Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder was interviewed by The New York Times and admitted that he hated a very popular Mötley Crüe song along with the band’s whole image while listening to them. He praised Guns N’ Roses by highlighting that the band saved the rock scene from them.
Mötley Crüe can be considered as one of the prominent bands of glam metal along with Ratt, Quiet Riot, Twisted Sister. During the ’80s, the bands not only drew attention thanks to their records including pop-influenced guitar riffs and power ballads but also with their extraordinary looks such as tight-fitting clothing, makeup, and overall androgynous aesthetic which shaped fashion back then.
However, glam metal lost its popularity more and more while alternative and grunge bands, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, and Alice in Chains became famous and commercially successful with their casual style and a new approach to music.
Recently, Pearl Jam’s lead singer Eddie Vedder revealed that he always hated and despised glam metal bands like Mötley Crüe especially because of defining women as sex objects. That’s why according to Vedder, the fact that alternative rock saw women as their equals was one of the things that he appreciated the most.
Vedder stated that he had to listen to Mötley Crüe and their song ‘Girls Girls Girls‘ which he didn’t like at all while he was working at a club in San Diego. The Pearl Jam singer showed his respect for Guns N’ Roses’ hard rock style and stated that they saved the rock scene from bands like Crüe with their popularity a short time before the rise of Grunge bands.
Vedder said in his interview that:
“You know, I used to work in San Diego loading gear at a club. I’d end up being at shows that I wouldn’t have chosen to go to — bands that monopolized late-’80s MTV. The metal bands that — I’m trying to be nice — I despised. ‘Girls, Girls, Girls’ and Mötley Crüe: [expletive] you. I hated it. I hated how it made the fellas look. I hated how it made the women look. It felt so vacuous. Guns N’ Roses came out and, thank God, at least had some teeth.
However I’m circling back to say that one thing that I appreciated was that in Seattle and the alternative crowd, the girls could wear their combat boots and sweaters, and their hair looked like Cat Power’s and not Heather Locklear’s — nothing against her.
They weren’t selling themselves short. They could have an opinion and be respected. I think that’s a change that lasted. It sounds so trite, but before then it was bustiers. The only person who wore a bustier in the ’90s that I could appreciate was Perry Farrell.”
