These Two Could-Have-Been Superstar Grunge Icons Walked Away at the Peak of Their Fame

A surprising number of grunge icons walked away at the height of their fame in the 1990s. And many of those iconic musicians have quite sad stories to tell. Let’s look into what happened to three such grunge legends who left fame behind intentionally.

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Layne Staley

Layne Staley’s story is a tragic one, and not one that is totally uncommon from the grunge era. In 1996, Staley’s ex-fiancée Demri Parrott passed away, and he became a recluse. Alice In Chains never officially disbanded during that time, and they just dropped a No. 1 album the year prior in 1995. But, considering Staley rarely left his condo in Seattle, the legendary singer and his band were more or less on hiatus. Staley was also aware of how bad his substance abuse problems were getting and did not want to “inspire” his fans to go down the same path.

“Drugs worked for me for years,” said Staley in a Rolling Stone interview from 1996. “And now they’re turning against me … now I’m walking through hell and this sucks. I didn’t want my fans to think that h*roin was cool. But then I’ve had fans come up to me and give me the thumbs up, telling me they’re high. That’s exactly what I didn’t want to happen.”

Staley passed away in 2002 at the age of 34 from an accidental overdose. He wasn’t a “could-have-been” superstar and instead has gone down in history as one of grunge’s finest vocalists.

Jason Everman

Jason Everman is a pretty famous case of a could-have-been grunge icon who left the industry for a totally different career path. Evermaned briefly played guitar with Nirvana and, while he isn’t heard on their debut album Bleach, he appears on the cover and allegedly paid to record the record. He toured with the band for a summer and later joined Soundgarden in 1989 as a temporary replacement on bass. He also worked with bands like OLD, Mind Funk, and Silence & Light. 

However, instead of continuing on in the music business, he left it entirely in 1994 to enlist in the United States Army. He stuck to that career for years, also spending time in Tibet in Buddhist monasteries, before receiving an honorable discharge in 2006.

Photo by Frans Schellekens/Redferns