When Kenny Maybe interviewed Pearl Jam's Jeff Ament for ESPN The Magazine's music issue, an interesting parallel was set. The magazine, the off-shoot of the sports TV brand, uses their February 18th issue to draw a connection between sports and music; a connection that many people don't think twice about. However, in his interview, Ament discusses how, in his early adulthood, that wasn't the case.
Ament, on his years as a high school athlete who also played music:
"I came into college as a jock. Where I grew up, I could be a punk rocker and a football player. Nobody told me I couldn't be both of those things. When I went to college it became apparent that I had to belong to one group. If I was a jock I couldn't continue to cut my hair the way I had been cutting my hair. That earring that you have? You have to get rid of that."
Straddling both worlds got more difficult after he moved to Seattle, too. According to the article, Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love used to get Ament a hard time about playing basketball! He said, "I once stopped to say hi before a show, and as I walked away, Courtney yelled, 'Go play basketball with Dave Grohl!'"
The Pearl Jam guys are known for being a sports-loving bunch, so he obviously fell into the right group of friends. You can read more about Ament's childhood and his love for the Sonics here >>
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