Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder was asked about the Soundgarden vocalist’s partnership with Timbaland as a fellow grunge musician in a 2009 interview with Uncut Magazine. Interestingly, he did not linger on the subject much, stating that he had no idea who the producer was. Instead of talking about the song, the singer chose to convey his admiration for Cornell and the impact he had on his life. He then revealed an incredible ‘epiphany’ he experienced in his early career, all thanks to his pal. He claimed that after they began hanging out, he discovered that Chris spent his Friday nights in the bush with a pack of drinks and his dog. This glimpse into the life of a musician piqued Vedder’s interest. In fact, because he owned a Hawaiian mutt, he finally embraced the technique himself and playfully commented that the quality of beer improved with time.
When asked about the experience, Pearl Jam’s frontman said: “I haven’t heard anything about it.” Isn’t Timbaland a shoe brand? Is it a producer? I’m not sure who that is. So be it. I truly appreciate Chris’ recordings, and I believe he is the best singer on the earth. When I moved to Seattle, I met Chris and we started hanging out. I had no idea what musicians did with their lives, and I quickly understood that on a Friday night, he got a 12-pack of crappy beer and chased his dog around the mud for four hours in the forest. That was an exciting epiphany for me! I haven’t seen him around town in a while, but my Hawaiian mutt and I have taken up the dog-chasing business. “The beer has also improved slightly.” Between 1990 and 1992, the two musicians were members of the same band, Temple of the Dog, and collaborated on various projects for concerts and songs such as ‘Hunger Strike,’ creating memorable moments for fans of their respective bands. They remained close friends until Cornell died in 2017.
Cornell was one of the first persons Eddie met in his early career. For a while in the early 1990s, when the latter first arrived to Seattle, the two musicians were neighbors and bandmates. As Temple of the Dog members, they worked on a full album and a smash song, and their duet song, ‘Hunger Strike,’ became the band’s most successful song. In reality, that song was Vedder’s first commercially recorded work, and it launched him to recognition and fortune. Naturally, the artist was proud of the song, but he was grateful to Cornell for the opportunity, as he noted in his 2009 book ‘Grunge Is Dead.’
His thoughts on the song and his friend’s assistance to his career are as follows: “I enjoy hearing the music. I feel like I could be really proud of it – for one thing, I didn’t compose it, and for another, it was such a beautiful way to be introduced to vinyl for the first time. I’ll be eternally grateful to Chris for inviting me onto that track.” The singers later split up when they started their respective bands, but they remained close friends even after that. Unfortunately, their friendship had to come to an end when Chris died in 2017.