As much as I would like Eddie Vedder’s death certificate to say he died of old age, the death certificates of other Seattle front men and grunge front men did not. All the biggest acts I’m aware of that were from Seattle or were grunge related no longer have a lead singer, excepting Pearl Jam.
Starting with the grunge bands, Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots died of an accidental drug overdose. Layne Staley of Alice in Chains died of a heroin and cocaine mix. The other deaths are a bit more complex. With the drug part of the equation being a bit less obvious.
Chris Cornell of Soundgarden officially died of hanging. He had 4 times a normal dosage of Ativan in his system. 6 times the normal dosage can have the side effect of suicidal thoughts. It is possible that Chris Cornell had the thoughts on a slightly lower dose than is considered normal. His death, too, could be tied to drugs.
Kurt Cobain’s death has inspired many conspiracy theories. There’s no way I can get to them all, here. The Nirvana front man likely shot himself while on morphine, valium and a large dose of heroin. Just know that drugs were involved. And a few weeks before this he had been hospitalized for taking 50 painkillers that some believe was an earlier suicide attempt. Drugs were definitely involved.
Another huge Seattle singer was Jimi Hendrix. It is believed he died after taking 18 times the recommended dosage of sleeping pills and aspirated his own vomit and died of asphyxia. However the coroner declared an open verdict due to a lack of evidence.
Grunge, Seattle and Drugs seem to mix with lethal consequences for lead singers. Eddie Vedder, as the last one standing, I hope his friends family, Pearl Jam and bodyguards take note.
If I were Vedder’s body guard I would keep him away from second hand smoke. Eddie is supposed to have stayed away from smoking his whole life, so I’d be damned if second hand smoke were to take him out now. Anyone who started smoking around him would get the smoke slapped off his face and I would steer Eddie away from any smoking area.
Every time I saw Vedder with a coffee in his hands, I’d slap it to the ground and say “Say no to drugs, Mr. Vedder, sir!” Hopefully his foot wasn’t burned. I’d also do the same if he had an energy drink, tea, or cola in his hand.
And if I were to hear him say, “There’s nothing like a beer on a hot day,” I’d give him my angry glare and say, “There’s nothing like air conditioning on a hot day.” Then I would steer him inside to air conditioning and if that also protected him from skin cancer, well then so be it.
Eddie Vedder, you’ve been the exception to the rule so far. Let’s keep going with that.
