We were hoping for a drama free Rock and Roll Hall of Fame season with the likelihood that all of the bands were willing to see former members come back for the induction ceremony. Unfortunately, that dream lasted less than 24 hours.
Former Pearl Jam drummer Dave Abbruzzese has criticized the Hall of Fame for not putting him on the list of inductees for the band. According to the Hall, only Jeff Ament, Matt Cameron, Stone Gossard, Dave Krusen, Mike McCready and Eddie Vedder will be inducted even though Abbruzzese was a member and recorded two of the band’s biggest albums, Vs. (1993) and Vitalogy (1994).
Abbruzzese was actually the third drummer for Pearl Jam after Dave Krussen (1990 to 1991) and Matt Chamberlain (1991), He came into the group as a temporary replacement for the departing Chamberlain and ended up becoming permanent and staying until 1994 when he was fired due to personality conflicts with the rest of the band.
A friend of Abbruzzese’s, identified only as Kari, wrote the first salvo which Dave re-posted on Facebook:
Sharing kari’s post- not sure who could view.
https://www.rockhall.com/inductees/pearl-jam
It must have been difficult to write this piece and completely omit David Abbruzzese.
The drummer that toured “Ten,” played 275+ live gigs and recorded two of the most successful records in the Pearl Jam discography.
The drummer that re-recorded “Even Flow” and appeared in the live video, the vid for “Jeremy,” SNL appearances and MTV “Uplugged.”
“Unplugged” was groundbreaking in 1992 and allowed millions of viewers to connect with the band.
The artist that recorded “Vs.” which sold over 900k copies in the first week- a record held for nearly five years. Then there’s “Vitalogy” their third record with US sales of 5 million- ranking third in sales behind “Ten” (13M) and “Vs.” (7M). The musician responsible for “Go” – which according to the band’s site has been played at 1/3 of their live shows.
RRHOF inclusion is not based on sales. The Induction Process (as it relates to individual band members) is vague- perhaps non-existent on the official site. The following statement lifted from the RRHOF Facebook page would indicate that it is subjective.
“As the original ballot is created, the members of each eligible band are determined by largely who was present and active during the most influential recording years.”
According to RIAA, my abacus and the fans, David Abbruzzese’s contributions to Pearl Jam from 1991-1994 at the height of their career are monumental and it is a damn shame that he is not included in the RRHOF Class of 2017.
David was most definitely “present and active during the most influential recording years.”
As was mentioned, the actual criteria for the Rock Hall as far as who, in a group’s history, will be inducted is a bit vague. When KISS went in, it was only the original four and none from the group’s later history. Others have a mix of members from throughout their history.
For Pearl Jam, four of the inductees were no brainers. Vedder, McCready, Gossard and Ament have been members since the inception of the band until today. As far as the five drummers that have played in the band, only the first (Krusen, who appeared on only their debut album) and Cameron (who has been with the band since 1999) were included.
Leaving Chamberlain off makes sense as his tenure was less than a year and he never recorded an album with the band. Jack Irons was with Pearl Jam from 1994 to 1998 and appeared on Merkin Ball (1995), No Code (1996) and Yield (1998), all major albums but not among those for which Pearl Jam will most likely be remembered.
The fifth, Abbruzzese, only appeared on Vs. and Vitalogy but those could easily be seen as the height of the band’s creative efforts.
A petition has been started at Change.org to get the Hall to reconsider their decision. You can sign the petition here.
