Pearl Jam Inspired

Today is the fortieth birthday of Mike McCready. Mike is no friend of mine; in fact, we have never met. I recognized his birthday however, due to the fact that he plays guitar in one of my favorite bands. Mike is a member of Pearl Jam.

Pearl Jam’s significance in my life will never be overshadowed by any other band. I was a resident of the Seattle area during the time that the members of both Pearl Jam and Nirvana came to the fore as stand out musicians. The media called their style “grunge”, and lumped Mudhoney, Alice in Chains and the like into the same category. I have never quite agreed with the moniker “grunge”, as Pearl Jam and their talented peers of the time simply played decent rock ‘n roll.

Pearl Jam’s string of hits, released off of the album Ten, came out during a time when Paula Abdul ruled the airways with her whiny pop sound. Ten resulted in Ms. Abdul’s almost immediate extraction from the top spot on Billboard’s Top 40. This “grunge” was introspective, mildly depressing and plenty angry - and surprise surprise - that is what the public wanted.

During the time of this musical movement, I personally was introspective, more than mildly depressed, and plenty angry (although at the time I did not recognize the anger; I usually just pushed it down and took it out on my roommates at crucial moments in our day to day lives together). In effect, the soundtrack of my life during this period of time resounded with a passionate riff from Mike McCready’s guitar on an almost daily basis.

And so today, as Mike McCready turns the big four-O, I have taken some time out to reflect upon those days in Seattle. The days in my early twenties when I had to scrounge for change to afford a pack of smokes, when I worked at various jobs in addition to being a member of the Air National Guard, when I was never quite seriously attached to any one member of the opposite sex, but found myself recovering from a string of heartache instead. Eddie Vedder’s voice, backed in true incendiary force by the other members of Pearl Jam, sent my soul soaring, validated my feelings of inadequacy, made me think, and otherwise inspired me in ways that no other band has.

To this day, I am left with a bit of a vacancy in my life as I have grown past the need for Pearl Jam. Ten remains tucked away in my vehicle for those times when I want to be taken back, but the truth of the matter is – I don’t want to go back. I don’t want to be the girl that needed Mike and Eddie to round out her life with their musicianship. That girl has grown past so many things: from multiple jobs to one, from multiple boyfriends to a husband, from smoking to quitting.

At the time that it was needed, Pearl Jam’s music changed me. Those Seattle days have become a collective memory punctuated by the sounds of my youth. And on the day of Mike McCready’s fortieth birthday, I am made to feel younger just from conjuring up his sound in my own mind.

Thanks, Mike – and happy birthday.