As a huge AIC fan, I can't say I'm surprised. RIP, Mike, and thanks for some great music. http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b229935_alice_in_chains_rocker_celebrity_rehab.html
One of my favorite bands of all time. The unplugged album is amazing. Truly sad. Just another case of a band that was cut down before their time.
Isn't it a conundrum though? (for you a) Favorite band. Sad they couldn't last. I think their music was fueled by the drugs. I can't imagine they get that sound and that music if they had all been clean and sober. They weren't writing about happy, sunny days chasing girls on the beach, ya know. Their core stuff is what, almost 20 years old, and still in my heavy rotation. Pretty hard to beat. Too bad being rockers was so hard for them to survive.
Alice In Chains is one of those things that just brings mixed emotions for me. Forget the tragedy that the band has gone through and it still brings back amazing highs and amazing lows for me. There was this beautiful girl on my school bus when i was in high school. Her name was Summer. She was sitting in the seat next to me and wanted me to listen to her walkman and some band called Alice In Chains. I told her that it was a crappy sounding name and I didn't want to listen to it. I don't know if she liked me before that day but she didn't after. Then about 2 years later I heard Would by them and was loving the song until they said the name of the band after the song. I almost cried because I loved the band instantly and realized what I had missed by being an idiot to a girl who was beautiful and had great taste in music. I rode Amtrak from Wyoming to Portland and listened to Dirt for about 24 hours straight. No exaggeration whatsoever. If I was sleeping I was listening to it on repeat.
Dirt is awesome. I had read that Staley wrote most of it and obviously it had a lot to do with his struggles with drugs. Very powerful stuff, you can really feel the desperation and sorrow. When I check the official credits Cantrell is still listed as the writer to most of Dirt (via wiki) but I tend to believe the former more than the latter. In any event they really were an amazing band. Staley and Cantrell had a unique teamwork sharing vocals that you don't often hear. I still try to bump them at kick backs and get ragged on most of the time for shitting on the mood. I know its depressing music in a lot of ways but on the same token AIC is perhaps my favorite band and I love listening to them. Also it was weird hearing that Starr was kicked out like that because I've also read that the band stopped working when Staley was too weak to continue to help out. I've read Cantrell quotes saying how they never would have considered kicking Staley out or moving on without him. On the same token though I've never read anything about Staley's addiction making him fuck anything up with the band (aside from his physical/mental ability to perform after he'd become very weak). He was also very, very aware of the addiction and he absolutely hated it and warned others to avoid it which I think is a bit rare compared to many rock stars who are in denial and their selfishness is amped up by their drug use. Seems like maybe Starr was more the type to fuck things up for the band while Staley didn't really do anything wrong aside from become addicted to the point that he deteriorated and couldn't perform any more.
Growing up my brother was a huge Chains fan. I don't know, they aiiiiight. I'm more of a Pearl Jam guy myself.
I was a little too young for the grunge era but retroactively listening obviously you're introduced to it with Nirvana which is still played constantly on the radio. Then after that I was really into Pearl Jam for a long time...but only Vs. and Ten. After that it seems like there's really only a few good songs per album. Then I got heavily into AIC and they're one of those bands where I literally love all of their songs. Easily a top 3 band for me and the best of the grunge era IMO.
Been rocking AIC on my Ipod a lot the last week or so. Post some of your favorite songs. I've been in an emo mood lately so I listen to this one a few times a day: [video=youtube;3EsQXaMqcpo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EsQXaMqcpo[/video]
i disagree, i think for how much shit they all shot up, its a miracle they put out as much amazing stuff as they did, they had their run and then some
AIC was my favorite band through high school. I loved their music and everything they wrote. I wish I could have seen them live in their prime. Layne starts to kill it around 5:20: [video=youtube;l9jX1KAKp78]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9jX1KAKp78[/video] I was supposed to see them back in '94-'95 with Metallica & Suicidal Tendencies at Meadows, but Layne had to take time off due to his drug abuse. I got Candlebox instead. I got to see the AIC remake a couple of months ago with Deftones. I was so conflicted seeing them & was pissed that they got so much love from the crowd. I just watched the show like a zombie and felt like I had died inside. Then they came back on for an encore & Jerry said, "This is for Layne" and they busted out Nutshell & then Rotten Apple. It was the most moving moment I had ever felt at a concert. Their music deserves to be heard by the people, but sadly it's not the same without Layne. RIP AIC
After Starr left the band, Cantrell's influence led the band to be softer and more depressing. I'll take anything off of Facelift or Dirt, but this was always my favorite AIC song. [video=youtube;1l6yV6xN8OQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1l6yV6xN8OQ[/video]
Dirt is my favorite Chains album. Brilliant from beginning to end. I did enjoy their acoustic pieces & really showed their range as musicians. I have no beef with Jar of Flies. They actually released SAP with Starr in the band, so it's not like Jerry hijacked the sound when he left. Although with Layne so addicted to dope, Jerry did start writing more music with him as the lead vocalist. I love Jerry, but he's no Layne.
My bro & I would listen to them back in the 90s when they'd get played on 97.9 KNRQ or when we'd be able to tune in 101.1 KUFO. We lived in Corvallis at the time so tuning in KUFO was usually a challenge. Sometimes when we'd visit our unlce up here in PDX over a weekend we'd get to tune into a Ménage à trois KUFO weekend which was always awesome, usually they played some Alice in Chains. Sad to see KUFO go. Sad to hear about another Alice in Chains death.
Been rocking this one all day. Always interested me that Staley was in a glam band before he went to AIC and I feel like this is kind of a glam band song. A good one though. [video=youtube;h0yTaF9pOqA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0yTaF9pOqA[/video]
