12-Year Old Eddie Vedder Got Expensive Gift

Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder has recalled the day when he got his first electric guitar, which he received one Christmas morning after being led to believe he’d been given a vacuum cleaner instead.

CBS Sunday Morning recently enjoyed a behind-the-scenes look at life on the road with Pearl Jam after its cameras were invited to capture the band’s Missoula, Montana, show – and it was during the subsequent interview with the band’s frontman that the amusing anecdote came to light.

Eddie Vedder talks about his first guitar

Vedder recalled that he was 12 years old when he got his first six-string, which was gifted to him as a joint birthday/Christmas present.

“My birthday’s December 23rd so I begged to have the two gifts put together to afford something as extravagant as an electric guitar, which I think was $115,” he explains.

“I walked in Christmas morning and I could see the silhouette of it and my heart dropped. Then the lights came on and it was a vacuum.”

Luckily his disappointment was fleeting. “Everybody finished opening their presents,” he continues. “I’m getting little chills [remembering this]. They said, ‘Oh, one more,’ and they pulled out a guitar case, so that was nice.”

Well, it seems that Vedder doesn’t think the vacuum silhouette trick was an intentional misdirect. However, this writer is certainly making a note on how to hoodwink any potential future children.

While the aspiring musician ended up getting the present of his dreams, his mother was left to take ownership of the vacuum he had less-than-enthusiastically opened: “How about my mom getting lucky getting a vacuum for Christmas?” he laughs.

Pearl Jam are deep into their US tour supporting their 12th album, Dark Matter, and it’s been an eventful one so far. It got off to a rather rough after guitarist Mike McCready fell off stage while soling – but somehow didn’t miss a note.

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