Dave Abbruzzese comments on his omission from the MTV Unplugged DVD cover

Spiritual_Chaos · March 2021

mace1229 said:
Now if all that happened was a public open invite on the internet, I wouldn't feel like it was a personal invitation myself and may not go. But I wouldn't claim I was never invited (I don't know if he has claimed that, or just people are making that claim on his behalf?).

Here is what he said at the time:

Hello, David Abbruzzese here….

Not true, the band and the hall did not invite or contact me.. The band tweeted that they welcomed the idea of the event granting the possibility of all the drummers to be in the same room. That isnt an invite.

I personally have deep respect for all drummers and of course the five that participated in the pearl jam bands carreer… I am going to say this; For the band to put me in the same light as Matt Chamberlain & Dave K really was a slap in the face. Nothing to do with those guys as people or players. Respect… but as a contributor? A band member? A definitive contributor to the energy and power of where the band went? …the sacrifices, the work, the physical and emotional contributions…not to mention the personal weight of carrying onthrough and after unceremonious and disrespectful way I was fired. I gave this band all I had to give every single moment I was in it. I never played for a paycheck. I never let the band down. I never let the music down. I never let the fans down… not once. I suppose that is why I am still such a point of contention. Truth be told, if I would have been inducted, I would have requested my tech, Jimmy Shoaf Jr. and my daughter, Francesca to say a few words on my behalf. If they had invited me to be there to witness the bands induction? Nope. To do that would justify the mistake and disrespect the core fans that took this band to heart back when all we were to become, we had to earn and also, most importantly, we had to prove we deserved every single time we took the stage. And we did that. We, the Pearl Jam band & original crew, deserved to be inducted & respected. I’m proud of my old friends for managing it all so well. I dont know if I heard anyone say it, but you’re welcome and thank you, too

mace1229 said:
Either way, sincere or not, he was invited.

You are playing a weird game of semantics here.

If I ask you to marry me. But I am not being sinsere. Then it doesn't matter if I say the words. I do not really ask you to marry me. It's an empty gesture.

But whatever. This is so 2017 all over again.

Ace and Peter and Gene and Paul should have played together in makeup and their tuxedos (Dressed to Kill cover style)
Axl Rose should have showed up and played with Guns N Roses
Dave A should have played State of Love and Trust.
Victoria needs to be back when Spice Girls get inducted.

Spiritual_Chaos · March 2021

HughFreakingDillon said:

Spiritual_Chaos said:

NewJPage said:

Spiritual_Chaos said:

on2legs said:

NewJPage said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

jesus, all these comments about "dave being miserable" and "needing to move on with his life" are kind of over the top. The guy makes one flippant remark on facebook, and also will answer questions about PJ when asked (which he probably shouldn't, because of this very thing), but no one knows the state of the guy's mind 24/7. it's probably more of a snapshot of a 2 second annoyance than anything.

he has every reason to be annoyed at that. he was with the biggest band in the world, and barely gets a mention anywhere like he was some session drummer for a couple songs.

the rock hall induction, to be clear, was not the band's choice. that was the hall's. always has been.

someone brings up my shithead ex girlfriend that cheated on me, yeah, for 5 seconds I'm like "fuck her!", but then the literal rest of my life I don't think about her. this is the most likely scenario in my mind.

one comment here or there on facebook does not equal a person's whole state of mind. come on, people.

Re: HOF, when the Dead were inducted they refused to go unless every former member was included. The HOF agreed. Ed has a long history with the HOF, and if he wanted Dave included Dave would have been.

Totally agree on this point.

Do not agree that he could have even if he/the band wanted to take the fight. Or maybe if they put forth a case, but not "because he is Eddie Vedder and has history with the HoF".

But by that logic, does Eddie not want Jack inducted? Or was it not worth using his leverage to get Jack inducted, because Dave A might have had slipped through the cracks?

It's not about not wanting Jack, it's about choosing to not fight for either. Both are more deserving than Krusan, no offense to him. This is a band that refused to take the stage unless corporate signage was removed. It's not like the HoF would have told their headliner to piss off. There is precedent for the hall changing their stance based on the desires of the band

My take on it, and was back when PJ was inducted, is that RnR HoF should just induct the band/artist. Full stop. The band/artist as a whole. E.g. "This year PEARL JAM will be inducted" or "This year Grateful dead is one of the inductees!" and then the band/artist can order how many plaques from the RnR HoF as they need and decide what past and present members are deserving of one.

Should not be the RnR HoF deciding what constitutes the band, or what part of a band or era and it's legacy that matters or not. I find that odd. And unnecessary.

Also, about throwing around ones weight. KISS, which I imagine was the headliner the year they was inducted, wanted present members inducted and made a stink about it publicly - but that did not work. But yeah. Whatever. It is what it is.

Dave A should - in my world and for my youtubing pleasure - have been personally reached out to and invited by the band to join them and destroy Rearviewmirror up on that stage that night. Might be a weird opinion. Might not be in line with the art direction of the Unplugged DVD.

But my evenings alone with only youtube as my friend and an endless amount of screwdrivers, would have been a bit better with being able to watch that on repeat.

if it was left up to the current incarnation of any band, many deserving members would have been snubbed because of a personal vendetta (see: Guns N Roses, Van Halen, among MANY others).

Yeah. That is a valid point, to some degree. But if the band as a whole without the "listing the members who count" is inducted - than there would be no snubbing. Okey, they might not get a small statue and they might be invited to play with the band or whatever. But that still happens. So... but yeah. I still think my opinion on it is the better option. But, obviously one can have different POVs on that.

lowbudgetlush · March 2021

NewJPage said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

jesus, all these comments about "dave being miserable" and "needing to move on with his life" are kind of over the top. The guy makes one flippant remark on facebook, and also will answer questions about PJ when asked (which he probably shouldn't, because of this very thing), but no one knows the state of the guy's mind 24/7. it's probably more of a snapshot of a 2 second annoyance than anything.

he has every reason to be annoyed at that. he was with the biggest band in the world, and barely gets a mention anywhere like he was some session drummer for a couple songs.

the rock hall induction, to be clear, was not the band's choice. that was the hall's. always has been.

someone brings up my shithead ex girlfriend that cheated on me, yeah, for 5 seconds I'm like "fuck her!", but then the literal rest of my life I don't think about her. this is the most likely scenario in my mind.

one comment here or there on facebook does not equal a person's whole state of mind. come on, people.

Re: HOF, when the Dead were inducted they refused to go unless every former member was included. The HOF agreed. Ed has a long history with the HOF, and if he wanted Dave included Dave would have been.

I agree with this. Some how the Chili Peppers got in Josh Klinghoffer. Metallica got Robert Trujillo in. Do not tell me at the time of induction these guys were worthy to be included in their bands. The hall is shitty. So they decide Dave Krusen gets to go in cause he played on the first record but Chad Channing does not get in even though he played on Nirvana's first album. I think bands have more pull and that Pearl Jam just didn't want Dave A in for whatever reason.

HughFreakingDillon · March 2021

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by "if the band is inducted then there would be no snubbing".

Spiritual_Chaos · March 2021

HughFreakingDillon said:

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by "if the band is inducted then there would be no snubbing".

If it would have been: "Pearl Jam is inducted! For their lovely music and their great carreer"

Instead of "Pearl Jam -- that is, Ed, Jeffrey, Michael, Stonelicious, Matthew and David is inducted!"

It would have included e.g. Dave A. He would not have been snubbed by some arbitrary metric.

on2legs · March 2021

He said he wouldn’t have shown up even if he had been inducted.

Like I said... more interested in drama than a resolution

mace1229 · March 2021

Spiritual_Chaos said:

mace1229 said:
Now if all that happened was a public open invite on the internet, I wouldn't feel like it was a personal invitation myself and may not go. But I wouldn't claim I was never invited (I don't know if he has claimed that, or just people are making that claim on his behalf?).

Here is what he said at the time:

Hello, David Abbruzzese here….
Not true, the band and the hall did not invite or contact me.. The band tweeted that they welcomed the idea of the event granting the possibility of all the drummers to be in the same room. That isnt an invite.
I personally have deep respect for all drummers and of course the five that participated in the pearl jam bands carreer… I am going to say this; For the band to put me in the same light as Matt Chamberlain & Dave K really was a slap in the face. Nothing to do with those guys as people or players. Respect… but as a contributor? A band member? A definitive contributor to the energy and power of where the band went? …the sacrifices, the work, the physical and emotional contributions…not to mention the personal weight of carrying onthrough and after unceremonious and disrespectful way I was fired. I gave this band all I had to give every single moment I was in it. I never played for a paycheck. I never let the band down. I never let the music down. I never let the fans down… not once. I suppose that is why I am still such a point of contention. Truth be told, if I would have been inducted, I would have requested my tech, Jimmy Shoaf Jr. and my daughter, Francesca to say a few words on my behalf. If they had invited me to be there to witness the bands induction? Nope. To do that would justify the mistake and disrespect the core fans that took this band to heart back when all we were to become, we had to earn and also, most importantly, we had to prove we deserved every single time we took the stage. And we did that. We, the Pearl Jam band & original crew, deserved to be inducted & respected. I’m proud of my old friends for managing it all so well. I dont know if I heard anyone say it, but you’re welcome and thank you, too

mace1229 said:
Either way, sincere or not, he was invited.

You are playing a weird game of semantics here.

If I ask you to marry me. But I am not being sinsere. Then it doesn't matter if I say the words. I do not really ask you to marry me. It's an empty gesture.

But whatever. This is so 2017 all over again.

Ace and Peter and Gene and Paul should have played together in makeup and their tuxedos (Dressed to Kill cover style)
Axl Rose should have showed up and played with Guns N Roses
Dave A should have played State of Love and Trust.
Victoria needs to be back when Spice Girls get inducted.

The comment was did they actually invite him or not. There was an open invite for him. I’m not playing semantics. Semantics would be saying the invite doesn’t count because it wasn’t sincere enough, or that the members didn’t personally reach out to him.
Marriage is a much bigger commitment than an evening together. It’s more like being invited to a wedding though an invitation in the mail even though you know you’re only invited out of obligation because you’re family and they don’t care if you go or not. You can tell yourself if they really wanted you to come they would have called with a personal invitation, but at the end of the day you were invited and have the opportunity to go.
I agree in that he should have been included, members of other bands have been included for contributing much less. I just disagree that he didn’t have a chance to go. I don’t blame him, I may not have. But I wouldn’t be saying I wasn’t invited either.

JH6056 · March 2021

HughFreakingDillon said:

I had read that he was invited, but the ticket to be a guest would have been $10,000 or some bullshit like that. No idea if that's true. I may have read that on alt nation, don't remember.

here's a rolling stone article with SOME info (but nothing to do with my previous paragraph):

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/ex-pearl-jam-drummer-band-didnt-officially-offer-rock-hall-invite-116675/

I can absolutely confirm, because I had this conversation with some band members of a band being inducted in the last years, that the HOF has an initial "invite list" for each band or artist, and that the HOF requires any band inviting anyone beyond that artist and a certain # of guest spots to pay $10,000 or more per ticket. I actually have had that convo with 2 bands inducted, and in one case a band member who was literally ALWAYS in the band up until it's end, but was at odds with the band member who was "offically the main band point of contact" even though they were broken up, this band member was not going to get a free ticket or a statue. Somehow in the end the band member had their ticket paid for by a fellow musician who admired the band, and it was negotiated beyond the "offical main point of contact for band" that this band member also got a statue.

But in both cases, a lot more people got "invites" than were on the list of "inductees" who get a statue, a free ticket and usually at least 1 free guest or family tix.

That's all to say, on this "Was Dave A invited or not" question, if he said (as quoted above) "I'm not going to go to watch them get inducted", it may mean he was invited to the ceremony if he wanted to pay $10,000, but he wasn't invited as an inductee.

Make of all of that what you will...

edocon · March 2021

I believe the band's tweet/announcement inviting all past drummers was indeed an open invitation. Surely they didn't mean Dave A. was "invited" to buy a ticket in the nosebleeds like any other rock fan. If I recall, Jack was sitting in proximity to the band at the event and joined them on stage for the Rockin in the Free World finale. If Dave A. had reached out to the band, they likely would have made similar accommodations for him. It seems the band was in the spirit of honoring all members and crew, current and former at the event. And Ed did note that Dave A. is a great drummer in his induction speech.

Spiritual_Chaos · March 2021

This made me remember, Neil was suppose to induct. Nothing against Letterman... but man... would have loved to hear that Neil-speech.

PB11041 · March 2021

Spiritual_Chaos said:

PB11041 said:

on2legs said:

I feel like Dave is more interested in airing his grievances than an actual resolution.

Because that is fucking true.

What would be the #actual resolution" here? I doubt he was the one omitting himself from the cover in question. Or was he the one dedicing that in a Fight Club-esque twist of a move?

moving the fuck on, he is never going to be back in pearl jam, time is never going to flip over on itself invert, the band or specific members are never going to say sorry and bring him wooby cushion to squeeze.

Members of the band did not get along with him the same way they felt about others, shit happens, it is too bad, but that is the actual resolutioni, embracing reality.

on2legs · March 2021

At the time they mentioned Neil was not feeling well but later Ed said the reason was that he didn’t want to make a speech to an arena full of people. He thought it was going to be a much more intimate affair when he said yes originally. Kind of lame on Neil’s part. Especially since Ed inducted him.

JH6056 · March 2021

edocon said:

I believe the band's tweet/announcement inviting all past drummers was indeed an open invitation. Surely they didn't mean Dave A. was "invited" to buy a ticket in the nosebleeds like any other rock fan. If I recall, Jack was sitting in proximity to the band at the event and joined them on stage for the Rockin in the Free World finale. If Dave A. had reached out to the band, they likely would have made similar accommodations for him. It seems the band was in the spirit of honoring all members and crew, current and former at the event. And Ed did note that Dave A. is a great drummer in his induction speech.

I don't know how to put multiple quotes in one post, but you and I posted at the same time before. The HOF issues an invite to "the band" as they define it, which are also the members being inducted, let's say to John, Paul, George & Ringo. And usually each gets one guest or don't know how it works with whole families of an inducted member.

If the band had prior members, or additional members, or 1 member in HOF's invite list left and was replaced later on, some bands seem to negotiate for those members to be included in actual inductee list.

But once the HOF agrees on who is officially inducted, which are also the free tickets, then if the band wants to invite other past/current members or any other family, each ticket is $10,000 or more. Those are still tickets that get you to the artist's table or nearby, backstage, onstage, you're still among the musicians.

That is completely different from fan, regular person seats that anyone can buy. So no one is saying PJ invited Dave to buy seats sold to anyone on ticketmaster, but he may have received the "You're not being inducted, and you have to pay $10,000 for your ticket and another $10k if you bring a date, but you're invited to this ceremony". It's happened to countless band members over time re: the HOF.

I'm not claiming to know what didn't or didn't happen in PJ's specific case, just saying that is what it sounds like may have, because why turn down an invite to actually be inducted and be onstage accepting? That's not what it sounds like Dave is saying he rejected.

PB11041 · March 2021

on2legs said:

He said he wouldn’t have shown up even if he had been inducted.

Like I said... more interested in drama than a resolution

Spiritual_Chaos · March 2021

PB11041 said:

Spiritual_Chaos said:

PB11041 said:

on2legs said:

I feel like Dave is more interested in airing his grievances than an actual resolution.

Because that is fucking true.

What would be the #actual resolution" here? I doubt he was the one omitting himself from the cover in question. Or was he the one dedicing that in a Fight Club-esque twist of a move?

moving the fuck on, he is never going to be back in pearl jam, time is never going to flip over on itself invert, the band or specific members are never going to say sorry and bring him wooby cushion to squeeze.

Members of the band did not get along with him the same way they felt about others, shit happens, it is too bad, but that is the actual resolutioni, embracing reality.

So, if I understand you correctly - what you are saying is that Pearl Jam should move the fuck on, Dave A is never going to not be the drummer during 91-94, time is never going to flip over on itself invert, Dave A is never going to say sorry for being their drummer in 91-94 and bring them a wooby cushion or squeeze --

-- and then the band should reach "actual resolution" and not consciously omitt him if they choose a design of portraits on a DVD from a live show he played at as a full member of the band?

... I mean, if resolution is to be had? Or what?

Spiritual_Chaos · March 2021

on2legs said:

At the time they mentioned Neil was not feeling well but later Ed said the reason was that he didn’t want to make a speech to an arena full of people. He thought it was going to be a much more intimate affair when he said yes originally. Kind of lame on Neil’s part. Especially since Ed inducted him.

Not everyone is comfortable holding speeches in front of large groups of people. An arena is quite big. Could feel intimidating.

I doubt he turned it down close to the event "just because".

EDIT: He should include the speech in written form in the Mirrorball Live Vinyl box set.

on2legs · March 2021

Ralph Wiggum would not have turned down an invite to HOF.

Poncier · March 2021

Ralph upon opening his invitation

Spiritual_Chaos · March 2021

Ralph when he realises he have to play the drums on State of Love and Trust at the RnR HoF like when he was in his 20s

Image: https://66.media.tumblr.com/9b2101b9ca79512dade3855e2c9bb410/0dc032e419ea6ee3-c5/s500x750/e0296dcc4ee2b8af2471b3de6e7067943d080aad.gif

PB11041 · March 2021

Spiritual_Chaos said:

PB11041 said:

Spiritual_Chaos said:

PB11041 said:

on2legs said:

I feel like Dave is more interested in airing his grievances than an actual resolution.

Because that is fucking true.

What would be the #actual resolution" here? I doubt he was the one omitting himself from the cover in question. Or was he the one dedicing that in a Fight Club-esque twist of a move?

moving the fuck on, he is never going to be back in pearl jam, time is never going to flip over on itself invert, the band or specific members are never going to say sorry and bring him wooby cushion to squeeze.

Members of the band did not get along with him the same way they felt about others, shit happens, it is too bad, but that is the actual resolutioni, embracing reality.

So, if I understand you correctly - what you are saying is that Pearl Jam should move the fuck on, Dave A is never going to not be the drummer during 91-94, time is never going to flip over on itself invert, Dave A is never going to say sorry for being their drummer in 91-94 and bring them a wooby cushion or squeeze --

-- and then the band should reach "actual resolution" and not consciously omitt him if they choose a design of portraits on a DVD from a live show he played at as a full member of the band?

... I mean, if resolution is to be had? Or what?

it troubles you deeply that basically nobody gives a shit about this with any more than a bit of a shrug. you asked what actual resolution is and you were given an answer, but what you want is just people to all feel like you do, and that is a total waste of time and energy. As is Dave's perpetual need for recognition of what he lost.

The great injustice of the unplugged dvd square snub will haunt us until in can be undone.

Dave Abbruzzese comments on his omission from the MTV Unplugged DVD cover

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