Layne Staley of Alice in Chains dead

Today is a sad day.
Link

I was just about to post this. It is a sad day indeed.

One of the greatest voices in music has been silenced.


*edit*
Alice In Chains.com
Mad Season
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Very sad. The heroin train keeps rolling.

"I hit the city and I lost my band, I watched the needle take another man, gone gone, the damage done." - Neil Young

Oh no.

Flying low, blinded by the snow......

gasp

This is a total bummer...I just uploaded River of Deceit into my Empeg last week. He was a talented guy.

That's a wonderful song.

I've listened to "Would?" about 10 times today.

Didn't anybody care about him? What the $(#^%!!! One more great musician gone forever...

Even though Alice in Chains hasn't released a studio album in seven years, they really are excellent. This day is just too bad. Speaking of which, has anyone listened to Cantrell's solo album? What's going to happen now? Didn't they always stress that they had not broken up?

They said they never broke up. I think they were just always waiting for him (Staley) to clean up. He did, supposedly, after their Unplugged concert, but that was really the last thing they did.

I've listened to Cantrell's solo album. It's not AIC, but it's good. A couple of songs are keepers. I was going to see him in concert but he broke his hand playing football

Anyway, it's pretty disturbing how little they've said about it. It hasn't made a dent in any news/media source. The biggest mention it's gotten is the headline on VH1.com which will probably be gone tomorrow in favor of the next Creed event. Oh well. We know what's going on.

I don't know about that... it is on CNN.com's "top news" section.


http://www.cnn.com/2002/SHOWBIZ/Music/04/21/obit.staley.ap/index.html

I've seen Cantrell live twice. About half his set is AIC tunes.

A sad day indead.

May Layne Staley rest in peace. We will miss U dearly.

It is sad, but it is the same as Kurt Cobian. He did it to himself, he created his own problems. You feel sad whenever someone dies, but at the same time they were really selfish and could have avoided the whole thing.

Heard on the radio today that they are putting his death as the same day as Cobain's, April 8th. That he was dead almost 2 weeks before he was found. That is very sad. What a waste of talent and life.

As said in one of my favorite Staind songs "Waste"
"And [censored] you, for not having the strength in your heart to pull through. I've had doubts, I have failed, I've [censored] up, I've had plans, doesn't mean I should take my life with my own hands."

I'm not saying that Layne overdosed on purpose but he had to have known that the drugs were going to kill him someday. Most of us have gone through some really bad [censored] in our lives but we are still here mucking away day by day.

I give up trying to get the words right without being censored.

That's not quite right about Cobain. He was found on April 8th, and dated 2or 3 days earlier. People just mark the 8th as the date because that's what stands out and it's what we know for certain as the day we all knew he was gone.

Maybe I got the date wrong then. I remember them saying that about Cobain so maybe it was the 6th. Whatever the date, it was supposed to have been the same. Maybe that is speculation or done on purpose. They were both very troubled people.

"And [censored] you, for not having the strength in your heart to pull through. I've had doubts, I have failed, I've [censored] up, I've had plans, doesn't mean I should take my life with my own hands."

I know these are not your words, but they piss me off nonetheless. I'm not familiar with Staind any more than to know I have no real interest in listening to them, and this just galvanizes that point.

Whoever wrote those lyrics obviously has never dealt with depression. Maybe they've experienced sad points in their life that made them depressed, but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about full-on medical depression. Kurt Cobain was obviously a manic depressive; you can tell just by how he moved and acted. Manic depressives don't really have the option of ``pulling through''. It doesn't end for any good reason. It just ends. And sometimes it doesn't.

Kurt should have been on anti-depressives. But if he had, he would never have made that music. It's a trade off. You can feel like [censored] for no reason and be talented, or you can take the drugs and be as normal and untalented as everyone else.

As a friend of mine once put it, when you start talking about depression, all of a sudden everyone becomes a Christian Scientist. ``Just get over it.'' It just doesn't work that way.

And I speak from experience. My father was manic depressive my whole life. My wife is clinically depressive. So is my best friend. They are all on drugs. I am, too, but I'm not bad enough that I need to take anything. Also, I'm scared of it. I know how much it changes you, and I'm not going to do it until I absolutely need it. Hopefully, I'll still have enough sense about me (or someone else will) to make sure it happens.

Kurt was too far gone and obviously didn't have anyone. I don't know about Layne.

It's really just all in your head. You gotta take control and not let the demons mess with your mind.

I hope you meant that as a joke. Bitt is right about depression. And many of the same things that can be said for clinical depression can also be said about addiction. In fact, those two often go hand in hand, as the genes which give you a tendency toward depression will also give you a tendency towards uncontrollable addictions. Only recently are the mechanisms for these conditions beginning to be understood.

I don't think any of Staind's lyrics are as heartfelt or ring as true as their fans think they do, unfortunately.

Laura, I'd be willing to bet it was the DJ's mistake when he made the connection. It is odd that they died at about the same day in April, but I'm not sure they can say exactly when anyway. It wouldn't suprise me that the DJ thought Cobain did in fact die on April 8th. I hear people make that mistake a lot.

Agreed (with Tony, above). Chemical imbalances are a powerful force to be reconed with. I was diagnosed with adult ADD a few years back, started taking medication (legal amphetamines, cool) and you would not believe the difference it has made to me. There are plenty of people that think that the problem is "just in your head". I had to go to three different doctors just to get an appointment with a clinical psychologist so I could get the meds I need. (HMO's blow). Anyway, just knowing you have a condition is simply not always enough. It is a phisical condition, not a mental one, that causes mental side effects. The same way you can't fix a broken arm or bad acne just by thinking about it, you can't cure an imbalance by wishing it were gone.

No, it's in your head. It's not a disease or a virus. It's a state of mind. You can call it clinical or scientific, but it's something everyone's gotta deal with.

Tell me, what's the difference in taking some of these happy-pills and drinking alcohol? They are both drugs that can be taken to acheive a certain state of mind. Which is fine. But it only covers up yourself. It doesn't cure- only you can do that. Otherwise, you could give a psycho serial killer some morphine and 'cure' his 'illness'. Or you could shoot a tranquilizer into a raging rhinoceros and 'cure' his problem.

But I could be wrong. Go with what works.

I can see this getting really far along. Lets take it to another thread, okay?

Here I offer up the conspiracy theory that doesn't actually fit Staley's death, but it just reminds me:

Kurt Cobain
Born Feb 20, 1967 in Hoquiam, WA
Died Apr 5, 1994 in Seattle, WA

Janis Joplin
Born Jan 19, 1943 in Port Arthur, TX
Died Oct 4, 1970 in Los Angeles, CA

Jim Morrison
Born Dec 8, 1943 in Melbourne, FL
Died Jul 3, 1971 in Paris, France

Jimi Hendrix
Born Nov 27, 1942 in Seattle, WA
Died Sep 18, 1970 in London, England

Shannon Hoon
September 26, 1967
October 21, 1995 (close)


I'm sure you all see the connection that everyone is always hinting at.

Yes, you are wrong.

Without the intent of perpetuating an argument, I've made a new thead for this debate just to get it out of this one. Thanks.

I just thought I'd post this because it says a lot.

It also shows how bands like Godsmak have their hearts somewhat in the right place, but didn't really understand it.

The quote that really got me was this one, from Barrett Martin (one of my favorites):
"If we look at his strengths and talents, his gift to us becomes clear: His life was expressed in his words and in his music," Martin said in a statement. "Listen to them! He said a lot in a very short period of time.

"When he was at his peak of greatness, he was awesome to behold. His command of his voice and natural charisma was a very rare combination indeed, and those of us who toured with him and saw him onstage remember the power he held. His unique vocal style has been frequently imitated since the heyday of the Seattle music scene, but none will ever really come close to his mastery. He was most certainly 'a natural,' and one couldn't have imagined a more perfect embodiment of a rock singer."

I could not have said it better.

Good article. Someone is finally giving the man the attention he deserves. I smell an Alice In Chains Behind the Music brewing.