A Tribute To Layne Staley

I don’t like to consider myself a backward thinking person. I always like to keep my focus on both the present and the future, as I believe that this is what is most relevant, and very little is gained by wallowing in the past or what might have been. Perhaps some of this comes across in this site; it’s focus being on new and unsigned musicians. In a way I’ve always conceived my attitudes as a way of dealing with tragedy - If something bowls you over, pick yourself up and carry on forward. Yet why am I so saddened at this moment by the death of someone I've never even met?

For those of you who don’t know, Layne Staley, lead singer of Alice In Chains was found dead from a drug over dose on the 19th of April aged 34. He had infact died on the 5th of April, the same day that Kurt Cobain committed suicide in 1994. Such was the impact of this upon me, I felt compelled to write something, which for once would discuss a figure from my past and celebrate a little of what Layne gave to me as a teenager.

Staley at the time of the 'Dirt' album

Other rock stars I have admired have died during my adult life - Rozz Williams of Christian Death and most notably Kurt Cobain, but their passing did not affect me in the way Layne’s has.

I found out about Layne’s death through an article in Metal Hammer. I barely ever read the magazine these days, but the second I saw his name on the cover I had a feeling about the news that would be inside, although I held some distant hope that it might be about a new solo album. A tiny eighth of a page article confirmed what I had suspected, after all, with all the reports of Layne’s drug related troubles over the years it was hardly a surprise. The size of the article in itself was an insult when compared to the lengthy biographies that the music press published at the time of Kurt Cobain’s death. An even bigger insult if we consider that most of the bands which were featured in four page spreads in that issue of Metal Hammer owe a debt to Alice In Chains which they will never be able to repay.

Yet what has saddened me most is the way in which Layne died. There was nothing instant or glamorous about his death. Whereas Cobain died in a moment, at the height of his celebrity, his wife and child nearby, Layne died alone. His body had been decomposing for two weeks when it was found, and authorities weren’t even sure if the corpse were him when first found. It appears as if Layne had been forgotten, left to slowly rot away much in the same way that many of his lyrics dealt with the eventuality of decay. His songs confronted the hell of isolation, of the loner on the outside, and this was how he was to end his life.

In all honesty, I was never really a huge fan of the early nineties grunge scene. I found much of it lacking in emotional variety. Yet Alice In Chains were a band who made an impact on me from the start, the very second I heard the mournful desperation of ‘Down In A Hole’, Layne and Jerry Cantrell’s voices weaving in and around each other with such beauty for male vocals; one so above, one so below. This was no Cobain penned hate song, being intricate and touching. Often in my loneliest moments, I would invite Layne’s words into space and into my heart. It was all too easy to wallow in their darkness, yet even when encompassed by such an abyss there was always an aura of hope that permeated his voice on songs such as ‘Would’.

Staley (Second from left) with AIC during their cod piece toting glam rock phase.

Although it will always be the darkness of the 'Dirt' album that will be associated with AIC, let us not forget they began their life as a spandex clad bunch of eighties glam rockers. With early songs such as ‘Queen of the Rodeo’ (about an effeminate cowboy) Layne demonstrated himself to have a more than able sense of humour, something which will no doubt be ignored in tributes to his career and to the man himself.

There was a vast array of emotions within Layne’s songs, which when compared to the kind of masturbatory lyrics which abound in the banal words of many current bands, render today’s metal acts as one dimensional as the kind of dance music which so many of us in the UK suffered at the height of AIC’s popularity.

The last single released by Alice In Chains was ‘Get Born Again’ in 1999, an aggressive piece of forceful guitar rock, which slowly built from an intricate intro, topped off by a towering vocal from Layne that was neither domineering nor lost, but totally in control; In essence a song which demonstrated everything Alice In Chains did well as a band, and a fine way for them to finish. However, it must be said that the clips of old footage of the band which appeared in the accompanying ‘cyber sadist’ video were a clear indication that something was not right within the band and most obviously with Layne.

I never saw Alice In Chains live, a fact which I have always regretted, but thanks to bootlegs and videos, I have been able to see just how powerful the band were on stage. Of course, I will now never write a review of an Alice In Chains gig, so perhaps this piece will give me a chance to communicate some of my love for the band. At a young age they were instrumental in getting me interested in rock music. Were it not for them, it is highly unlikely that I would be even writing this web site now, be interested in the new bands we review here or even working on my own music. The bands inspiration has been key to many of the projects that I have undertaken since, and for that I am eternally grateful.

Layne won’t become an icon in the way that Kurt Cobain has. Somehow I can’t see teenagers that are tots now wearing t-shirts with his face on in ten years time. His death has come long after the peak of his popularity, and as he didn’t go out in a blaze of glory, he’ll never be entered into that club which consists of Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Ian Curtis, 2 Pac, Jim Morrison and Freddie Mercury. But perhaps that is in some ways for the best, as it will be Staley’s music that will remain, a treasured memento from a talented artist. The words of Ian Curtis touched me also as a teenager, even though he had died a full decade before I first heard them, and I hope that others will be able to say the same of Layne Staley’s songs in the future. Layne’s death may have authenticated much of the dark emotion in his words, but let us realise that recognising such emotions is equally a part of beginning a healing process, it just sad that Layne was too far down his own path to realise this when tragedy struck.

Looking away from our sorrow for the moment, Staley’s song writing partner Jerry Cantrell is putting together a new band and has already contributed a track to the sound track of the Spider Man movie, so at least a part of Alice In Chains will continue to be with us. Alice In Chains left behind a powerful legacy and one that continues to be felt to this day. Layne will never be truly dead, as long as we remember the rich palette of moods he encapsulated for us to experience in his songs. Long may his memory and his art live on.