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Rating: This time I'm about to tell you about a record that was never released by any record label... no, it's not the demo of my ramshackle band, but I would like to tell you about a handful of songs from the historic group of Eddie Vedder before he became part of Pearl Jam, namely the "Bad Radio."
Eddie Vedder (December 23, 1964), born in Evanston north of Chicago, Illinois with the real name Edward Louis Seversen III, began listening to rock music as a teenager, becoming infatuated with bands like "The Who", "Neil Young", and the "Doors", but also loving the punk of the "Clash", "Ramones", and "Minor Threat."
Around 20 years old, his residence alternated between Chicago and San Diego, where he found work as a night gas station attendant and singer in his first real band, the "Bad Radio." In San Diego, Eddie met former "Red Hot Chili Peppers" drummer Jack Irons, who gave him a demo that had been given to him by other friends looking for a singer: Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament of the recently defunct "Mother Love Bone." Vedder wrote the lyrics, recorded his voice onto the tape, and sent it back to Seattle. Gossard and Ament were positively impressed by Vedder's voice, invited him to Seattle, and recorded with Vedder first 2-3 tracks for "Temple of Dog" with Chris Cornell and then the actual debut album of Pearl Jam... the infamous "Ten." But this is the story of Pearl Jam.
The prehistory is called "Bad Radio," and it is made of nights touring dingy clubs, enormous sacrifices, shabby rehearsal rooms, cheap equipment, and dreams of fame and glory that came true only for the lucky Eddie Vedder. The recordings date back to the period of 1988/1989, and they are found only online, thanks to some enthusiast who skillfully transformed those splendid old hissing tapes into modern mp3s. The thing that immediately catches the ear when listening to these songs is that Eddie Vedder's voice is incredibly the same as we are used to hearing from the recordings on CD with Pearl Jam: this young man, at 24 years old, and without ever having taken any singing lessons in his life, was already very technical and natural at the same time.
His distinctive warm timbre voice is the same full of pathos as it is today... perhaps even wilder than the last 2 albums with Pearl Jam. The music of the pieces is all by Vedder, and only 2 by the guitarist Dave George, and this demonstrates the fact that the future singer of "Ten" already had good songwriting abilities at the time. Beyond Vedder and the already mentioned George on lead guitar, the quartet is completed by Dave Silva on bass and Joey Ponchetti on drums for a fairly cohesive formation but with an evident standout who overshadows everyone with his charisma. Without an official album, there's no real tracklist to speak of, but the tracks scattered around are 9: "What?", "Believe You Me", "Answer", "Just A Book", "Homeless", "What The Funk", "I'm Alive", "Crossroads" and "Betterman".
"What?" is a hard-rock right to start an album: powerful with a typical Vedder shouted chorus and with the melody of the verse for a moment seems like that of "Even Flow"! "Believe you me" is a beautiful ballad with a schizophrenic punkish finale. It has the potential to be a great single... it's like hearing Pearl Jam from "Vs" or "Vitalogy" already. "Answer" travels on a semi-acoustic-psychedelic path with the emphatic singing typical of Vedder. The bass and drum bridge reminds of Bon Jovi's "Keep the Faith"! "Just a Book" is an interesting hybrid that echoes U2 with Eddie singing half the piece in French! "Homeless" is an excellent folk ballad acoustic halfway between "Lowlight" and "REM" of "Automatic for the People." "What the funk"... as the title suggests, you can feel the "Red Hot Chili Peppers" of "Blood Sex Sugar Magic" without Flea's pyrotechnics, though. "I'm alive" is pure hard rock halfway between AC/DC and Aerosmith. "Crossroads" could have easily been on "Yield"... something like Bruce Springsteen played by U2 with a sprinkle of electronics. Perhaps the best piece by "Bad Radio" along with "Believe you me" and "Homeless." "Better Man": it is indeed the same as "Vitalogy," but without that intro of voice and guitar that we know. Here all the instruments start together from the get-go, and the bass parts are more refined.
On the internet, there are 4 other tracks erroneously attributed to Bad Radio, but in reality, they are solo recordings by Eddie: Sick O'Pussies, One Step Up (Bruce Springsteen), Street Funky Man (Rolling Stones) Daddy Could Swear I Declare (Gladys Knight and the Pips). Whatever happened to the other 3 band members is a mystery, but ultimately it's an interesting collection of pieces to get to know the beginnings of a then-unknown singer who we all (or almost all) later learned to love with one of the best alternative hard rock bands of the '90s. My advice is predictable: look for these little gems of rare authenticity online, and you won't regret it!
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