Post Malone has once again showcased his proficiency at paying tribute to the golden era of grunge, offering up a powerful cover of Pearl Jam’s ‘Better Man’ recently.
Appearing on The Howard Stern Show, Post Malone opened up about his personal experience with the track, revealing that it was his older brother that had first introduced him to the song while stationed in Hawaii as a Marine.
“We went out to go see him. I was 12, 13 maybe,” the singer recalled. “He played this song, we were driving around, and this was on an island you could drive around in a couple of hours and he played it and I guess I’ve been thinking about that a lot.”
Though emotional in his recollection, Post Malone clarified that his brother was still alive, though the importance and impact of this memory has a resonance that carries through to this day.
“It makes me fucking cry,” he concluded. “He’s just a beautiful man and he introduced me to Pearl Jam in a big fucking way.”
As Post Malone continues throughout the cover, his natural vibrato adds to the power of the original, which appeared on Pearl Jam’s 1994 album Vitalogy.
It should of course come as no surprise that Post Malone is rather adept at covering grunge classics, with a 2020 livestream from the artist seeing him cover 15 Nirvana tracks to widespread critical acclaim.
Meanwhile, Post Malone’s cover for The Howard Stern Show undoubtedly improves upon Machine Gun Kelly’s April appearance, which saw his rendition of System Of A Down’s ‘Aerials’ heavily criticised throughout the music world.
