Occasionally, the members of Pearl Jam mention what books they've been reading. Back in '92, Eddie mentioned Rilke's Letter To a Young Poet and Edward Albee's Monkeywrench Gang to a writer from Details. In '93, somebody from Rolling Stone found him talking about something called The Eloping Angels. And Ed posed for a picture in Spin in late '94 with an Umberto Eco tome. But never at one time have PJ been so open letting us in on what their reading. Heres a look:
| Jeff has been very into The Master & Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov, which apparently influenced him in writing the song "Pilate" as the novel includes a sub-plot about a writer who's book is about Pontius Pilate. Bulgakov is a reknowned Russian writer whose works have been translated into many languages. Jeff mentioned reading this book to Spin. |
| The entire band heartily recommends Ishmael by Daniel Quinn, so much so that the most recent fan club contest involves reading the book and then creating a piece of art based on it. The band pretty much said they passed it around while recording Yield and that it influenced them quite a bit. The story is of an intellegent ape who becomes the teacher of a human through a personals ad. The meat of the novel is a series of searching conversations in which the ape and the man discuss human beings' place in the world. |
| Eddie metioned reading How Science Will Revolutionize the 21st Century in the same Spin article that Jeff talked about the Bulgakov novel. 21st, written by Michio Kaku, is a series of quite plausable meditations and thoughts about where technology might lead, as the title suggests, in the approaching new century. |
Pearl Jam and/or it's members have been mentioned in more than a few songs by bands and musicians both ultra-rare and fairly well known. Here's just a sample:
| Local H released the song "Eddie Vedder" as a single in 1997. | A completely unknown rock/spoken-word troupe called Bongo Fury had a track called "Pearl Jam Bought My Hair" -- in which the poet/singer does a memorably funny impression of Eddie singing "Even Flow" -- on their self released album in 1993. |
| San Diego local favorites The Rugburns released the song "Me and Eddie Vedder" as a single from their 1994 album Morning Wood. | A band called The Elevator Drops use Eddie's name as part of the refrain in their song "Right Back Home" from thier 1997 album People Mover. |