I've Been Thinking About Layne Staley Lately.
I've been listening to a lot of Alice In Chains lately for no reason in particular. I have never been into them seriously my entire life, I mean I know all the hits but have never been a die hard fan. I actually remember my brother giving me their album to listen to when we were young and I just could not get into it at all, even for the sake of looking cool in front of my older brother. But this happens to me every once in a while, where I will hear an album or song that has played on the radio a thousand times that I didn't like at all, but all of a sudden I will hear that exact song again years later and its like ohhhhh I get what people see in this. Recently this has happen to me with tons of bands, it usually only happens maybe once a year, but this year I realized I didn't give enough attention to a lot of deserving bands; has this ever happen to you, or am I alone in this? I don't know why this is, maybe being home more has forced me to listen to more music, quickly running bored with the old favorites and just letting random playlist play in the background. I notice that when I am doing my art and am not really focused on what the band is I can hear the song a lot clearer, and this is probably another factor. Well back to the topic, of course we all know of what happened to Layne with his drug addiction and his life that ended too soon, I have just been thinking a lot about him and addicts in general and wanted to take a closer look at his life. I get lost in thought when I write on this blog, this paragraph is all over the place, I just wanted to take a quick look at Layne Staley's short life, take a look at some of the things that happened to him, and enjoy some Alice In Chains songs.
His early life
As we all know, Layne Staley was the lead singer of Alice In Chains, the band that sprung to the top of the charts throughout the 90's and was a big piece of the new grunge movement. When Layne was only seven years old his parents divorced, this took a toll on Layne and for a while he had taken his step fathers last name as his own. Layne had been involved in the music scene since the age of three, even writing in a Dr. Seuss book at a young age that he wanted to be a singer when he grew up. However, he picked up drums first at the age of 12, leading him to form many garage bands, one of which was the band Alice N' Chains, this band would soon morph into the Alice In Chains we know today. According to Layne the original Alice N' Chains would cross dress and play speed metal, sounds pretty tame if you ask me. Once he met guitarist Jerry Cantrell, the guitarist for Alice In Chains, the band was formed and history was made. Layne had such a beautiful voice, AllMusic.com says his voice is a mix between Ozzy Osborne, Alice Cooper, and Jim Morrison, which I think is the perfect description. The band has very unique gloomy lyrics that can almost depress you and pull you into the place of the lyrics, it's a shame it took me so long to actually sit and listen. Some of the songs will have you calling your mama for sure.
Fiancé's passing
Demri Parrott and Layne met at a party in 1988, in which they claimed it was love at first sight. I know the feeling because I had the same thing with my husband, I knew I'd marry him the second I saw him. Anyway, some claim (99% of the internet) that Demri was the one who first introduced Layne to heroin, but her old friends dispute this to this day. They claim that she had only started doing heroin after beginning her relationship with Layne. Who knows what or how it really happen, but even if she did first introduce Layne to heroin it's not like she forced him to inject it, right? Being an addict is a super complex thing that I really can't wrap my head around, and I don't really want to... it actually scares me to think about. Soon after the couple had gotten together Layne would call Demri his muse and the two quickly were engaged. However, the roads soon turned rocky as the couple would go back and forth trying to find sobriety, wanting to use, and getting in fights about him having too much control over her. They went to rehab together at least once but couldn't find a way out of the toxic lifestyle they led. She had ultimately got an infection called endocarditis, which is a bacteria that flows to your heart from using needles, this would have her frequent the hospital, her close friends claim that when she would clean up after a lengthy hospital stay all she would talk about was finding help for Layne. Towards the end of her life the two had split, she was living with and older man when she had been found unconscious on October 29, 1996. Apparently the man strangely drove around for hours with her unconscious body until finally dropping her off at a hospital where she was later pronounced dead. Some of Layne's close friends think this is what began Layne digging himself in a hole he couldn't climb back out of.
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Drug problem
It's no secret that Layne had a pretty bad drug problem that he had tried many times to overcome by attending rehab programs but just couldn't seem to find a way out. The members of Alice In Chains would attend therapy with Layne frequently in attempt to help the singer. Rumors of the singers hard drug use was quickly spreading throughout the music scene, the band even had to quit touring as early as 1993 due to his drug problem taking over his entire life. When Kurt Cobain had passed away it fueled Layne to try harder than ever to stay off of drugs. He even went so far as to hire bodyguards to keep people away that may give him drugs, no matter his attempt he would find his way back. His final TV performance was for MTV Unplugged in April of 1996 in which his bandmates were shocked at his appearance and attitude after having been away from him for a while. Once his ex fiancé had passed later that year, October of 1996, close friends say they didn't see Layne being able to comeback, this resulted in Layne being placed on a 24 hour suicide watch and his drug use worsening.
Reclusiveness and overdose
Once the drug use was at a point of no return Layne had become a recluse, only leaving his home a handful of times. When Bryan Carlstrom, the bands producer, was seeing Layne for the first time in a while he said “Layne showed up at the studio and I didn’t recognize him. He looked like an 80-year-old man. He didn’t have any teeth. I was shocked, to say the least.” According to rumors toward the end of Layne's life he wasn't able to digest much food leaving him to only have Ensure shakes throughout the day to stay alive. The last outing known was in 1998, he went to support Jerry, the guitarist of Alice In Chains, while Jerry was doing a solo show. There they took the final photo of him that is out in the public eye, the picture shows Layne backstage at the show. After this time period there is only bits and pieces of his life that are known as he started cutting himself off from the world, almost completely. His mother would desperately try to make contact with him, his friends would go over and knock but he would not answer. In the end his closest friend, Mark Lanegan, claimed he would barely speak to him, which was completely out of the ordinary, he claimed that the singer was missing teeth, very thin, pale, with cracked skin. When no money had been taken from the singers account for a couple of weeks his accountant contacted his family who quickly contacted the authorities. They were able to make their way into his Seattle condo finding his decomposing body, he had passed away from a mixture of heroin and cocaine around April 5, 2002. Kurt Cobain had also died on April 5th, seems like a strange coincidence since Kurt was such an influence on Layne seeking treatment in the past. The last person to see Layne alive was the bassist of Alice In Chains, Mike Starr, his final meeting with Layne was rocky however. Upon seeing Layne's condition Mike wanted to call for help resulting in argument between the two. Mike left Layne's home in anger to which Layne's final words to him were "Not like this, don't leave like this." Layne is thought to have died the next day.
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Legacy and final performance
Years before Layne's death he had his final performance on July 3rd 1996 in Detroit. There is a VHS old school upload somewhere online, as I have seen it before. Layne is very thin and looks a bit tired, but the show was very well done and looked like a blast. Below I have included his final taped performance, the famous MTV Unplugged concert, which was April of 1996, just a couple of months prior and his second to last performance. This Unplugged arguably could be the best Unplugged there is, it's a fight in my head for the top spot but this one just might be it. His unique voice will always be remembered, and his life will be something to just learn and grow from. I loved listening to all the Alice In Chains music while writing this post and just thinking back at his life. Now excuse me while I let Layne serenade me for the rest of the night.
Did you enjoy listening to these songs? What song is your favorite Alice In Chains song? Let me know in the comments below!
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