Published at 9:15 AM on September 18, 2009

By Michael Saba

Wailers and Wannabes: A Lexicon of Eddie Vedder Sound-Alikes

Eddie Vedder's back-of-the-throat singing voice is something like a hybrid between a goat-man, Jim Morrison and a Wookie. In other words, it's really hard to find the right words to do justice to his oh-so-masculine tremolo. It's one of those things that's easier to just sing (or draw) than describe. And if you turned a radio on at any point during the '90s, you're probably well aware of the fact that many artists staked their livelihood on imitating Vedder's style. For your consideration, then, a collection of vocalists who try to sound like Eddie Vedder, rated on a one-to-four scale of Vedder's vintage flannel shirts:

Odds are, you haven't thought about Lifehouse since the one-hit wonders peaked in 2001 with "Hanging By a Moment." And had vocalist Jason Wade not so blatantly aped the Pearl Jam/Nirvana aesthetic, no one would have given a hoot or holler about them in the first place.
Rating: 1.5 FLANNEL SHIRTS OUT OF 4

Chris Cornell (Soundgarden)
Vedder is a sound-alike of Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell, since the latter predates the former by a few years. Cornell's vocals do an admirable job of splitting the difference between melodic verses and drawl backed by guitar-chug; he set the gold standard for long-tressed grunge singers, and Vedder took that baton and ran with it.
Rating: 4 FLANNEL SHIRTS OUT OF 4

There's a very good reason why Nickelback's 2007 show in Portugal only lasted two songs. Chad Kroeger isn't a terrible vocalist, so when his growl begins to lift from the lower register it's a decent enough approximation of Vedder's singing. But with great power comes great responsibility, and so far all Nickelback has been able to do is churn out a couple highly unimaginative radio hits and lyrics about how they'll "stay skinny cause we just won't eat." Think of the children, Kroeger.
Rating: 1 FLANNEL SHIRT OUT OF 4

STP are probably better described as contemporaries to Pearl Jam than also-rans, but they've never quite been able escape Eddie Vedder & Co's shadow. STP moves eight million with their debut? Pearl Jam moves 13 million. STP has brushes with the law, and Pearl Jam protests the whole damn system. It's kinda the same way with Weiland's vocals: He's never quite been able to go shot-for-shot with Vedder's pathos, instead letting his vocals operate with half-gravel and vague listlessness and unease. Still, "Interstate Love Song" alone is reason enough for Weiland to be the Oates to Vedder's Hall.
Rating: 3 FLANNEL SHIRTS OUT OF 4

There was no dearth of Pearl Jam and Nirvana wannabes in the mid-'90s, and from the ashes of those empires sprang the embodiment of capitalism's triumph over art. Never before has a musician so artlessly and blatantly built his career on a crude patchwork of the far superior acts which preceded him. And when, like Icarus, he flew too close to the sun and got so wasted that he forgot his vocals in front of thousands, he didn't even have the class to apologize, claiming it was a "symbolic, personal gesture." You know what else is a symbolic, personal gesture? Sending Human Clay spinning out my car's window.
Rating: TWO BUTTONS AND SOME THREAD

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