Pearl Jam: something sticky this way comes

It's no secret that Peal Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder was an avid surfer before he landed his day job.  In fact, it's been told time and time again in publications such as Rolling Stone and Time how he utilized surfing while creating the lyrics for Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament's demo tape, coming up with the words to "Alive," "Once" and "Footsteps," his mini opera Mother-Son, while riding the waves, before he'd become a member of Pearl Jam.

He once shared an intense conversation with world famous wave rider Laird Hamilton on the show Iconoclasts about Post Big-Wave syndrome.  In 1995 while surfing in New Zealand with Tim Finn he drifted 250 yards off the coast and had to be brought in by lifeguards.  It got worse for Vedder ten years later in 2005 when he attempted to paddle from Moloka'i to Oahu and had to be rescued.

But still, Eddie Vedder has a deep connection to the ocean, as is apparent in his lyrics, especially in songs like "Oceans" and "Big Wave."  He is a regular contributor to the Surfrider Foundation, a self-described "non-profit environmental group dedicated to the protection and e
njoyment of the world's oceans, waves and beaches through conservation, activism, research and education."

It's also no secret that bassist Jeff Ament is no stranger to skate parks.  Back in the day you were as likely to catch him with a board as his bass and of late Ament has been using his Pearl Jam proceeds to go around the Midwest, especially Montana and South Dakota, building skateparks, like a modern day Johnny Apple Seed but instead of traveling by foot and planting seeds, he's riding an Alien Workshop  across the country, creating bowls, kidney bowls, egg bowls, draining pools, all the while bringing skaters out of the woodworks.  And if he wakes up dead tomorrow, "Throw my ashes in some pool block and put me in parks all over the state," Ament told Vice's Chris Nirtatko in 2015 speaking of a series of parks he'd built in Montana, many on Reservations.

Ament, like my brother and I, got his start on a Grentech, in 1975 or '76.  Jason and I shared a mustard yellow hand-me-down Coyote II. (Ament didn't specify which Grentech model he skated, or any details about his deck.)  Jason's talent level grew and he asked for a better board and got a Schmitt Stix and the Grentech became singularly mine.

Jason had to give up his board, however, after an accident threatened his baseball career.  Jason stood to have a real chance to play big time high school baseball for a state championship team, and move on to play major college ball, and possibly beyond, but a severe ankle injury riding his Schmitt Stix while skating down a simple sidewalk at my Great Aunt Lucy's house threatened that future and he put the skateboard in the closet - for good.

I, without a riding partner, digressed in my abilities, and eventually parked mine as well.  The board was sadly lost in an arson house fire in 1992.


But I'm not just writing today about Eddie Vedder's surfing abilities, or Jeff Ament's philanthropic doings or my brother and I's misadventures.  What I want to write about today is the board flare, skate and/or surf, that bears Pearl Jam's name, the sheer volume of it produced its collectability, its variety and its availability.


I want to discuss whether or not it is official Pearl Jam licensed product, or "bootleg" ephemera, or both.  And, I want to talk about alternative uses of the stickers themselves - trains, planes, automobiles?

The first rock and roll stickers of kids' favorite rock and roll acts certainly quickly followed the introduction of the first rock and roll acts.  And we have KISS to thank for making rock and roll music and merchandising synonymous.  But there's more to it than that.

Pearl Jam eagerly embraces the production of stickers, certainly their stickers are of high enough quality to grace boards and in fact do.  I've seen them.  Pearl Jam can't be blamed for making a buck here and there, literally, because that's typically what most of these stickers run in the Pearl Jam Web store - a buck. 

Bands don't make nearly as much on the their music as they once did and labels nowadays insist on taking a cut of the band's merch tables, so, what do bands do, they have to push more merch.

Pearl Jam's stickers through the years have become some of the most sought after and collectible pop art.  A scroll through the pages of eBay bears out that statement. 

Some of the more common ones that are readily available, such as the famous Jeff Ament designed stick figure man that former Pearl Jam drummer Dave Abbruzzese has tattooed on his left shoulder goes for around $7.99 USD.  Then there's the 2013 Charlottesville gig sticker that commands a price tag of $20 USD.

Others such as the Pearl Jam Liberty Bell, retired, or the Big Day Out, Pert, WA Feb. 2, 2014, are asking for $49.99 USD.  WOW!  For something you peel off the back of and slap on to another surface.  I could purchase a brand new copy of No Code for that price and have change left over for a sandwich.

The rare Brad Klausen tiger sticker recently fetched $18 on eBay.  Klausen's concert posters draw astronomical figures on the various pay and auction sites on the internet and his artwork is stellar.  For example, a signed print of the Chicago Wrigley Field commemorative Pearl Jam show poster has a hefty price tag of $574 on it, while an Eddie Vedder 2009 framed silkscreen by Klausen has its current owner asking $139.50, or you can Make An Offer if you feel lucky.

Above and below: fan created

"Pearl Jam" stickers

solicited on eBay.

Meanwhile, you can score the Chicago Wrigley Field sticker set for just $15 here.  Do it Now!

On the other end of the sticker spectrum you have the "Pearl Jam quality vinyl fan made" stickers, which, while typically of decent quality, are NOT the real deal and thus don't measure up.  They usually are bundled in groups of three, four or five pieces and bring $4.95 or $5.95 a set on eBay or wherever.

I cannot speak to the quality of any of these knock-off stickers as I do not own any, but as to the originals, most of the photographs with this article are of stickers from my collection, including a Klausen tiger, though I did NOT pay $18 or mine, LOL.

Of course, skateboard or surfboard flare is not the only uses for these stickers.  I personally use them to jazz up  the wooden crates I keep my beloved vinyl collection in.  These type stickers also end up on the rear window on my automobile inevitably, though I must admit there is NOT a Pearl Jam sticker there presently, rather a Manowar and a Sasquatch conservation sticker.  I've seen them on boats, refrigerators, stereo deck lids, guitars, guitar cases, and the list goes on.

The eight Pearl Jam LPs I own on vinyl to date, ( l to r): Ten Redux, Vs., Vitalogy,

Binaural, Riot Act, Peal Jam, Backspacer and Lightning Bolt.