Alice In Chains in the 1990s had a musical chemistry that was both dark and foreboding, but with plenty of up-tempo energy to drive home their riffs and original lead singer Layne Staley’s intricate and often beautifully harmonic vocal performances. Songs like “Rooster,” “No Excuses,” “Them Bones,” and many more showcase what the Seattle-based hard rock band were capable of. Though they broke into the mainstream before Nirvana and Pearl Jam, they were often mistaken for having come in the wake of those titans of grunge, rather than helping to blaze a trail to the Pacific Northwest, which is in fact what they did as a group.
April 5th, 2012 will mark the 10-year anniversary since Staley was discovered dead of an apparent overdose of cocaine and heroin. The impact of losing Staley was immediate, as the band essentially broke up immediately and stayed that way for about six or seven years, before they reformed with lead singer William DuVall and released “Black Gives Way to Blue,” which was both a critical and commercial success. DuVall brought his own vocal styling to the mix, but there was still a definitely Layne-esque vibe in the vocals.
Whether it was done in tribute to Staley, or in order to help Alice in Chains fans buy into the new record, it’s clear that Layne left an indelible mark on the group and Jerry Cantrell, the group’s primary songwriter. Both Cantrell and Staley injected the first albums’ worth of tunes with an almost droning-like quality that would allow the building of some far reaching harmonies that incorporated not just the vocals, but the guitars and the bass work of the late Mike Starr, creating a darkly poetic sound that transcended traditional heavy metal music at the time.
What set Alice in Chains apart was Staley and Cantrell’s ability to diversify their sound within the contex of their music. They could hit their fans in the ear drums with sonic-assaults like “Man in the Box” and then come right back around give them “Heaven Beside You,” a plodding song of heartbreak and remorse over a relationship gone sour, which actually had Jerry singing the leads and Layne providing the harmonies in the chorus. Musically, Alice in Chains was a force to be reckoned with, and Staley’s vocals were a major factor in their success.
Ultimately, Layne’s story is yet another cautionary tale of fame and the price it can carry with it. He’s another rock star taken too soon at the hands of heavy narcotics. But if Staley’s only gift to the world was that of the MTV “Unplugged” show the band taped in 1996, that gift alone would get him entered into the pantheon of legendary singers. Much like Nirvana before them, Alice in Chain’s “Unplugged” set showcased the fact that underneath the fuzz, distortion and multi-tracked layers of Staley’s vocals, there was true talent and vision, and that the band could have been just as great to experience in a coffee house as they would have been in front of an arena full of admirers.
