Pearl Jam has quite a few protest songs in their catalogue. “Insignificance” and “World Wide Suicide” are just two of the more notable ones. But the band once wrote a protest song so controversial that some members “never” wanted to play it again after being booed offstage.
Back in 2002, Pearl Jam released their seventh studio album, Riot Act. That album features a song called “Bu$hleaguer”, which you can probably guess is about the George W. Bush presidential administration. You always have to remember that this was during the beginning of the War in Afghanistan, and one year after 9/11. The song certainly riled up fans and angered conservative supporters, as the band found out when they played it live.
“Ed wanted to say his piece on the issue, and he wanted to do it in a way that was antagonistic,” Pearl Jam guitarist and the song’s co-writer, Stone Gossard, said in the Twenty documentary of frontman Eddie Vedder’s approach to performing the song.
Vedder would often start the song wearing a Bush mask and a pinup suit while smoking a cigarette. Eventually, the mask would end up hanging from his microphone stand with the cigarette still hanging out of his mouth.
Reflecting on the first times they played the song live, bassist Jeff Ament remembered palpable disapproval. “We were in a stadium show in Texas. I wanna say about three-quarters of the crowd f***ing booed us,” he recalled. “It really riled some of the band up, like, ‘We never want to play that song again.’”
While “Bu$hleaguer” was never released as a single, it remains one of Pearl Jam’s most notorious tracks
Lead guitarist Mike McCready recalls the early “Bu$hleaguer” performances as feeling very unsafe. “I remember there was a sheriff in the front row, and he was, like, showing me his badge,” he shared. “I mean, this was probably one of the worst eras in American history in my mind.”
Ultimately, the band learned a lot from playing the antagonistic song for audiences. “That taught us that it’s OK to air your opinion and not be afraid to get booed every once in a while,” Ament said. “It’s alright.”
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