Every year Musicares, a part of the Grammy Foundation that helps people in the music industry with addiction and other medical resources, puts on a special music event and for the first time, Seattle was the chosen spot. The 2018 version was organized to not only pay homage to one of the greatest music cities on the planet but to honor one of its biggest supporters, Mike McCready. With Mike’s history with recovery, Musicares and of course Seattle, the night that was planned out couldn’t be anything but legendary.
The first to take the stage was Senior Director of Musicares Erica Krusen, explaining how important it was to do this show in Seattle. (she herself has a huge connection to Seattle via Pearl Jam) After the roll call of generous sponsors was finished up, it was time for some music and the first all-star grouping of the night of McCready, Danny Newcomb, Duff McKagan, Mark Arm and Barrett Martin started things off with a bang. Spread out across a stage packed full of gear, they fired off a blistering version of “Search and Destroy” by The Stooges. After the last note was played, Newcomb exited, leaving the four remaining rock stars to play “TV Eye” also by The Stooges, much like they did a few years ago on top of the Pike Place Market sign.
Thunderous applause greeted the end of The Stooges portion of the night, giving way to what is lovingly known in the northwest as Flight to Mars. The usual suspects came out for this one, with Mike wearing his trademark white flying Vee. As Paul Passarelli, Gary Westlake, Tim DiJulio, McCready and Mike Musburger played the first few notes of Thin Lizzy‘s “Cowboy Song” from the 1976 album, Jailbreak, the crowd had a sense they were in for something good. Although most were seated you could feel the energy somehow rising with Passarelli delivering the kind of epic vocal performances he’s known for, with the rest of the members bringing their “A” games as well. The twin-guitar attack of McCready and “Rock Tim” DiJulio completely destroyed the legendary solos in that song as they traded licks and played off of each other throughout. With zero pause, the band launched right into UFO’s “Lights Out,” once again knocking it out of the park with this lineup of friends finishing off the FTM portion of the show with one of the greatest rock songs ever written, “Love to Love” from UFO‘s 1977 album, Lights Out. If you’ve ever seen FTM, then you know how much this band puts into making these songs special, and this performance at the Showbox left most people with jaws on the floor, again. Especially those that had never previously experienced Flight to Mars.
After that epic display, a special video was shown on the screen behind the stage with all four members of Seattle darlings Thunderpussy telling Mike how much they love him and wishing they could have been there but they are on tour and the video would have to suffice. Mike clearly was moved by their message and playful display!
Next up were a few auction items, a 2014 Gibson Les Paul signed by all the members of Pearl Jam and a one of a kind Nixon watch crafted from a guitar strap from the late Chris Cornell. (still hard to type that) Those priceless items brought in a whopping $16K and $15.5K respectively and after Chris Adams had taken the last bid, he welcomed Musicares Chair Michael McDonald to the stage, who explained a bit of his personal recovery story, before asking for donations to directly help others suffering from addiction. The Seattle crowd was generous with countless people standing up with their glowsticks wanting to contribute financially. After some light-hearted banter from northwest native Joel McHale, the next set of music was ready to take over the sold-out venue.
Kim Virant, Nancy Wilson, Chad Smith, Josh Klinghoffer, Duff, Mike would play “Dead Flowers” from The Rolling Stones with Kim and Nancy sharing a mic for what turned out to be another righteous display of musicianship. As Kim sang to Mike with her arms on his shoulders, you could feel the love for this guy in the room, from the band members, to every table in the Showbox. A quick lineup change would have Barrett taking over on drums, with Nancy and Kim exiting, while Star Anna came out. The first few unmistakable notes of Mad Season‘s “River of Deceit” brought another “oh wow” moment to a night full of them. Star made it her own with a hauntingly beautiful vocal performance featuring Duff on backing vocals.
Another highlight of the evening came when Nancy Wilson wandered back out with Ben Smith and Ryan Waters, joined by Duff and Mike for a mind-blowing performance of Pink Floyd‘s “Comfortably Numb,” which found McCready absolutely owning the universe on the guitar solos. They quickly followed that up with Heart‘s “Even It Up” with Wilson singing, providing even more northwest music epicness on that one.
Part of the reason for this gathering of stars was to present Mike with the Stevie Ray Vaughan award from Musicares. The presenter, Duff McKagan, lovingly explained how important McCready, his friend of 40 years, is to him and the world in general. After accepting the award, McCready went down a partial list of the people in the northwest we have lost and then honored Musicares themselves for the work they do to help prevent that from happening again.
Guitarist Mike McCready of Pearl Jam, Nancy Wilson of Heart and Duff McKagan of Guns and Roses perform on stage during the MusiCares Concert For Recovery presented by Amazon Music at the Showbox on May 10, 2018 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Mat Hayward/WireImage)
A new video has been released the commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Singles soundtrack, featuring Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, Screaming Trees, and Heart members. You can watch the video following the transcribed comments.
“I just remember thinking, ‘Cameron’s magic,’” Alice In Chains drummer Sean Kinney recalls. “‘You’re gonna go to Seattle and make a movie about stuff that just a small sect of people know?’ At the time, there was no ‘the grunge.’”
Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell said, “Because the film was conceived and shot before the international explosion of all of the bands, that ended up being kind of a key factor in what was referred to as the Seattle scene, and the Seattle movement, and then the Grunge movement. Because there was this one thing called the Singles movie, where if you saw it, you were exposed to it.”
Alice In Chains singer/guitarist Jerry Cantrell remembered, “It was a big deal man, it really was. For as small and humbly as we all started, to be that involved in a major film, and to have it be with a guy who you’re friendly with, and cares about music as much as he does. Things took off really quickly.”
“It bottles a moment in time,” Screaming Trees drummer Barrett Martin adds of the soundtrack.
Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready said, “It was an exciting time to be here, and that was just another part of it. Like oh, and then there’s a movie, it was surreal.”
Heart’s Nancy Wilson, “You know when it’s Eddie Vedder, you know when it’s Alice In Chains with their great dissonant harmonies, you know Soundgarden. It’s the Seattle sound (laughs).”
American President Bill Clinton allegedly took Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder to one side to ask him whether he should address the nation following the death of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain.
In an extract from Keith Cameron’s book Mudhoney: The Sound And The Fury From Seattle, which has been published on Spin, Mudhoney say that during a tour where they were supporting Pearl Jam the two bands were invited to the White House one day – the day after Kurt Cobain’s death.
After Mudhoney bassist Matt Lukin smoked a joint on the way to the White House (and freaked out a bit when he got there) Cameron retells the following:
Soon after arriving at the White House, the two bands got separated by officials. Pearl Jam were ushered into the Oval Office to meet Bill Clinton, which hadn’t been part of the original plan—apparently, the president wanted to seek advice on whether he should address the nation in the wake of Cobain’s suicide.
While the matter of apparent national importance was being discussed, Cameron says:
Mudhoney, meanwhile, were assigned a Secret Service agent who gave them a behind-the-scenes tour of the White House. As they were ushered past the velvet ropes, tourists waiting in line for a regular tour ran up and asked for autographs.
“Obviously word had got around that Pearl Jam was in the House, but these old ladies didn’t know what Pearl Jam looked like,” says [drummer Dan] Peters. “We’re saying, ‘Yeah, we’re not Pearl Jam.’ And they were like, ‘Ha ha! Just give us your autograph.’ Still, it was a nice diversion from the whole Kurt-blowing-his-head-off thing.”
The two bands’ paths eventually crossed in the White House Press Room, where [vocalist Mark] Arm and Vedder had their picture taken shaking hands over the presidential seal on the podium.
“It was a great private tour,” says [guitarist Steve] Turner. “The Secret Service guy was telling us about the different people that have been killed on the White House lawn. There was one guy dressed in full ninja gear who thought he was invisible, coming across the lawn. They finally just shot him. I don’t recall hearing about that on the news! It was a surreal day. I remember being almost troubled that the President of the United States of America is taking the time to meet Eddie Vedder. Like, that’s top of today’s agenda? Really?!”
The book, released later this month in America, was released last year in Australia through Omnibus Press.
It was a dig at rock star excess that helped turn the band that made it into rock stars themselves
In 1991, two bands from Seattle were about to have their big breakthrough (Nirvana with Nevermind, Pearl Jam with Ten) and join Alice In Chains, the first so-called ‘grunge’ band to receive the first taste of success (with Man In The Box, from Facelift, that summer) in making Seattle best-known for something other than Boeing and Starbucks.
But many expected Soundgarden to be the first Seattle band to ‘bust through the door’, especially when their third full-length album, Badmotorfinger, was released on October 8 that year, along with the album’s lead-off single, JesusChrist Pose.
The band had had difficulty finding a permanent bass player for a year or so, but when Ben Shepherd arrived, long-time members Chris Cornell [vocals/guitar], Kim Thayil [guitars], and Matt Cameron [drums] had struck gold and found one who was also a fine songwriter. Thayil recalls what the band were up to during the early part of 91. and how Shepherd helped kick-start Jesus Christ Pose.
“We were at the original Avast! Studios. It was run by Stuart Hallerman, who was our first sound man, and he used to record a lot of demos for us. They had a cement-floored recording room, and we’d go there and rehearse during the day, then at night we’d push our amps in the back and he’d have clients come in and record.”
It was during this early phase of feeling out the new material that they stumbled upon a soon-to-be Soundgarden classic.
“I think we were jamming, whacking that out on bass,” Thayil recalls. “That was definitely one of Ben’s riffs – the main riff. And then Matt started drumming on it. It was very quick.”
While Shepherd may have brought the basis of the idea for the song, input from both Thayil and Cornell put Jesus Christ Pose over the top.
“It was hard to discern exactly what the notes and the rhythm were from what Ben was playing, because it was very loud, blurry and quick. So while I was trying to figure out that groove, I came up with that weird ‘pterodactyl on crack’ guitar line. It was easier for me to hear that odd melody. That was my contribution. So we took that riff and recorded it. Chris took the tape home, listened to it and tried to learn the guitar part himself. And then he came up with the bridge and turnaround.”
And so all four members are credited for writing the music; Cornell wrote the lyrics.
With mainstream hard rock being at one of its silliest and most posey circa 91, in the song’s lyrics Cornell decided to point out how ridiculous the ‘Axls’ of the world often came across.
“I think [Cornell’s] reasons were he was – ironically – sick of celebrities and rock stars who had pulled that vulnerable, suffering sort of pose and/or attitude on their fan base. Specifically, there were a lot of rock guys that did that arms-outstretched kind of pose; that sort of victim that’s suffering for their fans and their art. It’s kind of annoying. Chris took a stab at it, on some levels mocked it, and the irony fell somewhere else, I guess [laughs].”
Interestingly, quite a few local Seattle bands felt that Cornell was a bit of a ‘posing rocker’ himself, including Mudhoney’s Mark Arm, who in the book Grunge Is Dead: The Oral History Of Seattle Rock Music recalls: “Chris’s antics got a little annoying. I’m all for somebody flailing around on stage and engaging the audience. But he would wear a tearaway shirt. It’s one thing to take off your shirt, but it’s another thing to pre-rip the seams. He’d grab the front of his shirt and pull it straight off in a forward motion. It was a pre-planned part of the act”.
The video to accompany Jesus Christ Pose featured some striking imagery, such as the band members walking through a desert; hanging upside down; weather vanes spinning; a Terminator-esque metal skull; and lots and lots of cross imagery – which landed Soundgarden in some hot water with MTV.
“I liked the video,” Thayil says, “but one thing that stood out was that we used a lot of provocative images of the cross. We had a few images of an upside-down cross, and of a burning cross. The reference of a burning cross had been used in lyrics that Hiro [Yamamoto, Soundgarden’s original bassist] had written in earlier songs.
“Generally we used a visual image or a burning cross. And MTV didn’t want to [play it]. They held back showing it in their regular prime-time rotation. And then shortly before, Madonna did that video for Like A Prayer with a burning cross! It’s a like a ‘dancer/actress’ can put a burning cross in her video, but a rock band – an integrated rock band, by the way – has a far briefer image of a burning cross and MTV worries about it. Well, that was the excuse they used. And we specifically wanted a woman of colour to be on the cross – we didn’t want a white guy to be on the cross. We ended up using a woman who I think was part East Indian, but you couldn’t really tell. It would have been better if she was more Indian or African-American. We wanted representation with minorities in our videos – and girls who weren’t dancing on the hood of a car. It was always an uphill battle for some reason.”
Eventually MTV did show the clip for Jesus Christ Pose, but only late at night and on Headbangers Ball in the US. And despite lack of airtime for the clip, parent album Badmotorfinger became Soundgarden’s big commercial breakthrough, thanks to a much more TV-friendly video for second single Outshined and some prime tour spots [including opening for Metallica and Guns N’ Roses, and a slot on Lollapalooza 92]. And from its release until the group split in 1997. Jesus Christ Pose either opened or closed many a Soundgarden show.
For Thayil it’s still a personal favourite. “I still love that song,” he says. “I’m pretty sick of hearing a lot of Soundgarden songs, but not Jesus Christ Pose.”
Grunge Graveyard 