In a new Facebook post, REO Speedwagon frontman Kevin Cronin recalled a recent missed opportunity he had with Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder at the Pollstar Awards last week.
“After presenting our first manager, the inimitable Irving Azoff with the Pollstar ‘Manager of the Year’ award, I was hustled into the backstage Green Room for photos and quick interviews, and introduced to Eddie Vedder,” Cronin wrote.
“When Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Alice in Chains burst out of Seattle, down came the Def Leppard and Bon Jovi posters from my sons’ walls and up went Kurt Cobain and Eddie Vedder,” he continued. “My teenage boys had discovered music of their own.”
“As difficult as those initial years of Grunge were for bands of my generation, I dug the Seattle sound and was happy that my boys had discovered new music that they could call their own,” Cronin explained. “I wish I would have had the wherewithal to share that story with Eddie when I met him, but I often feel a bit intimidated in those situations, and only later think of what I wish I would have expressed in the moment.”
“In the brief encounter I had with Eddie Vedder, I found him to be friendly, warm, and welcoming, and if our paths cross again, I will be ready with a conversation starter!” he concluded.
