Pearl Jam discussed hiring Brendan O’Brien to produce Vs. on a new SiriusXM radio broadcast celebrating the album’s 25th anniversary. In 1993, O’Brien had only produced Stone Temple Pilots’ Core album, and worked as an engineer with Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Black Crowes. According to Ament, it was his work with RHCP and The Black Crowes that led to his hiring. Stone Temple Pilots were not mentioned as an influence. Alternative Nation transcribed Pearl Jam’s comments.
Jeff Ament said, “At the time we sort of felt like the world was our oyster, we had a little bit of success with the first record. So we felt like from a creative standpoint, we could do whatever we wanted to do. We put together a list of producers that we liked, and records that we really liked. Brendan was right at the top of that shortlist. He had engineered the Chili Peppers record Blood Sugar Sex Magik, still to this day love the sound of that record. Brendan had also engineered the second Black Crowes record. Those records sort of stand the test of time pretty well.”
Brendan O’Brien said, “Pearl Jam had actually not really blown up yet, and I was contacted by someone about maybe working with them on their next record, they were already thinking about their next album. The next thing you know, the whole world knows about Pearl Jam, so I figured that’s going to be it for me, every producer in the business is going to want to work with those guys. At one point, they wanted to make a decision right now, I was working in Los Angeles, and they were playing in Germany. I wanted that gig, so I got on a plane and went to Germany.”
O’Brien would go on to produce several more albums for Pearl Jam and Stone Temple Pilots in the 90’s and 2000’s.
