For the past few weeks, Lily Cornell Silver, daughter of Chris Cornell , has been hosting a weekly show on her Instagram called Mind Wide Open . There, she discusses mental health with artists, therapists, and other experts in the field.
The guest on the latest episode was Eddie Vedder , lead singer of Pearl Jam and a friend of her late father. He spoke about grief, empathy, activism, and mental health. Introducing the musician, Lily expressed the importance of having him on her show, “He and his family have been supportive of my series and that means a lot to me. He’s always been like an uncle to me and he’s one of the pillars of my life.”
One of the most emotional moments of the interview was when Vedder recalled the tragedy that occurred at the Roskilde Festival, where nine Pearl Jam fans died after the event's barricade was torn down. The festival took place in 2000 on the same day Lily was born. The vocalist told the story to illustrate how good and bad things can happen at the same time, such as the birth of his group of friends' first daughter and the death of his fans.
He also recounts that Pete Townsend , from The Who , helped him through that moment, as he had also gone through something similar. In 1979, eleven people died at a concert by the band in Cincinnati in a very similar tragedy. “I was basically in the fetal position and Pete said, 'You can handle this,' and then I said, 'I can't. I don't know, Pete, I don't think I can. I'm losing my mind.' And he said, 'No, you can handle this…' And then he empowered me to pull myself together.”
Sadly, Vedder is the only surviving vocalist from the five major grunge bands, having lost his friends Chris Cornell, Kurt Cobain , Layne Staley , and Scott Weiland . In the interview, he comments on the subject: “His father… of course he had the music and the lyrics were dark, Kurt’s lyrics, some of them were dark, Layne’s lyrics, some of them were dark… and these weren’t people who thought, ‘I’m going to pretend to write dark music.’ It was real for them.”
Soundgarden 's album Badmotorfinger is his all-time favorite. He also spoke about the help the band offered to the backstage crew and commented on the US presidential election.
Watch the full interview below.
