April 5, 2002 – the day Layne Staley of Alice in Chains died due to heroin addiction. 20 years ago today. (Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain died on April 5 also, eight years earlier. It’s a rough calendar day for Seattle musicians.)
AIC, from the Pacific Northwest, got the “grunge” label along with Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Pearl Jam who spawned at the same time from the same region. I liked AIC, by far, the most from this rock scene. I could care less if they wore flannel or a zoot suit; let the music do the talking.
AIC released a foreshadowing EP, “We Die Young,” in 1990 that garnered a lot of attention. At the time AIC was comprised of Staley on lead vocals, Jerry Cantrell-vox/guitar, Mike Starr on bass, and Sean Kinney-drums/percussion. AIC then quickly issued “Facelift.” On the strength of “Man in the Box,” which had heavy rotation on MTV, AIC toured America, supporting Van Hagar. I drove a friend to see the concert in Milwaukee. Layne had an unorthodox posture while his powerful voice created a moody aura. That is, he squatted ala pinching a loaf over a hole in the dirt during a camping trip. The.Whole.Concert.
Two years later a masterpiece called “Dirt” cemented the band as one helluva rock group. Numerous songs received AOR airplay and later featured prominently in their MTV “Unplugged Concert.” People at the time knew Staley liked smack. So did many Seattle musicians. It was a thing back then which no one tried to keep secret. But even amongst the brazen junkies in Seattle’s musical fame-o-sphere, Staley’s heavy use was obviously life-threatening. In 1993, Mike Inez replaced Starr, and AIC released an acoustic EP, “Jar of Flies.” Another masterpiece, IMHO. Lyrical content has numerous references to addition. For example, on “Rotten Apple,” Staley sang the chorus:
Arrogance is potent,
What I see is unreal
I’ve written my own part,
Eat of the apple, so young,
I’m crawling back to the start
On this EP, one can hear the brilliant harmonic vocal duo of Staley and Cantrell. In this connection, I like to watch The Charismatic Voice dissect rock vocalists on YouTube. She is a trained opera singer. She analyzes the vocal stylings of rock vocalists, and instrumentation to a lesser degree. She adores the power and beauty of Ronnie James Dio. Watch this clip about AIC vocals:
The eponymous album, “Alice in Chains,” you guessed it, represented yet another masterpiece. These guys, especially Jerry Cantrell, know how to write a rock song. Again, more references to addiction. AIC then went on hiatus as Staley isolated himself in his condo to feed his habit. In the interim, Cantrell released solo albums called “Boggy Depot” and “Degradation Trip.” Released in June 2002, the latter basically describes the reason for the demise of AIC and the liner notes declare, “This record is dedicated to Layne Staley.”
Postscript. AIC continues to record, rock, and tour these days with William DuVall as lead vocalist though Jerry Cantrell’s voice can be heard more often.
