By Brady Gibbons
Fashion of the 21st century looks like it is going back into the 90s with baggy jeans and jerseys but the music stays the same? I think people in our school would like 90s music if they knew who some of the artists were.
In the late 80s to early 90s the grunge era was at its peak. You had Nirvana, Sound Garden, Stone Temple Pilots, and Pearl Jam, all making music at the same time making it one of the most memorable eras of music. “I found it very influential it shaped the behavior of future music,” said Tyler Kacalek, but one band it’s overseen. Everyone has heard their music but no one knows who’s behind it and, if they do they don’t care.
Alice In Chains started in 1987. It was known for its metal under tones instead of alternative tones like nirvana. It was started by guitarist Jerry Cantrell and singer Layne Staley. The band has been with a ton of members; many members have moved in and out of the band, which caused trouble for AIC. What hindered them the most was not them shuffling around the band members. It was the sudden loss of one member. That man was the singer Layne Staley.
Layne Staley was the lead singer of AIC and had one of the most unique voices in the grudge era. “His raw, gritty distorted voice alongside the harmonizing made it powerful,” said Wikipedia. But how did layne staley come to be this grunge phenomenon?
Layne Rutherford Staley was born in 1967, later changing his middle name to Thomas because of drummer Tommy Lee from Motley Crue. At the age of nine he wrote in his dr suess book “All About Me” he wrote “Wanted To Be A Singer”. He took influences from Black Sabbath and Deep Purple and many different low tier bands. He found all of the music in his parents’ collection.
When he was 12 he started playing drums and played in many different glam rock bands, but he still had aspirations of being a singer.
Layne met Jerry Cantrell at a house party in 1987 Jerry saw Laynes then band Alice In Chains perform in their home town. Jerry was homeless at the time so Layne invited him to live in his “music bank,” which was just a studio where they recorded music.
Alice in chains soon after disbanded and Layne joined a funk band and Jerry followed. This is where Layne met the rest of his band, them being Sean Kinney and Mike Starr. And the quote from Jerry was, “I knew that voice was the guy I wanted to be playing with. It sounded like it came out of a 350-pound biker rather than skinny little Layne.” The funk band broke up and Larry and Layne remade Alice in chains.
The band caught wind of a local promoter named Randy Hauser. He said they could promote their stuff but the day AIC was about to record, the studio got raided and it was the biggest cannabis raid in the entire state of Washington. But it was a blessing because the music manager Kelly Curtis was the manager for Soundgarden.
What made Alice In Chains so different from the others was their use of harmonisation. Jerry and Layne both sang and it would lead to beautiful and memorable songs like Brother, No Excuses, and Ain’t Like That.
The band gained popularity with their 1992 album Dirt. Making them a worldwide renowned band but there was one issue, the bands elicit drug addictions. It was no secret that Layne was taking heroin. He tried to take multiple rehab programs but to no success.
He temporarily quit because of Kurt Cobain’s death in 1994 but later got hooked again. The lead singer of Pearl Jam tried to help Layne as well but to no avail and on October, 29, 1996 his fiance Demiri Lara Parrot died of a heroin overdose which was the final straw for Layne. He fell into a deep depression which led to more drugs.
Lanye couldn’t ingest food anymore; he was on a liquid diet and he was losing weight at a concerning level. And one day his mom went over to his house to let him know about the death of his fiance’s brother. But he didn’t answer the door so she left and gave him a call, but no answer.
A few weeks passed and his mom came over again and knocked on the door but there was nothing. She was going to leave but heard Layne’s cat meowing which concerned her to call the police in case the cat was in distress and Lanye was in trouble. The police broke into his house and discovered Layne dead on the floor, authorities say he died of an overdose.
Later the band continued without Lanye, getting a new singer named William Duvall, but many people agree that the band died with Layne. But just because Layne is gone it doesn’t mean the work he did was too. I recently have listened to almost all of his music, and I’m personally hooked and I think more people should give it a chance. I think a lot of people will enjoy it as much as I do.
beniciapaw.com 