"I knew that voice was the guy I wanted to be playing with," said Alice in Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell about the first time he heard Layne Staley sing. "It sounded like it came out of a 350-pound biker rather than skinny little Layne."Far from the dreary, lethargic vocals of Kurt Cobain, Staley had a powerful, charismatic singing voice that was apparent even when he was giving his final performances before his tragic death of a heroin overdose in 2002.
Staley actually started out drumming at age twelve, before aspiring to be a singer. Alice in Chains broke into the mainstream with the single "Man in the Box," a song written by Staley about media censorship. The song was ironically censored by MTV, replacing the two occurrences of the word "shit" with the words "pit" and "spit."
A multitalented musician, Staley, in addition to writing about half the lyrics for AIC's songs, also composed the music for three of them: "Angry Chair," "Hate to Feel," and "Head Creeps." Staley was known to do some of the drum work for AIC's two EPs, Sap and Jar of Flies. He was also an amateur artist who had paintings displayed in galleries when AIC was on hiatus. He designed the artwork for the grunge supergroup Mad Season's first and only album, Above, and served as lyricist and singer for the group until they disbanded.
Many musicians have been influenced by Staley's energetic vocals, and many bands have written tribute songs following his passing. Metallica has stated that the 2008 album Death Magnetic had Staley's battle with substance abuse as a theme.
Whether you love or hate grunge, you have to admit that it has influenced numerous groups today, and Staley's voice was iconic in that era.
Best tracks: "Rain When I Die," "Dam That River," "We Die Young," "Man in the Box"
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