In May 2000, Pearl Jam dropped their sixth album, Binaural, following a difficult production plagued with writer’s block and rehab. The album had a more experimental, atmospheric sound than previous Pearl Jam records, which may have had something to do with Eddie Vedder’s theory that grunge was well and truly dead.
During one interview with the band around this time, Vedder expressed his views about the end of grunge. Apparently, it had everything to do with a Melvins show in Seattle the week before.
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“Something very important happened last week,” he began. “The Melvins played in Seattle, The Melvins who come from Aberdeen, [Kurt] Cobain’s hometown. They played Seattle, and they played ‘Teen Spirit’, and Leif Garrett was singing.”
This most likely refers to the April 7, 2000, show The Melvins played on their 2×4 Tour. They made a stop in Seattle to perform at The Showbox, where the “Smells Like Teen Spirit” cover took place. But it wasn’t a one-off karaoke moment. That February, their twelfth album, The Crybaby, came out, which opened with none other than Leif Garrett covering Nirvana.
Eddie Vedder Considered The Melvins’ Nirvana Cover the End of Grunge, But Didn’t Really Explain Why
Eddie Vedder continued the interview, recounting The Melvins’ Seattle show. He said that during Leif Garrett’s rendition of “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, Krist Novoselic, former Nirvana bassist, came out and snapped photos.
“And I think that’s it,” he said with finality. “I think that’s the end. That caps [it], it’s official, it’s over. Put a stick in it, gravestone. Don’t try, it’s over.”
Vedder may have ended his theory there, but The Melvins apparently had a reason behind the cover. However loose or irreverent the reason, there was still a foundational idea to draw comparisons between two tragic pop idols exploited by the music industry.
The president of The Melvins’ record label, Ipecac Recordings, apparently contacted Leif Garrett after seeing a VH1 special about his 70s teen stardom and eventual downfall and drug addiction. He got Garrett to agree to a collaboration, and guitarist-vocalist Buzz Osbourne chose “Smells Like Teen Spirit”.
“It’s one of the best, most f***ed-up ideas I’ve ever come up with,” Osbourne told The Dallas Observer in January 2000. “Especially with Leif’s obvious drug past and Kurt’s public drug use.”
Osbourne added that Leif Garrett knew exactly what he was getting into by agreeing to work with The Melvins. “He saw the idea of this as being something that would be interesting to capitalize on,” said Osbourne. “Not really to become rich and famous again, but just to do something cool.”
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