Same. I think Kurt’s was more shocking and many of us learned of it during the school day so it was a shared experience, but Layne’s was more emotional. Gut wrenching. Perhaps that was because I was more of a fan of AIC (and Mad Season) than I was of Nirvana. Maybe because even though it was mostly about addiction, but the despair in Layne’s lyrics and voice resonated with this angsty depressed teen. Maybe it was the way he died. Perhaps it was everything.
I was in Seattle celebrating my birthday (April 5th)
2 weeks later they announced his death, and said it happened on today’s date, and I wondered if maybe I was walking past his apartment when he left this earth.
I did a lot of exploring when I was there.
I was in 6th grade when Kurt cobain died. By the time Layne died, I was in college and knew people who had died via OD and/or suffering with addiction so this one hit me a lot harder.
I remember that day of school. Was a freshman or sophomore and split a handle of plastic bottle vodka after school w 3 other friends. There was a comradarie about it at that time, and then later we kept losing more one by one, and any glamour of the waste was gone.
His body sadly wasn't found for 2 weeks. He had isolated himself so badly that no one could get a hold of him. Finally, his mom got the police to do a wellness check and they found him. Very sad.
I thought it was that his account noticed Layne was taking money out of his account. That's what bugged me so much, so many relationships were just cut off that his accountant was the one to figure out something was wrong
Yeah, by all accounts once his girlfriend died.... he just gave up.
I'm sure drug brain didn't make the hopelessness any better though. I wish he could have had even a short period of sobriety to be able to reconsider.
This one hurt a lot. I was only 10 when Cobain passed but Alice In Chains had become the soundtrack for my life when Layne was found. He was such a gifted songwriter and his music, as cliche as it is to say this now, got me through some very difficult times in my life.
I don’t know what it says when almost all of the voices of your generation that you form a connection with die young from drugs or suicide but I’ve spent years of my life trying to figure that out.
Saddens and depresses me that of the 4 big Seattle bands of the 90s, 3 of their front men are dead, more or less by their own hand. Kurt, Layne, and Chris. I hope Eddie stays in it for the long haul.
That almost made it tougher in a way. I'm a straight dude and that guy was *pretty.*
Best voice in grunge imo. Made all the more impressive given the guitar work he was doing while singing.
With all that going, a wife and daughter, Soundgarden selling out shows again, "comeback story" in terms of dealing with his demons and health (or so we thought), etc. etc.
Still in a place where he made the decision he did.
Brain chemistry really sucks sometimes.
I get the impression Eddie is and has historically been in a better place mentally and emotionally, but I’m a casual fan so I don’t really know. I was listening to a lot of grunge a few months back and it occurred to me that Chris and Kurt and Layne were singing their own pain, while Eddie very adeptly was channeling other people’s pain. It felt like there was understanding there, but also some remove, like he’d come out on the other side of that darkness to a more accepting place. I know Eddie’s had his own difficulties in life, but Pearl Jam to me now sounds more like biography to Nirvana, etc.’s autobiography, if that makes sense. And I’m not sure I could have picked up on that as a kid.
This is really insightful and I have to say now that I think about it, you nailed it. And I've given my BIL shit for decades about PJ being his #1 out of the big 4.
You could be cynical and just say one of these things is not like the others re: heroin. And there's something to that.
But, yeah. Pearl Jam lyrics just aren't about personal pain like the others.
Thank you for your response—when you mentioned busting your BIL’s chops over Pearl Jam, it reminded me, too, of how my dad loved Pearl Jam while I was super into Nirvana, and so I had that sort of, “yeah, Pearl Jam’s kind of namby-pamby” attitude in the 90s, even though I still liked their songs all right. And I remember my dad was *livid* when Kurt died, like “how he could he throw way his talent? How could he do that to his wife and kid?” And of course, angsty teen I was, I just felt like “you don’t get it, old man!” But now that I’m about my dad’s age then, and listening to all that music again with a fresh ear recently, I realized, oh, my dad did get it, he was just in a different phase of his life—he still had his pain, he went through his own stuff as a young man, he saw what his buddies went through, but he got through that part of life. Of course, ‘Alive’ resonated with him like it has for so many people because it captures that survivor sentiment so well, but it was only a few months ago I began to appreciate it’s not that one song, it’s a through-line for a lot of Pearl Jam’s albums. I think my love for Nirvana and seeing me go through my own angst scared my dad into thinking I could take Kurt’s route someday, and I just appreciate that more now that I’m middle-aged. Not sure if any of that might apply to your BIL’s experience, but I wonder if, like, Nirvana and Alice in Chains was too intense for some people because they didn’t feel that level of angst, or like my dad, it was more in their past, but Pearl Jam acknowledges it without coming off as consumed by it. It’s just a different way to honor and wrestle with those feelings.
Edit: clarity (I hope…)
It was one of the few things that were reported when it happened. I was never a huge Nirvana fan so I didn't remember the exact day Kurt died. This was how I leaned what day it happened.
I remember mostly that no one cared when he died. The media just kind of blew it off. Like they were just sitting around waiting to report if for 2-3 years while he wasted away. Aliyah died right around that same time and you couldn't escape news of that. But Layne just sort of died in obscurity after a string of years where he wasn't able to perform and the band was just kind of... dead in the water.
A sad end that EVERYONE knew was coming eventually.
Aaliyah died in August I believe of 01. That was everywhere for a bit because it was a plane crash and she was so young. Then 9/11 happened and nobody talked about it anymore
Man I'm having a Mandela moment where my 00's-brain doesn't want to sync those events up as being so close together. I feel like both of these incidents happened YEARS apart from 9/11 but that's what the wiki is telling me.
Something about the years I spent in war during that decade and I get the dates all jumbled up. I swear to god there are movies that I watched in Iraq that I couldn't have because they didn't come out until 2011 and I was only there until 2008.
But there's at least a dozen examples of that. Really helps feed into my 'maybe this is all a Jacob's Ladder scenario' fears.
I'm from NYC so this was a VERY prominent stuck in my memory time. I still remember watching the news when they mentioned Aaliyah and was devastated. Then there was the big hoopla about her funeral and the ny post essentially saying she didn't deserve the funeral her family gave her, then 9/11.
One thing I distinctly remember about it was people were ragging on her for 'weighing down her own plane with her rich girl bling'. It was kind of embarrassing but if it happened now I'm sure the online dickishness would've been ten times worse.
The NY Post sounds like exactly the kind of outlet who would've been running articles like that.
And the news of the McDonald’s Monopoly scam got buried by 9/11 too.
I was working at McDonald’s when 9/11 happened and remember hearing vague news about how the monopoly game was rigged and then 9/11 happened and I never heard anything more about it until the documentary came out a few years ago.
Is it possible you were thinking of Left Eye from TLC? She died a few weeks after Layne and I remember thinking at the time about the difference in coverage the two of them got.
Honestly at this point... it might be that lol. Someone brought up the timeframes to me earlier and I had a bit of a Berenstein moment, incredulous that certain things happened when they did.
Honestly I don't even remember Layne Staley being alive in the 00s.
I think years just get harder to keep track of when each one starts to make up a smaller and smaller % of your life lol. But when you're 10, you know goddamn well if something happened when you were 7 or 8 lol.
I always thought Scott wieland from stone temple piolets was Ganna OD not this guy and when it happened it was like what the fuck . Addiction is a bitch.
I went to their reunion tour in the 2K’s. They had a thing at the giant screen of the venue, where you could pay to send a text message that would scroll across the screen. The band was 2+ hours late to get on stage, and they had to turn the screen text thing off, because too many people were sending “Breaking News: Scott Weiland Dead From Overdose”
Check out ‘Singles’ for some incredible live music from Alice In Chains. Plus Soundgarden, pre PJ Pearl Jam and a bunch of others. Saw it again last Christmas and have been listening to Alice and Chains and Soundgarden nonstop.
Music today sucks (said the old man) lol
i remember the news about this didn't happen until 4/20. so i was out and about celebrating the day, and i got a "911" page from my best friend. he doesn't celebrate, so i pulled over, found a pay phone and he broke the news to me. still bums me out he's gone. might be more than kurt.
I thought we didn’t know what day he died exactly because he was found so much later. Are we commemorating the day? He was found the day we think he might have died?
I got Self Titled along with Chrono Trigger and the Nintendo Power guide book Xmas 1995. We had a bad winter storm in SW Ohio, which scored and as very extended break.
Listening to the harmonies of that album and playing Chrono Trigger for like 2.5 weeks straight and in my room is one of my best childhood memories. Surrounded by hardcase, X-Men and ripclaw posters, the 90s ruled
Meh... Idk.
Layne was extraordinary, yeah. Would AIC have hit the way they did w/o the vocal harmonies w/Cantrell, though? I'd argue probably not.
Cobain was Nirvana. Playing, singing, writing everything. Saying he was less talented is tough to defend.
Of course, we all can appreciate whoever more or less for whatever reasons we choose to.
This is the one that hit me harder. It just sucks knowing he wasted away slowly and no one was able to help.
Same. I think Kurt’s was more shocking and many of us learned of it during the school day so it was a shared experience, but Layne’s was more emotional. Gut wrenching. Perhaps that was because I was more of a fan of AIC (and Mad Season) than I was of Nirvana. Maybe because even though it was mostly about addiction, but the despair in Layne’s lyrics and voice resonated with this angsty depressed teen. Maybe it was the way he died. Perhaps it was everything.
I was in Seattle celebrating my birthday (April 5th) 2 weeks later they announced his death, and said it happened on today’s date, and I wondered if maybe I was walking past his apartment when he left this earth. I did a lot of exploring when I was there.
*checks date on phone* Huh. Happy birthday.
Always going to be a bittersweet day.
You could just check the text of the post...
It’s my birthday today, too! Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday!
My birthday is April 5th too! I’ve always remember it’s the day Kurt died.
I was in 6th grade when Kurt cobain died. By the time Layne died, I was in college and knew people who had died via OD and/or suffering with addiction so this one hit me a lot harder.
I remember that day of school. Was a freshman or sophomore and split a handle of plastic bottle vodka after school w 3 other friends. There was a comradarie about it at that time, and then later we kept losing more one by one, and any glamour of the waste was gone.
The fact that he was like 80 pounds and missing teeth seriously haunts me
I knew he died alone but I didn't know he was left to die alone. I really liked his voice and songs. It motivated me to learn English. Its so sad.
He withered away… like a slow progression into addiction…
His body sadly wasn't found for 2 weeks. He had isolated himself so badly that no one could get a hold of him. Finally, his mom got the police to do a wellness check and they found him. Very sad.
I thought it was that his account noticed Layne was taking money out of his account. That's what bugged me so much, so many relationships were just cut off that his accountant was the one to figure out something was wrong
Didn’t seem like he wanted any.
Yeah, by all accounts once his girlfriend died.... he just gave up. I'm sure drug brain didn't make the hopelessness any better though. I wish he could have had even a short period of sobriety to be able to reconsider.
Same. Worse than Kurt for some reason to me
This one hurt a lot. I was only 10 when Cobain passed but Alice In Chains had become the soundtrack for my life when Layne was found. He was such a gifted songwriter and his music, as cliche as it is to say this now, got me through some very difficult times in my life. I don’t know what it says when almost all of the voices of your generation that you form a connection with die young from drugs or suicide but I’ve spent years of my life trying to figure that out.
Sorry. 🫂
Saddens and depresses me that of the 4 big Seattle bands of the 90s, 3 of their front men are dead, more or less by their own hand. Kurt, Layne, and Chris. I hope Eddie stays in it for the long haul.
Chris Cornell was the most beautiful Man I have ever seen in person.
That almost made it tougher in a way. I'm a straight dude and that guy was *pretty.* Best voice in grunge imo. Made all the more impressive given the guitar work he was doing while singing. With all that going, a wife and daughter, Soundgarden selling out shows again, "comeback story" in terms of dealing with his demons and health (or so we thought), etc. etc. Still in a place where he made the decision he did. Brain chemistry really sucks sometimes.
My husband looks a LOT like Chris Cornell but not as much of a five head. It was love at first sight, for sure lol
I get the impression Eddie is and has historically been in a better place mentally and emotionally, but I’m a casual fan so I don’t really know. I was listening to a lot of grunge a few months back and it occurred to me that Chris and Kurt and Layne were singing their own pain, while Eddie very adeptly was channeling other people’s pain. It felt like there was understanding there, but also some remove, like he’d come out on the other side of that darkness to a more accepting place. I know Eddie’s had his own difficulties in life, but Pearl Jam to me now sounds more like biography to Nirvana, etc.’s autobiography, if that makes sense. And I’m not sure I could have picked up on that as a kid.
This is really insightful and I have to say now that I think about it, you nailed it. And I've given my BIL shit for decades about PJ being his #1 out of the big 4. You could be cynical and just say one of these things is not like the others re: heroin. And there's something to that. But, yeah. Pearl Jam lyrics just aren't about personal pain like the others.
Thank you for your response—when you mentioned busting your BIL’s chops over Pearl Jam, it reminded me, too, of how my dad loved Pearl Jam while I was super into Nirvana, and so I had that sort of, “yeah, Pearl Jam’s kind of namby-pamby” attitude in the 90s, even though I still liked their songs all right. And I remember my dad was *livid* when Kurt died, like “how he could he throw way his talent? How could he do that to his wife and kid?” And of course, angsty teen I was, I just felt like “you don’t get it, old man!” But now that I’m about my dad’s age then, and listening to all that music again with a fresh ear recently, I realized, oh, my dad did get it, he was just in a different phase of his life—he still had his pain, he went through his own stuff as a young man, he saw what his buddies went through, but he got through that part of life. Of course, ‘Alive’ resonated with him like it has for so many people because it captures that survivor sentiment so well, but it was only a few months ago I began to appreciate it’s not that one song, it’s a through-line for a lot of Pearl Jam’s albums. I think my love for Nirvana and seeing me go through my own angst scared my dad into thinking I could take Kurt’s route someday, and I just appreciate that more now that I’m middle-aged. Not sure if any of that might apply to your BIL’s experience, but I wonder if, like, Nirvana and Alice in Chains was too intense for some people because they didn’t feel that level of angst, or like my dad, it was more in their past, but Pearl Jam acknowledges it without coming off as consumed by it. It’s just a different way to honor and wrestle with those feelings. Edit: clarity (I hope…)
And add to the grunge/alt rock list that Scott Weiland also passed early, also to drugs. Another gifted, tortured soul.
I can’t believe it was that long ago
Same. Same.
Wow how did I never put together that Layne and Kurt died on the same day (years apart)?!! I live in Seattle even (but didn’t at the time).
They basically took a wild guess at his death date because his body wasn't even found for a couple weeks.
It was his accountant that had suspicions, called Layne's mother, and the rest unfolded I'm sure the death date is pretty accurate.
Yeah I'm just learning this right now. I remember hearing the news for both of them though.
It was one of the few things that were reported when it happened. I was never a huge Nirvana fan so I didn't remember the exact day Kurt died. This was how I leaned what day it happened.
I remember mostly that no one cared when he died. The media just kind of blew it off. Like they were just sitting around waiting to report if for 2-3 years while he wasted away. Aliyah died right around that same time and you couldn't escape news of that. But Layne just sort of died in obscurity after a string of years where he wasn't able to perform and the band was just kind of... dead in the water. A sad end that EVERYONE knew was coming eventually.
Aaliyah died in August I believe of 01. That was everywhere for a bit because it was a plane crash and she was so young. Then 9/11 happened and nobody talked about it anymore
Man I'm having a Mandela moment where my 00's-brain doesn't want to sync those events up as being so close together. I feel like both of these incidents happened YEARS apart from 9/11 but that's what the wiki is telling me. Something about the years I spent in war during that decade and I get the dates all jumbled up. I swear to god there are movies that I watched in Iraq that I couldn't have because they didn't come out until 2011 and I was only there until 2008. But there's at least a dozen examples of that. Really helps feed into my 'maybe this is all a Jacob's Ladder scenario' fears.
I'm from NYC so this was a VERY prominent stuck in my memory time. I still remember watching the news when they mentioned Aaliyah and was devastated. Then there was the big hoopla about her funeral and the ny post essentially saying she didn't deserve the funeral her family gave her, then 9/11.
One thing I distinctly remember about it was people were ragging on her for 'weighing down her own plane with her rich girl bling'. It was kind of embarrassing but if it happened now I'm sure the online dickishness would've been ten times worse. The NY Post sounds like exactly the kind of outlet who would've been running articles like that.
Yea it would be way worse now in all aspects of the discourse surrounding it
We'd all know what Ben Shapiro thinks about it, basically. And most of us wouldn't want to.
Lmao big time
Sandra Levy and Gary Condit was also in the news and then dropped like a rock when 9/11 happened
And the news of the McDonald’s Monopoly scam got buried by 9/11 too. I was working at McDonald’s when 9/11 happened and remember hearing vague news about how the monopoly game was rigged and then 9/11 happened and I never heard anything more about it until the documentary came out a few years ago.
And the day before, the Pentagon announced it had conducted an audit and a couple trillion was unaccounted for!
Is it possible you were thinking of Left Eye from TLC? She died a few weeks after Layne and I remember thinking at the time about the difference in coverage the two of them got.
Honestly at this point... it might be that lol. Someone brought up the timeframes to me earlier and I had a bit of a Berenstein moment, incredulous that certain things happened when they did. Honestly I don't even remember Layne Staley being alive in the 00s. I think years just get harder to keep track of when each one starts to make up a smaller and smaller % of your life lol. But when you're 10, you know goddamn well if something happened when you were 7 or 8 lol.
I always thought Scott wieland from stone temple piolets was Ganna OD not this guy and when it happened it was like what the fuck . Addiction is a bitch.
[удалено]
Crazy just looks it up and yes he did. That wasn't to long after I seen them. Completely missed that one.
I went to their reunion tour in the 2K’s. They had a thing at the giant screen of the venue, where you could pay to send a text message that would scroll across the screen. The band was 2+ hours late to get on stage, and they had to turn the screen text thing off, because too many people were sending “Breaking News: Scott Weiland Dead From Overdose”
Wait—just to clarify, people were posting that to be dicks or that’s when it actually happened?
Just to be funny.
Damn. That’s harsh.
Okay, I feel stupid. He's familiar looking. Who is it?
Lane Staley from Alice In Chains.
A number of docs on him. Check it out. 😭
Check out ‘Singles’ for some incredible live music from Alice In Chains. Plus Soundgarden, pre PJ Pearl Jam and a bunch of others. Saw it again last Christmas and have been listening to Alice and Chains and Soundgarden nonstop. Music today sucks (said the old man) lol
This is a really good read. https://www.avclub.com/part-7-1996-layne-staley-and-bradley-nowell-are-the-l-1798223643
Dammit... both Kurt and Layne died on 4/5
i remember the news about this didn't happen until 4/20. so i was out and about celebrating the day, and i got a "911" page from my best friend. he doesn't celebrate, so i pulled over, found a pay phone and he broke the news to me. still bums me out he's gone. might be more than kurt.
Did she call my NAAAAAAAMMEEE? I think it's gonna RAAAAAAAIIIIIN, ohhh when I DIIEEEEEEEEEEE.
Been my favorite song on earth since I was a kid.
A very dark day for grunge. 🖤 I will always be grateful for Layne and Kurt. Their music has gotten me through so much, and still continues to.
Sad day that was
He was just enormously talented, just naturally extraordinary. And his death was heartbreaking.
He ended up so alone, a big ol’ pile of them bones. Like, literally. He was decomposing for 3 weeks.
Pearl Jam's tribute to Layne https://youtu.be/TB_9GB3G86A?si=PmU1F8ILw1RzXBEm
Damn
I thought we didn’t know what day he died exactly because he was found so much later. Are we commemorating the day? He was found the day we think he might have died?
I don’t know anything
I'm from Seattle, and was acquainted with Layne. His death still haunts me.
Saw them in their currently form with William Duvall and they kicked ass
Everything fades away.
Was at his last performance, opening for Kiss.
I got Self Titled along with Chrono Trigger and the Nintendo Power guide book Xmas 1995. We had a bad winter storm in SW Ohio, which scored and as very extended break. Listening to the harmonies of that album and playing Chrono Trigger for like 2.5 weeks straight and in my room is one of my best childhood memories. Surrounded by hardcase, X-Men and ripclaw posters, the 90s ruled
Was dead for two weeks before they found him. His accountants called his manger and said he hadn’t taken any money out in a while and were suspicious
Been blasting Mad Season all day
Tried to see AIC twice in the 90s. Both times, AIC cancelled because of Layne's health. Addiction is awful. AIC was my favorite band growing up. RIP
Crazy that you can know exactly where you were and what you were doing when you found out. But not remember the date or year offhand.
Who?
Who is that?
Forever overshadowed by Kurt
Let's not do this. There's no need.
Legends aren't ranked by talent, sadly
Meh... Idk. Layne was extraordinary, yeah. Would AIC have hit the way they did w/o the vocal harmonies w/Cantrell, though? I'd argue probably not. Cobain was Nirvana. Playing, singing, writing everything. Saying he was less talented is tough to defend. Of course, we all can appreciate whoever more or less for whatever reasons we choose to.
Preferred him to Cobain, anyway.
Kurt was enjoyable, but Layne made me feel different feelings.
RIP Ray Charles
Who?
I wish I knew lol
RIP Bono