There is always irony – even in the world of rock and roll. That’s exactly what we recently discovered while peeling the proverbial onion of Eddie Vedder’s past. It turns out the man who bangs heads with the heaviest of metal heads once upon a time “hated” heavy metal music.

According to Ultimate Guitar, Pearl Jam’s jamming guitarist Stone Gossard said he loved hair metal despite belonging to a movement that ended its mainstream dominance, but argued how the hair bands “became so entrenched” in the music business. Metal and long hair go hand in hand, at least they used to – back in the good old days. 

Stone seems to hold a completely different opinion to that of his Pearl Jam bandmate Eddie Vedder, who said he “despised” hair metal and Motley Crue in particular early this February (and got into a surprising online beef with Nikki Sixx as a result).

Stone is a reminder that members of these two historically opposed movements aren’t necessarily bitter enemies – especially given that Stone Gossard’s early works with the late Andrew Wood in Mother Love Bone are a bridge that blended glam and grunge. Speaking with WRIF’s Meltdown in a recent interview, the guitarist argues that grunge didn’t reinvent the wheel – it just made it interesting again (transcribed by Ultimate Guitar):

“”I think we changed the landscape at that time – I just don’t think we reinvented anything. We were taking punk rock, and blues, and rock & roll and we were just doing it in a different way.

“I do think we impacted the music industry at that time, and it’s only because hair bands were so entrenched in the record business, everybody’s just doing the same thing for so long that it lost its flavor.

“I was into hair bands, I wanted guys to dress up, and have crazy hair and makeup. But, you know, everything has a time for a change; at some point, everyone wants something fresh again…

“But I love that moment when kids get a hold of something, and they break it, and they want to just make it their own. Any time that happens, it’s kind of fun, it’s a good time to listen, because then it makes it [possible] for anyone to make a band. Not just stellar musicians, sometimes it’s just gotta be a group of people that love making a racket together.”