When Mötley Crüe's Nikki Sixx recently tweeted that Pearl Jam are "one of the most boring bands in history," he clearly had forgotten all about the grunge giants' death-defying early days. Back then, the group's frontman Eddie Vedder was notorious for climbing anything he could during Pearl Jam shows — the higher, the better — and throwing himself into the audience in some of the most epic stage-dives ever, enthralling fans and terrifying his bandmates. The Dillinger Escape Plan's Greg Puciato and Fever 333's Jason Aalon Butler may be renowned for their life-risking antics today, but Vedder set the template and first raised the bar.
"I was channeling something different," he once said of his onstage escapades. "I got to that place you hear about where the mom lifts the car off the two-year-old kid. It was that kind of adventure. At that point in life and having at long last the opportunity to play for bigger crowds, I really and truly felt like I had nothing to lose. No thoughts of what may be waiting in my future. It was all about the now. And that was part and parcel with whatever message the group and I had to impart on the audience at that instance. Risking your hide to evoke that emotion became part of the program." Flashback to some of his craziest climbs and dives above and below.
