It had been a gruelling 1994 for , a year that their own manager described as the period when the band were “fighting on all fronts”. There had been their battle with, and subsequent boycott of, Ticketmaster, intra-band tension, the dismissal of drummer Dave Abbruzzese, the death of Kurt Cobain to name but a few. Looking back, that they managed to craft an album as startling as amidst all the turmoil seems miraculous.
They began 1995, then, determined to actually try and enjoy some things about being in a band. Crazy idea, eh? That took its form in Self-Pollution Radio, a broadcast bonanza that took place 30 years ago next week and saw Eddie Vedder take on DJ and hosting duties alongside leading his band through two live sets as well as welcome a variety of guests to a rehearsal space-turned-radio studio. As explained to Rolling Stone at the time by Harvey Leeds, the vice-president of promotion at the band’s label Epic, the program had its roots in the previous year, when Pearl Jam purchased satellite time and made an Easter Sunday show in Atlanta available on to any radio that wanted to carry it.
Frontman Vedder followed the performance by playing some of his favourite songs for an hour afterwards. “The response to that was phenomenal,” said Leeds. “The band loved it and Eddie said, ‘Hey, can we do this again?’.
And then a couple of months ago when he was in New York, he sat down with us and we talked about where and how.” Where and how was a Seattle house owned by Vedder, reconfigured for bands to perform live in the bedroom with a separate trailer set up for Vedder’s DJ exploits, with video monitors also in operation to record the live sets. Any radio station with a satellite receiver was able to pick it up for broadcast if they wished, with stations in New Orleans, Los Angeles, Detroit and New York all giving it airtime.
And what a radio show they were treated to, a chaotic, free-wheeling four and a half hours that begins with Vedder mumbling, ‘Hey am I on?’ before an opening monologue from the singer bemoaning the state of the world and declaring, “Fuck rock stars, tonight we’ve got here musicians”. Live sets from Pearl Jam (featuring new drummer Jack Irons), , , the Fastbacks and the fledgling Mad Season followed as well as a debut performance from Dave Grohl’s Foo Fighters and a spoken word piece by Krist Novoselic. Amongst the tunes played by Vedder were Sonic Youth’s , Daniel Johnston’s , Babes In Toyland’s , The Frogs’ and many more.
At three decades’ distance, it’s a remarkable picture of the DIY excitement grunge’s biggest bands could still concoct at a point long after the moment that the scene had become a mainstream phenomenon. Listen to the entire Self-Pollution Radio show below: Sign up below to get the latest from Classic Rock, plus exclusive special offers, direct to your inbox! Niall Doherty is a writer and editor whose work can be found in Classic Rock, The Guardian, Music Week, FourFourTwo, on Apple Music and more. Formerly the Deputy Editor of Q magazine, he co-runs the music Substack letter with fellow former Q colleagues Ted Kessler and Chris Catchpole.
He is also Reviews Editor at Record Collector. Over the years, he's interviewed some of the world's biggest stars, including Elton John, Coldplay, Arctic Monkeys, Muse, Pearl Jam, Radiohead, Depeche Mode, Robert Plant and more. Radiohead was only for eight minutes but he still counts it.
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Entertainment
“F*ck rock stars, tonight we’ve got musicians!”: saluting Self-Pollution Radio, Pearl Jam’s chaotic and star-studded foray into broadcasting
Thirty years ago, Eddie Vedder & co. aired a live radio show and delivered a cult classic featuring guest slots from their heavyweight grunge pals