Ongoing History Daily: Pearl Jam’s shady, scary bus driver

April 9, 2026 Alan Cross 0 Comments 0 min read

Back in 1991, when Pearl Jam was on one of their first tours, they began to feel some weird vibes coming off the driver of their bus. In an interview,

Mike McCready said, “We thought he may have been a serial killer and he was going to eat me. They were just picking on me. And at that time, I was the skinniest guy in the band, so there wasn’t a lot of meat on me.“

They began to make up stories about what their driver was really up to, and after a while, became convinced he was a serial killer. The driver was never linked to any crimes as far as anyone knows, but it does explain the early B-side called “Dirty Frank” and the lines “Dirty Frank Dahmer he’s a gourmet cook, yeah / I got a recipe for anglo-saxin soup, yeah.“

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

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