The singer Julian Casablancas was always obsessed with: “My childhood hero”
Indie rock poster boy Julian Casablancas has been a subject of obsession for rock enthusiasts for decades now. Finding fame fronting The Strokes, Casablancas is often hailed as the progenitor of the 2000s indie rock revival, and it is a hard claim to dispute. Inspiring everybody from Arctic Monkeys to The Killers, Casablancas has always been keen to pay tribute to his own musical heroes, too.
When it comes to indie and garage rock, there are few names as legendary as The Strokes. Rising out of New York’s underground in the late 1990s, early releases like The Modern Age and Is This It formed defining moments within the garage rock revival of the early noughties, providing undeniable inspiration for countless acts that went on to dominate rock scenes across the world.
When it comes to the garage rock scene which birthed The Strokes, the lineage can certainly be traced back to America’s grunge scene. Blossoming in the northwest of the US in the late 1980s, groups like Mudhoney and Nirvana created a punk rock revolution for the modern age. Characterised by fast, buzzsaw guitars, sweaty mosh pits and a general sense of non-conformity, grunge changed the musical landscape of the US indefinitely.
This vibrant and varied scene was hugely influential on Julian Casablancas, with The Strokes frontman particularly infatuated with Pearl Jam. A defining rock group of the 1990s, Pearl Jam formed at the height of grunge in 1990s Seattle. Spearheaded by lead vocalist and guitarist Eddie Vedder, the band are an interesting case study within the grunge scene; although they are often branded with the prestigious ‘grunge’ tag, their musical output is much closer to that of classic rock or even – perish the thought – stadium rock.
Despite their mainstream tendencies, in comparison to the likes of Melvins, Alice In Chains, or virtually any other band of the grunge era, Pearl Jam certainly captured the imagination of America’s music-buying audiences. Casablancas fell hook, line and sinker for Vedder’s group, listing the frontman as his “childhood hero”.
Vedder appeared onstage with The Strokes during a show in Seattle back in 2022, performing their 2005 top-five single ‘Juicebox’. In an Instagram post following the concert, Casablancas wrote, “Eddie Vedder came and sang a song with us in Seattle, no big deal…(my childhood hero, fuck). Beyond words.”
The pair had previously collaborated on a 2015 charity single, covering Marvin Gaye’s ‘Mercy Mercy Me’ alongside Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme – a stunning musical menagerie. Despite being nothing short of an icon in his own right, The Strokes singer clearly never waned from his childhood appreciation of Pearl Jam and, of course, Eddie Vedder.