Michael David McCready (born April 5, 1966) is an American musician known for being a founding member and lead guitarist of Pearl Jam.

McCready was also a member of the side project bands Flight to Mars, Temple of the Dog, Mad Season, and The Rockfords.

[3] McCready was inspired to pick up his guitar again after attending a Stevie Ray Vaughan concert at The Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Washington.

McCready said: As soon as he started "Couldn't Stand the Weather", these huge clouds rolled in overhead, and rain began pouring down.

[6]McCready gradually went back to playing guitar and finally joined another band called Love Chile.

[3] A childhood friend, Stone Gossard, went to one of the band's shows and appreciated McCready's work after hearing him perform Stevie Ray Vaughan's "Couldn't Stand the Weather".

[7] The trio were attempting to form their own band when they were invited to be part of the Temple of the Dog project founded by Soundgarden's Chris Cornell as a musical tribute to Mother Love Bone's frontman Andrew Wood, who died of a heroin overdose at age 24.

[citation needed] Pearl Jam was formed in 1990 by Ament, Gossard, and McCready,[11] who then recruited Vedder and drummer Dave Krusen.

After playing only a handful of shows, one of which was filmed for the "Alive" video, Chamberlain left to join the Saturday Night Live band.

[12] As his replacement, Chamberlain suggested Dave Abbruzzese, who joined the group and played the rest of Pearl Jam's live shows supporting the Ten album.

[19] Feeling the pressures of success, the band decided to decrease the level of promotion for its albums, including refusing to release music videos.

[9] He was replaced by Jack Irons, a close friend of Vedder and the former and original drummer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

[24] In 1998, Pearl Jam recorded "Last Kiss", a cover of a 1960s ballad made famous by J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers.

In 2000, the band released its sixth studio album, Binaural, and initiated a successful and ongoing series of official bootlegs.

Pearl Jam's contribution to the 2003 film, Big Fish, "Man of the Hour", was nominated for a Golden Globe Award in 2004.

During the production of Vitalogy, McCready went into rehabilitation in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he met bassist John Baker Saunders of The Lamont Cranston Band.

[28] In 1994, when the two returned to Seattle, they formed a side band, The Gacy Bunch, with vocalist Layne Staley of Alice in Chains and drummer Barrett Martin of Screaming Trees.

Earlier in 2015, the surviving members, McCready and Martin, joined with the Seattle Symphony in a concert at Benaroya Hall entitled Sonic Evolution featuring special guests and friends.

[36] McCready played guitar in the band Walking Papers, which included then-former Guns N' Roses bassist Duff McKagan, Screaming Trees/Mad Season drummer Barrett Martin, and singer Jeff Angell.

[42] McCready has cited Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, David Gilmour, Keith Richards, Pete Townshend and Eddie Van Halen as his biggest musical influences.

"[50] Of his live performances, McCready has said, "I can kind of get into a meditative state when I'm playing, something I don't get any other way ... You might see me staring up in the sky with my eyes closed.

[53] In 2021, Fender Custom Shop master builder Vincent Van Trigt discovered that McCready's valuable 1959 Stratocaster turned out to be a 1960 model.

He plays Fender Telecasters on live performances of "Corduroy" (from Vitalogy), "World Wide Suicide" (from Pearl Jam), and "Marker in the Sand", among others.

[58] Gibson produced a signature, limited edition version of McCready's 1959 original Les Paul Standard with true historic specifications.

[64] In February 2007, McCready and Gossard were included together by Rolling Stone in its list of "The Top 20 New Guitar Gods" under the title of "four-armed monster".

McCready performs an annual concert to benefit the Northwest chapter of the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America, and has played at the event in a UFO tribute band called Flight to Mars as well as a reunited Shadow line-up.

The first came during the production of Pearl Jam's 1994 album Vitalogy, when McCready was fighting drug and alcohol addiction:[28] We had a lot of meetings where they would say, 'Hey Mike, you're getting way too fucked up.'

But we're all really good friends and we love each other and I think they actually thought I was going to die, but they never took steps to kick me out of the band, which I can't believe because I fucked up so many times.

In 2017, McCready published a book of Polaroids he shot during his time in Pearl Jam, dating back to the early 1990s.

[80] The photos in it document the band on tour, fellow musicians including Neil Young, Dave Grohl, Joey Ramone, and Jimmy Page, and McCready's personal life.