Grunge band Pearl Jam and Mookie Blaylock have history, so it makes sense that the Seattle-bred rockers would reach out the the former NBA point guard after his involvement in a serious, life-threatening crash on Friday.
Pearl Jam has sent well-wishes to Mookie Blaylock after his weekend crash , and though it may seem odd that a music group would go out of their way to send a former NBA star positive thoughts, the two are actually pretty close in the neighborhood.
The link? Prior to their success as Pearl Jam, the band called themselves “Mookie Blaylock” after the then-active All-Star basketball player. After signing to Epic Records, worries of a copyright dispute caused the band to change their name . Still, their first album “Ten” was named for Blaylock’s jersey number.
“I was a huge Mookie fan,” Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament admitted in an interview.
Part of the reason they named themselves for Blaylock was that they liked his unique name, but Ament suggested that they identified with the sports star’s values as well.
“He was really unselfish; great shooter; great fundamentals,” Ament said.
Ament even had the pleasure of meeting Blaylock once and playing a game of H-O-R-S-E with him, according to an interview with the New York Times . Ament has put aside a picture of the two together to be framed, but said that he doesn’t expect Blaylock to be a huge Pearl Jam fan.
“It doesn’t have to be reciprocating props,” Ament said. “I went and played basketball with him, and he said: ‘You do have game! You have a good shot; you have a nice rotation.’ I was like, ‘Awesome.’ That was all I was looking for.”
Blaylock was in critical condition after the crash, but has since improved . He apparently lost control of his Cadillac Escalade and crossed the media, colliding head-on with another vehicle. He is facing vehicular homicide charges , as one of the passengers of the other car unfortunately passed away.
Are you surprised that Pearl Jam and Mookie Blaylock are so closely linked, or did you know about the grunge band’s original name?
[Image via: ChinellatoPhoto / Shutterstock ]
