Eddie Vedder: 'I'm no corporate whore'

Eddie Vedder has insisted that he is not a "corporate whore", rejecting any argument that Pearl Jam have sold out.

The singer-guitarist told The Sun that Kurt Cobain had not understood the band when he accused them of playing a corporate version of alternative rock in the early 1990s.

Vedder said: "Any conversations we hear about 'So who are Pearl Jam marketing to?' are despicable. People offered us money to sell out but do I look like a whore?

"It's always about being honest and the positive side of the huge success for whatever negatives there were, was that it gave us the power to say no and be able to commit to making decisions on our own and stick by them."

He said that he does not talk about Cobain out of respect to his bandmates but added that he and the Nirvana frontman had some "great conversations" when he was still alive.

"If Kurt were around today, I know he'd say to me, 'Well, you turned out OK'," he said.

Pearl Jam reissue their debut album Ten in four formats next week.