Stone Gossard: “Heavy metal changed my life”

In an interview with Matt Pinfield for 95.5 KLOS' 'New & Approved', the guitarist of Pearl Jam Stone Gossard among other things he also spoke about his passion for hard rock and heavy metal of the early 80s.

As reported by Blabbermouth.net, here are the words of Stone Gossard: “Heavy metal changed my life.

Then punk rock, in addition to this, allowed me to get into heavy metal. Because I sucked and heavy metal was kind of about being magical as hell. If you couldn't compete with Yngwie (Malmsteen, ed.), you needed to be gifted, and punk rock allowed me to be gifted in a different way, that is, can you just play a couple of notes that sound good? Maybe this is enough, then maybe someone else can do something with a more Talking Heads-like approach.”

When asked what heavy metal and hard rock records he loved as a kid, Stone replied: “'The Oath' and 'Melissa' by Mercyful Fate. Iron Maiden, the first two or three Iron Maiden records blew me away. Alice Cooper And then, going back to find Alice Cooper and T. Rex and the glam of the 70s. Then the Sex Pistols, how good does the Sex Pistols record sound at the moment?”.

In a December 2022 interview with Detroit radio station WRIF, a Stone Gossard was asked if he agreed that grunge had reinvented rock and roll by ending the careers of many hard rock and heavy metal musicians. “I think we changed the landscape in that time. I don't think we reinvented anything. We took punk rock, blues and rock and roll and did it in a different way. I think we had an impact on the industry musical at the time, just because hair bands and the record business were really entrenched and everyone had been doing the same thing for so long that it had lost its flavor. I liked hair bands, I wanted kids to dress well and have hair and crazy makeup. But I think at some point there's time for a change and everyone wants something new. So whenever that happens, it's Pretty fun. It's a good time to listen. It's easier for anyone to form a band. Sometimes it's just about being a bunch of people who love making noise together.”

In another interview in the summer of 2022 he spoke about the issue this way: “I think there's always a renewal in the world and with that renewal comes new perspectives. I think at that time hard rock was really stagnant in a way which gave what I call 'less musically talented' musicians the opportunity to say, 'Hey, there's another way to play rock songs, and there's another way to have heavy songs. it's another way to create chaos and energy out of those songs that would be out of the normal color palette of a heavy metal song. I mean, I listened to a lot of heavy metal in the beginning. I listened to a lot of Motorhead .I listened to Mercyful Fate a lot. I listened to all those New Wave Of British Heavy Metal bands and I liked them, as a kid I didn't really know how to play that way, so I was just doing it which seemed right to me. I think in the late 80s there was a very free attitude towards art and music that was forming in the wake of hard rock, a lot of people were experimenting with sounds, and bands formed from there. There was something about them that was fresh, that really caught people's ears, so it had a huge effect on all of that too. A lot of those heavy metal bands are still around, so they're not all dead. Sure, many of them had to regroup, and yes, some died, but that's part of the cycle of life. There are still many fans who love hard rock, and I'm one of them. I love hard rock, I always have, but I believe that renewal and rebirth are part of art.”