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| December 1992
Eddie screamed across the cover of Time a year later. Nirvana posed for the
cover of Rolling Stone, with Kurt Cobain in a T-shirt reading "corporate
magazines still suck." Both Eddie and Kurt got the pin-up treatment in
glossy, teeny-bopper magazines, much to their chagrin. But that was nothing
compared to the "Grunge and Glory" spread in the December 1992
issue of Vogue. Designer Marc Jacobs, who had never been to Seattle, put $500 to
$1,400 designer flannel and corduroy outfits and army boots on waiflike New York
models, all supposedly representing a new style "broken out of the clubs,
garages and thrift shops of Seattle". A few months before, on September, "Singles"
came out. The Cameron Crowe movie was set in grunge-a-rific Seattle and starred
Matt Dillon as a long-haired, flannel-clad, slightly dim-witted would-be rock
star. "And how could you not [get sick of it] when there are pictures of Liz Smith in Vanity Fair in grungewear. And my $10 corduroy jacket was going for $400 from Chanel or whoever", Eddie Vedder. "There's a funny story—well, Eddie was able to laugh about it later—where he's been in his house for months, says I think I'm going to go Christmas shopping. He goes to Pioneer Square and immediately 400 fans surround him", Kelly Curtis (Pearl Jam Manager). "I was already petrified to leave the house, and I finally leave the house, three days before Christmas, get in my old Plymouth and go for it. I probably hadn't been out of the house in a week, really isolating myself. And I go out and suddenly there's like people on top of the car. I tried to get out, got out and buy a couple things, and all of a sudden there's people on top of the car, and then I got in the car. I was parallel parked. I just had to sit there with people screaming in my face. I finally got out and I just ran. I ducked into a map store. Ran up the street and hid behind a globe", Eddie Vedder. "Turns out he'd gone to an Alice in Chains video shoot", Kelly Curtis (Pearl Jam Manager). "All this stuff about popularity and public recognition, I can deal with it theoretically. I can wade my way through it, give myself lessons, and soak up others' advice. Again, theoretically. But when I hang out with people that I have missed, and that I've been friends with before, that I'm looking forward to sharing moments with like we used to have, when I get in the middle of the group, it feels like I'm a child being eaten by dingoes. Like people taking bites and pulling and grabbing this way and that. They're taking pictures...just doing weird things. The time I spent with these people, it wasn't enough or something. I'm in conflict, because I just feel like I've tried doing everything that I could", Eddie Vedder. "When we first started, I think we went through a year's worth of touring, and it drove everybody crazy. You're sitting around, asking yourself if you deserve to be in the band, whether the success wasn't just some kind of fluke. As we got bigger and bigger, it was a great excuse for me to party more--to forget the worries. It got so bad that I thought they were going to kick me out", Mike McCready. "I'd love it if Pearl Jam was a band that could continue to break down walls. That's my goal now. Can we be a band that continues to grow together? Can we be a band that continues to challenge ourselves musically? ...that doesn't take itself too seriously, but takes itself seriously...that makes spontaneous music but also makes collaborations on projects that are very thought out and very deep on certain levels. I mean, just the whole variety, the whole possibilities of rock... that's the exciting part...all the elements that go into it. The friendships, the alliances, you know, the duties, just all the elements of it...making records. It's all very exciting and interesting to me", Stone Gossard.
Pearl Jam rounded 1992 off in fine style, supporting Keith Richards at the Academy in New York City on New Year´s Eve. They also released their second Christmas single, titled "Who Killed Rudolph?, and including two tracks, "Sonic Reducer," and "Rambling Again," a successor to the previous year's "Rambling." As a sign of Pearl Jam's rocketing popularity, 25,000 copies of this single were pressed; its predecessor saw just 1,500. "We got to jam with Keith Richards on a song called "Going Down," and that was the high point of my life. I can't believe I'm jamming with Keith Richards - what's up with with this?", Mike McCready.
12/31/92 - The Academy: New York, NY Attendance: 5,000 Setlist: Wash, Sonic Reducer, Why Go, Even Flow, Alone, Garden, Daughter, Dirty Frank, Oceans, Alive, Leash, Stranglehold jam/Porch
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Supporting Keith Richards and the X-Pensive Winos, Pearl Jam performance in New
York featured an unusual setlist and it was broadcast on CBS New Year´s Eve to
the Times Square big screen. "Happy New Year" said Eddie to the
5000 people. After a fast version of 'Wash', Eddie asked where the camera was and
said "Hi" to everyone in Yimes Square. He also gave the fucking finger
to Marky Mark "Are you a singer, a performer?" Eddie thanked Keith by
saying