Former Pearl Jam Drummer Dave Abbruzzese Asks Band to Rectify Rock Hall Snub
Dave Abbruzzese, Pearl Jam‘s drummer on the band’s LPs Vs. and Vitalogy, called upon his former bandmates to “do the right thing” and lobby the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to add him to their list of potential inductees.
When the Rock Hall announced its short list Tuesday, it listed the four mainstay members of Pearl Jam – Eddie Vedder, Mike McCready, Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard – as well as a pair of their drummers: Dave Krusen, who played on their debut LP Ten, and Matt Cameron, the Soundgarden drummer who joined Pearl Jam in 1998. Abbruzzese was not among the eligible members.
In a pair of Facebook posts, Abbruzzese wrote, “The members of Pearl Jam have got to know what’s the right thing to do. They can’t justify ignoring my contributions. Like me or not. If there is still a part of that band that remembers how hard we worked, how much blood and how much sweat … They will do the right thing.”
A rep for the Hall of Fame declined to comment. A rep for Pearl Jam did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Pearl Jam recruited Abbruzzese in 1991 during the tour in support of Ten after Matt Chamberlain, who briefly replaced Krusen, left the band. After recording Vs. and Vitalogy with Pearl Jam – including writing the music for those albums’ opening tracks “Go” and “Last Exit” – the band fired Abbruzzese in August 1994.
The Rock Hall committee also didn’t name Jack Irons, Abbruzzese’s replacement and the drummer on Pearl Jam’s No Code and Yield, among the band’s Rock Hall-eligible members. Irons had been previously inducted with the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 2012 and has yet to comment on this year’s nominations.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s nominees for 2017 includes Pearl Jam and Tupac Shakur. Watch here.