It's probably not on too many folks' radar, but today would have been Layne Staley's 54th birthday. Layne hit stardom as the lead vocalist for Alice in Chains (along with the truly marvellous Jerry Cantrell who is still very much active today). Layne took vocal fry and word-bending to new heights and his is one of those instantly recognisable voices. I failed to fully appreciate his amazing talent at the time, but this past year or so I've been enjoying a bit of a revival with Alice in Chains (the old stuff, I mean) and they are on various of my Youtube playlists, hence I hear them most evenings now.
More and more I find myself listening to artists that are no longer with us. Some simply grew old and passed away, whilst others died tragically young. Layne was one of the latter, he died in 2002 aged just 34. I won't go on, I'll just throw you some of their music.
If you don't fancy listening to any of these, well I guess that's fine. But the final song is simply stunning and showcases some very heavy talent from all band members. The lyrics are all about his addiction to drugs and the realisation that he's not able to break his habit. It's a momentous song for many reasons.
Hope you enjoy, it'll be back to wildlife in the next post.
And a couple from the Mad Season project
I'm not sure why but the whole grunge thing sort of passed me by. I think I just went from being a goth straight to techno. I even turned down a free Nirvana ticket once, but that's another (sad) story. So whilst aware of Alice in Chains I couldn't name a song and I think I confuse them sometimes with Soul Asylum. Not a good thing to do I know. Listening to a couple of these, I shall now go back and ferret into the back catalogue. There's some real beauty there.
ReplyDeleteNo, not a good thing to do ;) I went to school with a kid named Lee Boxall and he features in Soul Asylum's Runaway Train vid - the UK version rather than the US one. He headed off towards a football game and was never seen again, that was some 35 or so years ago now.
DeleteOh man! I have had an Alice CD on in the car on repeat since about February! Ive even been watching youtube bits on the sad demise of Layne. Respect!
ReplyDeleteHave you seen the Unplugged Vids on YouTube? Top band mind, Layne and Jerry just knew they were good...
ReplyDeleteYes I have. Well, some of them at least. I've never been a fan of the Unplugged sessions, too toned down and not enough soul or energy for my liking. Far better sound quality than a lot of 'filmed from the audience' vids obviously, but I do prefer seeing a band on stage doing their stuff rather than sat on chairs, sipping cups of tea and chatting between themselves. That's just my own personal take. Loving that you've have them on repeat for so long!
Delete