By 1993 the status of grunge rock as a genuine cultural phenomenon was undeniable. Which is why Time magazine used an image of Eddie Vedder on the cover of its October 25, 1993 issue, hailing “angry young rockers like Pearl Jam” for giving voice to “the passions and fears of a generation.”
Given how few rock musicians have ever been accorded cover status by the prestigious news magazine, readers may have imagined that Vedder would have been thrilled and honoured, but in reality the 28-year-old singer, who had refused to be interviewed for the cover feature, was furious, viewing the editorial team's decision as further proof that he was fast losing control over his own life.
Pearl Jam's second album, Vs., had emerged one week earlier, with that idea as one of its central themes, expressed on songs such as Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town and Leash, on which Vedder channeled all his frustrations into the ferocious lyric, "Get outta my fuckin’ face.”
One man who may have missed that memo was 24-year-old New Orleans waiter James Gorman, who very much got in Vedder's face when he encountered the singer having drinks with friends - Chicago White Sox pitcher Jack McDowell, and two members of Chicago alt.rockers Urge Overkill - in a bar in the city's French Quarter the following month. The night in question would end up with McDowell in the city's Charity Hospital, and Vedder locked up in Orleans Parish Prison.
Gorman's version of events was that Pearl Jam's frontman spat on him "for no reason", grabbed him by the throat, and began shoving him around.
