The Bellevue, Washington-born Layne Staley was known in the 1990s for having one of the most compelling and rich singing voices in rock and roll. The frontman for the Seattle grunge band Alice in Chains, Staley seemingly made oceans of sound that were at one time placid and serene and at another choppy and disruptive, in the best of ways.
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Sadly for rock fans, Staley died prematurely in 2002 at just 34 years old after a struggle with substance abuse, a subject he often wrote and sang about as you will see below. But before he passed, Staley helped create some of the biggest and most bodacious rock songs on Earth. Here are three songs you likely didn’t know Layne Staley wrote, including two he wrote alone—and one he wrote solo that became a stone-cold Alice classic.
[RELATED: The 25 Best Layne Staley Quotes]
1. “Hate to Feel,” Alice in Chains
Written by Layne Staley
This song, released on Alice in Chains’ seminal 1992 album Dirt, was written solely by Staley. The hard-hitting electric guitar-driven track is an example of Staley’s heart-on-his-sleeve style, in which he doesn’t hold back about his state of mind and often his sad place in the world. Staley wasn’t afraid to talk about the addictions that would ultimately kill him and their affect on his psyche. “Hate to Feel” is example No. 1 (though another song on this list will display the same).
So climb walls
Thin my blood now
And I crawl, back to bed now
What the hell, got to rest
Aching pain in my chest
Lucky me, now I’m set
Little bug for a pet
New Orleans, got to get
Pin cushion medicine
Used to be curious
Now the shit’s sustenance
2. “Angry Chair,” Alice in Chains
Written by Layne Staley
This Alice in Chains standout was also on Dirt. While Jerry Cantrell was known as the primary guitarist and songwriter in the band and Staley was known more as the sublime lead singer, the two often switched and shared roles. “Angry Chair” is an example. Said Cantrell in the liner notes of the band’s 1999 box set, Music Bank, “Such a brilliant song. I’m very proud of Layne for writing it. When I’ve stepped up vocally in the past he’s been so supportive, and here was a fine example of him stepping up with the guitar and writing a masterpiece.” His lyrics, again, are heavy and depressive:
Sitting on an angry chair
Angry walls that steal the air
Stomach hurts and I don’t care
What do I see across the way? Hey
See myself molded in clay, oh
Stares at me, yeah, I’m afraid, hey
Changing the shape of his face, oh, yeah
3. “River of Deceit,” Mad Season
Written by Layne Staley, Mike McCready, Barrett Martin, John Baker Saunders
While grunge music was taking the world by storm, the Seattle-born genre was also connecting many of the Pacific Northwest’s best musicians in supergroups, from Temple of the Dog that featured members of Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, to Mad Season. In the latter, Staley along with Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready, Screaming Trees drummer Barrett Martin, and bassist John Baker Saunders got together to write and record a single 1995 LP called Above. The hit single from that record was “River of Deceit,” another song this time co-written by Staley, in which he talks openly about that which he’s both addicted to and can’t escape from. On this sad electric guitar-driven song, Staley sings,
My pain is self-chosen
At least, so the prophet says
I could either burn
Or cut off my pride and buy some time
A head full of lies is the weight tied to my waist
The river of deceit pulls down, oh-oh
The only direction we flow is down
Photo by Vinnie Zuffante/Getty Images
