power for power's sake. His position was gained only because he has that energy, and that's naturally where he ended up."

When Rolling Stone asked Kelly Curtis in 1994 if Eddie might leave the band, he replied, "I believe he thinks about that every day." Another Epic Records source told the magazine, "I was really pushing Eddie to do something he didn't want to do, I was told: 'Just don't push him too far, or he'll just go away.'" Apparently, that's a possibility that no one associated with Pearl Jam wants to contemplate . . .

So where did Eddie Vedder stand, and what was his mmmmmmind-set after No Code? In previous interviews, it was clear that the vagaries of fame were still something he could not always handle: "I feel like, you know, you go out of your way, but everyone is so fucking cynical," he told Spin, "that you can't even do something good without someone thinking that you've got another play on it. No one seems to know how to deal with honesty anymore. They see someone being honest and they think there's got to be a hidden agenda there. And it's really fucking it up for some of us who are coming clean. I'm just totally vulnerable. I'm way too fucking soft for this whole business, this whole trip. I don't have any shell." While the other four members are regularly spotted on the Seattle music scene, sightings of Eddie are rare. The circle of friends that he trusts is small and he spends most of his time cocooned in his new, large house in a middle-class area of West Seattle, on a tree-lined street overlooking Puget Sound. For many years, he still drove the same Toyota truck that he owned when he was working at the gas station, but then decided, "I don't need to do things like that to remind me of who I am. But maybe it's good that other people see those things and maybe it sends them a message, that I still am the same person."

One of the reasons for this increased withdrawal was the attentions of an alleged stalker, who apparently claimed his girlfriend's obsession with Eddie led to the break-up of their relationship, and vowed to exact his revenge on the singer. Eddie has also had many death threats and was forced, against his will, to employ 24-hour security guards at his home, complete with ferocious dogs. A short-wave radio hack was tapping into his cordless phone conversations and fans hid outside his house waiting for glimpses. This entrenchment of his own home saddened Eddie greatly: "What's really sad about the whole thing is that Beth and I are the kind of people who'd love to ask some kid, some fan, into our house, you know, sit them down and play them records from our jukebox, that kind of thing, but we just can't do that now."

Despite all his efforts to the contrary, Eddie has become the archetypal reclusive rock star. The irony is that his efforts to win better deals for the fans, with cheaper tickets and fewer interviews and videos, have only increased the hunger for a piece of him.

By withdrawing from the game, he has effectively placed himself at the most frenzied, bizarre center of it all. Now obsessive fans get excited when they discover what flavor of pizza Eddie has delivered every week, while the security men have to thoroughly search the pizza delivery man before he goes in. Eddie has said that he has even considered building a huge castle in which to lock himself away, but dismissed the idea as too absurd - "What am I going to do to escape this kind of thing? I'm a target."