With MTV reporting that the surviving members of Alice in Chains are reuniting for a tour, I want to take a minute to remember my hero - Layne Staley. He sang about feeling angry, depressed, the good and bad times related to drug use and did it with a haunting voice. Layne died in his Seattle home in April of 2002, at the age of 34 of a long-time addiction to drugs.
Alice in Chains 1992 Dirt album changed my life. The song Angry Chair, in my opinion is the best put to wax. The lyrics still resonate in my life today - "Corporate prison, we stay. I'm a dull boy, work all day." "Lonliness is not a phase. Field of pain is where I graze. Serenity is far away."
While I've never stuck a needle in my arm, and can't truly appreciate the Hell that Layne introduced to his mind and body, I know that life isn't always a big bowl of happy-happy. The thought of Alice in Chains playing together again is bittersweet to me. While the rest of the band is solid, and Jerry Cantrell is an affable genius and guitar super-pimp, Layne made that group what it was. I hope that the band is successful in their new project, but there will never be another Layne.
With Kurt Cobain murdered by that bitch wife of his, Chris Cornell and Eddie Vedder are the remaining voices of the Seattle Grunge Sound. Pearl Jam continues to play the music that made them great, while Cornell joined the guys from Rage Against the Machine to form Audioslave. It's nice to have that early 90's sound still evolving and being heard today. Just makes me pissed and bitter to think what AIC could have sounded like today, if Staley would have been able to put the needle down.
One can only hope that he's playing Texas Hold 'Em in Hell with Hendix, Morrison and taking Cobain's money.
Respect the dead: