MILB: "Rockin in the Free World" by Neil Young with Pearl Jam

In 1993, I got to see one of the coolest performances of a song on television.  At the MTV Video Music Awards, Pearl Jam and Neil Young came on stage and played, "Rockin in the Free World" off Young's 1989 album, Freedom.  What happened was one of the coolest things you'll see on TV.

From the stories of what happened, Pearl Jam was asked to close the show.  They'd played "Rockin" at their MTv Unplugged show the year before, and thought it would be make a great closer.  Apparently they asked Young to play with them, and while they heard yes, they weren't sure he was coming until he walked in and plugged in.

Now the song is a great song, and an indictment of the then George H.W. Bush administration.  (It implicitly references President Bush 41's call for "a thousand points of light" and a "kindler gentler nation.")  It also talks about the issues of the ozone layer and taking care of the environment.  So, it was a head of its time.  Still, even if you take away the political message, this song definitely has a huge amount of rock to it.  The opening lick alone is enough to get the adrenaline going, and the guitar solo in the middle is fantastic.

Well then, let's talk about the actual performance.

This was during the time Pearl Jam was one of the biggest bands in the world.  Their rotating drummer problem landed with Dave Abbruzzese, who does a decent job of playing this song.  (Matt Cameron would have been awesome, but he was still with Soundgarden at that time, so no dice.)  Anyways, song starts off, with Neil doing his thing.   Gets right into the song, playing his guitar like only he can.  Meanwhile Eddie Vedder's just sitting their with his hair in his face bobbing his head up and down.  I can't tell you how awesome that looked in 1993.  Eddie Vedder was one of the coolest guys around back then, mainly because he didn't talk much, and when he did you had real trouble understanding what the hell he was saying.  Still, with Mike McCready, Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament in the band, they had some real power going on.  The song, moves on with pace, and Eddie does a great job with his part.  Then, the guitar solos start.  Watching them jam together you know they're just enjoying themselves.  Heck, no one else could have been at that show and they probably would have done the same stuff during the solo.  Then, towards the end, it gets raucous.  They start smashing guitars, and Eddie takes his mic stand and starts smashing the stage with it.  As a 17 year old growing up in Florida, I really and truly wanted to be in that audience.

Pearl Jam and Neil Young remain pretty darn close to this day.  He pops up on occasion to perform with them, they recorded an album together, 1995's Mirror Ball, and  Eddie inducted Neil Young into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame.  I think Young's activism may have rubbed off, as shortly after this, Pearl Jam took on Ticketmaster, which was a stupid move to do when you're the biggest band in the world.  But they did.  They came out the other side, and have celebrated playing together for more than 20 years.  I've never seen Pearl Jam in concert, but I have friends that have seen them numerous times.  (I did buy one of the bootleg CDs they sold of their concerts off their website back in the early 2000s.  It was in Washington, DC, a show in which a couple of my friends went to see.)  Still, when I think of this song, it takes me back to 1993.  I was young, and had no idea what I was headed into.  Do me a favor: go home, dig out your baggy shorts or jeans, put on a flannel, and pump this song loud.  It'll definitely put you in the right sort of mind.