Pearl Jam deliberately stifled obvious commercial success to preserve credibility

Evidence

Tormented by success, Pearl Jam made a firm decision: They would no longer produce music videos. And they turned down interviews and photo shoots. Pearl Jam stood athwart popularity, yelling “Stop.” During recording sessions for Pearl Jam’s follow-up album, producer Brendan O’Brien told Vedder that his new composition “Better Man” would be a surefire hit. “I immediately knew I’d just said the wrong thing,” recalled O’Brien; Vedder promptly cut the song from consideration. — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 7

Categorization

• XREF: Vedder killing a guaranteed hit to avoid sellout status is the death-of-the-sellout mechanism in action — supports the reader’s goal of tracing his mechanism.