Chris Cornell, among other big music stars, does quite a few interviews on this movie. It is interesting to hear about the friendly rivalry his band, Soundgarden, had with Pearl Jam, and how deep the ties run between them. Eddie Vedder, Pearl Jam's lead singer, was actually a pretty shy person at first, and Chris did a lot to bring him out of his shell.
Perhaps the more familiar story of Pearl Jam is also covered in this movie. That's the story of their struggle to cope with fame, and their struggle to overcome it, really. They were a band that just wanted to play clubs and bars and those more personal settings forever. This was all made more poignant by the death of rival and friend Kurt Cobain of the band Nirvana in 1994.
In addition to the main movie, there is a fair amount of bonus material. They're easily digestible little shorts from different members of the band and include a walkthrough of the creation of a song, "The Fixer." It's kind of amazing to see how quickly they can put a song together, and that's not even due just to the magic of editing. There's also some live footage from a few performances, including "No Anything." There's something interesting in each one of these features, and this one happens to be a board from a stage that Eddie put a hole through 16 years ago. It seems that someone from the tour kept it all this time, and they quickly reminisce - or rather just look surprised and can't really remember doing that to a stage. There's also an in-car tour of some of the landmarks in Seattle that the band touched and lived through during their history.
This DVD definitely outlines the band's history and feels authentic, and real. The footage here includes a lot that you'll probably never see anywhere else. And while there might not be any huge shockers to be found here, you don't really need that. If you want just a glimpse into where all that emotionally charged, amazing music came from, this movie will give you that. That may not be the kind of stuff that holds you to the edge of your seat, but with a band like this, you don't need all that flashy, over-the-top stuff anyway.
