A Man in the Box: The Rise, Struggles, and Tragic End for Layne Staley
Layne’s early life:
Layne Staley's voice wasn't just another instrument in the band; it commanded an intoxicating presence in each of their tracks. Something about the rawness he generates is a feeling that is only comparable to the greats. Layne Thomas Staley was born on August 22, 1967. Born in Kirkland, WA, a small town with a population of just over ten thousand. Growing up in a broken household with divorced parents by the age of 7, his father, a military veteran, and his mother, Nancy McCallum. Layne found comfort in music. Joining a rhythm band by the age of three and writing in his Dr. Seuss book at the age of nine, stating that he wanted to be a famous singer, he was destined for greatness. Layne picked up the drums by the age of 12 and had a profound talent for singing, a voice later known to be iconic in the grunge scene.
Ever since childhood, Layne has been inherently rebellious. He changed his middle name to “Thomas” during his teen years to pay homage to Tommy Lee, the Mötley Crüe drummer. Another example of his rebellious side is his Christian Science upbringing, stating in an interview in 1991, “I have a fascination with how brainwashed people get with religion and how they'll give up their money, their time and their whole life for a cause that they're sure is right, but I'm sure is wrong. I think there’s a lot of people who are scared of life and living and they want to make sure they get to Heaven or whatever. I try to stay away from it as much as I can. I was raised in the church until I was 16, and I've disagreed with their beliefs for as long as I can remember, so when I had the choice I chose not to believe in anything apart from myself." Layne approached music by searching through his parents' collection of vinyls, Bands like Black Sabbath and Van Halen. He also cited Prince and David Bowie as huge inspirations for his singing career. After joining and contributing to a plethora of bands throughout his teen years, Layne finally transformed his band, Sleze, into Alice N’ Chains in 1985.
Alice In Chains:
In 1987, Layne coincidentally met guitarist Jerry Cantrell whilst working at music bank rehearsal studios. Cantrell, knowing of Layne's band Alice N’ Chains from watching them perform months prior, was eager to befriend Staley after being thoroughly impressed with his vocal abilities. Cantrell happened to be kicked out of his family home, and Staley offered Cantrell to move in with him in the dilapidated bank rehearsal studio.
Funnily enough, Staley disbanded Alice N’ Chains to join a funk band. After a couple of futile performances, Staley convinced Cantrell to join as guitarist Sideman on the condition that Stayley join his band, which at the time didn't have a name. However, this band included drummer Sean Kinney and guitarist Mike Starr. The three plotted deviously against Staley, purposefully auditioning horrible singers for the role of lead singer. Staley's final straw was when the three brought in a male stripper to audition. Staley caved in and agreed to be the lead singer. Cantrell stated, “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. I considered his voice to be my voice.” The funk aspect of the band broke after a botched 40-minute gig at the University of Washington. Cantrell received permission to change the name Alice N’ Chains to Alice In Chains, thus officially starting the legendary grunge group in 1987.
After a local gig in Seattle, a small promoter named Randy Hauser approached Layne and the band with the offer of a lifetime. Randy Houser offered the band that he would pay for their demo tapes at Music Bank Studio, Washington. However, a week before the set recording date, it was busted for the biggest illegal cannabis raid in the history of the state. All of that aside, the final EP was named The Treehouse Tapes (Able to be found unofficially released on Soundcloud). Through the grapevine, Alice In Chains' EP landed in the hands of Soundgarden managers Kelly Curtis and Susan Silvers, who then passed it onto Columbia Records representative Nick Terzo. Who, after showing the record to the CEO, decided to sign Alice In Chains to Columbia Records in 1989 officially. Alice In Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell was instantly noticed, along with the band's loud chops that were similar to other popular bands at the time.
Facelift
Facelift, Alice In Chains' first studio album, is a true spectacle of the grittiness the grunge scene wished to capture in the early '90s. Many regard it as the first successful grunge album, breaking the top 50 on the Billboard Top 200 list, reaching its peak at No. 42. With a gripping guitar riff to start the album, Layne Staley's voice soon follows and takes the listener into the depths of hell—in the best way possible. Tracks like Bleed the Freak and Sea of Sorrow became fan favorites. Not to mention Man in the Box, arguably Alice In Chains' most notable song.
Personally, I agree with the praise this album receives. After listening to it more times than I can count, it has truly resonated with me. As I dive deeper into the '90s grunge scene, I always find myself returning to this album. With an amazing ratio of 12 hard-hitting songs totaling 54 minutes, it’s hard to get bored. The stellar breakdowns, coupled with Jerry Cantrell’s excellent vocal echoes, show that the band put their all into this album.
If you're looking for a classic grunge album that encapsulates all aspects of the genre, Facelift is an amazing starting point. It begins with extreme intensity and then transitions into deeper melodic tones on tracks like I Can't Remember and Love, Hate, Love. This album has an indescribable, face-contorting rhythm and flow.
Dirt
"You, you are so special, you have the talent to make me feel like dirt." What lyric better captures the essence of Dirt? This album is a beautifully crafted piece of work by Layne Staley and Alice In Chains. It delves into the inner psyche of the bandmates, covering themes of drug and alcohol abuse, mental health struggles, and personal trauma. The song Rooster, for example, reflects guitarist Jerry Cantrell’s father's experiences as a Vietnam War veteran.
Unlike Facelift, which is enticing in its sound, Dirt feels more complete. The song Down in a Hole is one of Alice In Chains' most popular tracks, and when comparing it to songs from Facelift, the band's compositional evolution becomes evident. The breakdowns are perfectly timed, and it has a broader commercial appeal. Given the prior success of Facelift, their record label pushed for music that would resonate with a wider audience. This shift, however, left Alice In Chains’ inherent rebellious side off the main stage, contributing to deeper drug issues among the band members. Drummer Sean Kinney stated:
"We were doing whatever we could get our hands on—and as much as possible. It definitely started working against us."
Essentially, this album engulfs the persistent issues the band dealt with on a day-to-day basis, and as they grew in fame and stardom, they sunk into a deep pit of despair and drugs. Inevitably, this led to their more melancholic next album, “Jar of Flies.”
Jar of Flies
Seven songs, thirty minutes. With an album cover just as creepy as the last two, “Jar of Flies” is the final studio album I will be covering. In comparison to the last two albums, this album is almost completely haunting and eerily odd. Whereas on ‘Facelift’ and ‘Dirt’, the band would produce more energetic and hype songs, Jar of Flies is completely contradictory. Title track, ‘Rotten Apple’ paints a horrifying story of addiction with each verse discussing a different stage of drug issues. The first verse covers a more innocent viewpoint with drugs, while the second covers the addiction holistically, seamlessly transitioning into the third verse which tells the story from the addiction's perspective on how it kills people. Standout tracks like ‘Nutshell’ and ‘Don't Follow’ are simply intoxicating.
Personally, I cannot get enough of this album. Whenever I'm in a slump this is a go-to album, and it never fails to make me feel seen and comforted. This album also introduced new melodic themes. An example of this being on ‘Don’t Follow’ with an absolutely enthralling harmonica part which ties in the beat and tempo switch effortlessly.
In all, this album's main themes cover topics from self-isolation to loneliness and especially self-reflection. ‘Jar of Flies’ was ultimately a major success, peaking at number 1 on the Billboard Top 200 chart, it is also triple platinum, and the first album with new bassist Mike Inez. Shortly after the release of this project, Alice in Chains was offered a segment on the then popular MTV Unplugged. For those unfamiliar with this, it was in short a concert in which many popular bands would be able to perform many of their top tracks in an acoustic manner. Other major bands who performed on this stage were Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, and Pearl Jam. In my eyes, this was the catalyst moment in Laynes Life where his drug usage stopped being a personality trait, but a true danger.
MTV Unplugged - May 28, 1996.
No words justify the beauty of this performance. From the tantalizing voice of Layne Staley, you can feel the energy of the crowd through the screams of the fans. However, words can thankfully describe the story behind the performance. After a three year live performance hiatus of the band, they signed on to perform for MTV Unplugged. The band visibly unfit to perform did not have a seamless night. While bands like Nirvana performed the entire concert in one take, Alice in Chains were forced to do multiple. Staley consistently was misremembering lines of songs, mixing them up with others, and on some occasions just forgot to sing. This is no shock to hear when finding out the state he was in. Band members stated that Layne was so beyond high on Heroin during this performance that it was impossible to hide. He wore blacked-out glasses to hide his facial expressions, however they weren't hidden to everyone backstage. Reports say that every time Layne wasn't singing, his eyes were rolling back in his head, with constant swaying and medics consistently ready to rush the stage in case of an emergency, it was visible how broken down and dilapidated his brain and body were.
Despite this truly brutal state the band was in, this performance was undeniably Alice in Chains best performance. It’s taking a while for me to conjure words that properly describe the intoxicating nature of Laynes’ voice. Not to mention the stellar jobs the bandmates did. Listening to ‘No Excuses’ as a fellow drummer I am just astounded by the creativity this band is showing with the acoustic nature of the concert. They are using every single resource available to deliver on this performance and deliver what they did.
However, there is a justified reason as to why I labeled this performance as the catalyst for the band and Laynes life. Taking into account the state of Layne Staley's I Mentioned earlier, on top of the band's own individual struggles. This performance was salvaged truly by the pure love of music they all had, but more importantly by the editing team of MTV. This was the last performance of the first iteration of Alice in Chains. Following this, Layne was soon checked in and out of rehab multiple times and sadly found passed away in his apartment in Seattle in 2002. The last person to see him alive was Mike Starr. Staley's death was a combination of heroin and cocaine and coincidentally was 8 years to the day after fellow musician Kurt Cobain died.
Mad Season
“Slow Suicides no way to go.” Such a simple line carries an extraordinary amount of weight in comparison to Staley’s life. Having met in 1994 in a rehab facility. “Supergroup” Mad Season was formed by Mike McCready in a rehab facility with the help of John Baker Saunders; they soon stumbled upon Screaming Trees drummer Barrett Martin. After a little while they acquired the help of Layne Staley, the four misfits began jamming in rehab all in the facility. Songs like ‘Above’ were the first of their jam session products, eventually leading to the four yearning to create an album. McCready, being a huge influence in the grunge scene and also a major Alice in Chains fan, hoped that playing with sober musicians would give aid to Staley and help him with his own issues.
‘Above’ is the only officially released project this band created, and honestly it is all they needed to prove the pure prowess this supergroup had. Like all projects Staley was a part of, the debut album soon scaled the Billboard 200 chart, peaking at No.24. This album is arguably my favorite piece of work done by Staley.
When breaking it down, it is extremely simple. Every single song is in simple 4/4 time with beautiful fusions of genres like Jazz, Blues, and Progressive rock. Any beginner musician can hop in and play along with his music; however, that's why it is so beautiful. Music doesn't need to incorporate a bunch of moving pieces with different tempos and time signatures. Sometimes, all you need is a beat anda bandd who truly loves the craft.
Band members of Mad Season stated that this experience for Layne was short and sweet, however it was a true spiritual journey for him. Layne was a sophisticated man who genuinely loved music and all it had to offer; some may see his time in the mad season being more therapeutic and helpful for his mental well-being than therapy and rehab.
If you take anything from reading this article it should be to listen to the project. Truly listen to the pain and anguish in this man's voice, listen to the words he's saying and find the deeper meaning to him and the state of his life at the time. This project has personally gotten me through some of my darkest times and every time I revisit it I find more and more easter eggs that keep the excitement alive. My recommendations are Artificial red,” “I'm Above,” and “Wake Up.” Following in suit with everything I covered with Alice in Chains, the live versions are just as encapsulating.
Layne Staley's Impact on Music
As a significant contributor to Seattle's legendary Grunge scene, Layne was truly a generational talent. This was not just due to the music he produced: Layne was known for his personality more than anything (not including his voice). He was shy and incredibly introspective; however, his playful sense of mischief was an instant attraction for his peers. His connection to his bandmates was insanely strong and even friends like Kurt Cobain appreciated who he was. Even though the two weren't extremely close, Layne was utterly devastated by his passing.
There is such contrast in character on and off-stage; there seems to be a relinquishment of authority to Jerry off-stage; but Jerry seemed equally reliant on Layne. The dynamic between them is fascinating. Neither could be who they were without the other, it seems.
After the immense amount of research I've done on Layne’s life, I simply feel as if he was an ambitious kid. A kid who wanted to be in a band and play music for the love of it. Soon after, he was caught up in a whirlwind of fame and fortune and drugs, sadly the kid he was couldn't keep up and his inner demons engulfed the once playful and charismatic person his friends and family once knew.
Layne’s voice will never be forgotten, simply put. This band and this man are magical, with a truly revolutionizing sound. He never stood still, every project Layne was a part of had a full new grasp on music and left the listener utterly satisfied and shocked. Layne will never be forgotten, and his story will serve as a testament to mental health awareness and drug problems for decades to come.
