Hello B-E-A-U-TIFUL People!! SPECIAL QUESTION FOR YOU: What/who should I react to next?! __________________ In today’s video, I show you my reaction, as a Juilliard trained opera singer and vocal coach, to Alice In Chains - Man in the Box. Help make these videos possible: www.patreon.com/MaggieRenee Free Vocal Course for you: skl.sh/3aHdSuy Follow me on Instagram: @MaggieReneeMusic Thank you for your support! 🤘💖
We had a couple deaths in the past week. You need to react to Procol Harum (RIP Gary Brooker) performing Whiter Shade of Pale live in Denmark 2006 - even though it originally came out in 1968. Also RIP to Mark Lanagen (Screaming Trees, Mad Season Queens of the Stone Age). One of the best examples would be the live version of Mad Season - Long Gone Day. Mad Season also has Layne Staley (RIP) from Alice in Chains (which this reaction is to)
Please, please, please do a reaction to Jesca Hoop's Shoulder Charge and/or Born To. Truly a unique performer; absolutely no one sounds like her. (I'm gonna be a pest about this. 🙂)
@@hiatuszero They do use a talk box in some live performances but usually they are too lazy to bother. They’ve played the song a million times and would probably just like it to be over.
Losing Layne Staley to heroine addiction was such a great loss. When his 6'2" body was found, he weighed less than 90 pounds. His demons made his music poignant and powerful, but ultimately took his life. He remains one of my favorite vocalists ever.
Layne was a special talent that unfortunately came from screams from within himself and his demons 😔 even in the live performance where you saw Down in a Hole he was 20% battery life on heaps of heroin... yet singing he was on point still.... that's all soul
It's been said that you could hear Lanes voice coming out of his chest over top of even the monitors If you haven't checked out any of AIC's live performances other then the MTV live You've robbed yourself of hearing one of the greatest most powerful vocalist of all time
I grew up in the 60’s and 70’s and started with the Beatles (I had two siblings somewhat older), then in the 70’s I came into my own, and listened to Pop, Rock, and into the 80’s the hair bands, more Rock, then when my son was in his teens, I was exposed to music like this, and loved it! This one and “Rooster’ were two of my favorites. I love some Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Sound Garden, and others. Shocker: I also come here for Home Free reactions! Rock is my favorite, but I do love other genres. Loved watching you get into this one! It was a blast!
I SO ENJOYED YOU ENJOYING THIS SONG!!! YOU, ME AND LAYNE WERE ALL SINGING THIS GREAT SONG TOGETHER! WOW! THANKS FOR GIVING THEM A NEW LIFE AGAIN - DEFINITELY IN MY HEART!
Layne was a fucking MONSTER when he was healthy! Anything live at the Moore is a must watch. "Unplugged" is an unhealthy Layne, missing teeth, unmotivated and didn't want to be there, and still delivers.
Man In The Box was the very first video & song to hit it big for the Seattle groups. Layne is actually signing waa, waa over Jerry's talk box. Mark Lanegan said that when he stood on the side of the stage, Layne's voice was so powerful, he could hear it over the instruments.
Thank you for your lovely comments on my videos. You should join our Patreon Community :www.patreon.com/MaggieRenee Lovely people, like yourself, are there supporting each other and it's an AMAZING community! 💖🎶🥳
Obviously you've read the comments that are telling you to seek out their live performance at the Moore Theater of several songs including this one. Their live performance of this song is AMAZING.
I love seeing new Alice in Chains fans being born and vicariously reliving my first experiences with this band. 😊 Best band there ever was and will be.
1:29 "JULLIARD TRAINED SINGER" BUT SHE DOESN'T KNOW THE WORD 'TALK-BOX'??? Either she's claiming to be something she's not or a Julliard education isn't all we thought it was.
This song's origins start with a lunch the band had with some A&R woman who was a vegan (no animal byproducts of ANY kind), who proceeded to tell them how animals were penned up in small crates and killed for steak, etc. So, Layne wrote Man in the Box from the perspective of a penned up calf. It was loosely based around Layne's idea of media censorship. Sean Kinney (the drummer) said it was about veal. LOL. Layne met Jerry Cantrell ONE TIME, found out he had no family in the area, he had little money left and Layne (drunkenly) offered Jerry a place to live, money, food, clothes, guitars and gear he needed, Layne set Jerry up with a life that could NOT fail unless Jerry let it happen. He set him up with a band when he gave Jerry the number to Sean Kinney's girlfriend and found out that the girlfriend was Mike Starr's sister. He encouraged Jerry to sing more because after all they were Jerry's lyrics, Jerry should sing them. I'm sure Jerry would have made it on his own without Layne, but it would have been the long scenic route to get there. Jerry wrote Rooster about his father's experiences in Vietnam and when Jerry saw his dad in the audience at one of their shows, Jerry asked Layne (and the guys) to play Rooster and they did. It was the first time Jerry's dad heard Jerry's music and knew that his son understood him through that song. It brought Jerry and his dad closer together. And Layne had a vital part in that reunion. (Meanwhile Layne's own biological father was an opportunist who showed back up in Layne's life AFTER Layne got famous and had money and did drugs with Layne.) Phil Staley was NOT the father Layne expected when he came back into his life. Layne had tried rehab 13 times, but he could never completely give it up. He tried quitting cold turkey on two of the last attempts at rehab, but that didn't work either. Mad Season is made up of Mike McCready of Pearl Jam, Barrett Martin of Screaming Trees and John Baker Saunders and they all went through rehab. They all got together and dragged Layne out of his condo, got him excited about doing ABOVE album, thinking if he was creative he wouldn't want the drugs, and for the length of time it took to do that, Layne was excited about the project, but it didn't curb his drug habit. Layne wrote the lyrics to the songs he sang on the ABOVE album and he drew the cover art for the album. Layne was an amazing singer. Very few singers sound better live than they do in a studio version. Layne was one of the few. From what I’ve read and researched, heroin is the worst drug to be addicted to. You don’t want to do anything other than be there and nodding out. The fact that he agreed to do the KISS shows and performed them like he did shows the strength he had. From what I read, when you have the level of addiction Layne had, it is incredibly difficult to function at the intensity of performing a stage show in front of an audience as well as he did. He could have stayed home and stayed high, but Jerry wanted to do the shows. Somewhere, somehow Layne found the strength to do those shows despite what his addiction wanted him to do even though he survived an overdose after the last KISS show in Kansas City, Missouri, became a recluse, and the addiction got him in the end. Mike Starr was the last one to see him on April 4, 2002, for all anyone knows and what I took from that was that while Layne was telling Mike that he (Layne) was sick, he still tried to get Mike to give up his own prescription drug habit. After that, no one noticed he had died because he never answered the phone nor opened the door. It took inactivity over the span of two weeks for his ACCOUNTANT to notice something was wrong and called Susan Silver who called Layne's mother to alert her to the situation who then called 911. He died on April 5, 2002, but his body wasn't discovered until April 19, 2002. And to pour salt in the wound, MTV (and the music industry) has more or less blackballed Layne (and yet, they laud over Kurt Cobain every April 5th, because Kurt was the "face of grunge", meanwhile Layne gets a "by the way"). The Grammys went so far as to invite Jerry, Mike and Sean to the Grammy show in 2003 and then refused to put Layne's picture up in the memorial of the musicians who died in 2002. (Or they "forgot" to) which pissed Jerry, Mike and Sean off and they walked out on the show. At the age of 34 (when he died), he looked more like an 80-year-old man. He knew he screwed up, between the drugs and his own depression and then his former fiancee dying, Layne just couldn't find a way to dig himself out of his own mess and at the end with his teeth problems and organs failing on him, he gave up trying. He lost sight of who his true friends were and who was using him. He was never going to give up the drugs. Instead, he tried to attain the same high he felt the first time he did drugs and could never achieve it. Layne's story is more tragic and haunting because you can actually watch and hear him deteriorate over the 12 year span: from the mild use of drugs in 1990 all the way through 1996 when he was deep into a heroin addiction to dropping to 90 pounds by 1998 to 86 pounds when he died in 2002. Layne wrote songs that gave a normal person insight into the mind and journey of an addict. The pain and depression he endured to write the most brutally honest lyrics a musician could write concerning his feelings on his own addiction and the emotional and physical strength he had to perform those songs live when all he wanted to do was curl away and lose himself in the drug haze I can’t imagine what it was like for him. He was hounded by the press about his addiction. He was ridiculed for his addiction. The music industry blackballed him for his addiction. The Grammys forgot about him when he died. As far as MTV and Rolling Stone were concerned he’s just another addicted singer. They don’t want to acknowledge his contributions to music. Layne Staley deserved better than what he received from the people around him who he thought mattered. He wrote about things with maturity and knowledge well beyond his years. He didn’t deserve to be turned into tabloid cannon fodder by the press. Layne was so much more than his drug addiction. He was able to come up with lyrics and harmonies off the top of his head. He stacked his own vocals. He knew enough to know that Jerry Cantrell was playing with the wrong people and gave him contact info for Sean Kinney and Mike Starr. He wrote the lyrics for the songs he sang on Mad Season's Above album and drew the cover art for that album. Layne was a genius in his own right. He still was able to figure things out in a snap off the top of his head. Layne just had his demons. Layne's whole situation from his drug addiction, to how he died, to how he was found only weighing 86 pounds and the drug paraphernalia, etc is tragic and haunts me when I think about it (and I didn't even know the guy personally). "Whatever dramas are going on in my life, I always find that place inside my head where I see myself as the cleanest, tallest, strongest, wisest person that I can be." -- Layne Staley "My bad habits aren't my title. My strengths and my talent are my title." -- Layne Staley "When I tried drugs they were fucking great, and they worked for me for years, and now they're turning against me- and now I'm walking through hell and this sucks. I wrote about drugs, and I didn't think I was being unsafe or careless by writing about them. I didn't want my fans to think heroin 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." -- Layne Staley
The beginning was a combination of guitar and Layne Staleys voice. Layne's voice has been described as what happens when a guitar string learns how to sing.
Love AIC! Check out Rooster and Never Fade. Guitarist Jerry Cantrell wrote Rooster as a tribute to his Vietnam veteran father (who also appeared in its music video) and Never Fade as a tribute to his mother and grandmother whom he lost both to cancer nine months apart from each other.
Love Alice in chains, memories of dancing to these guys in the late 80s& 90s. Thanks again Maggie, so wonderful to relive my youth. Rock voices have range and alot of power! Pearl Jam is also great power in the lead vocal. We called that kind of guitar riff "widdley" when in Edinburgh, Scotland clubs xx
The tragedy of grunge music is, is that out of all the legendary grunge singers Kurt Cobain, Scott Weiland, Chris Cornell, Layne Stanley, and Eddie Vedder only Eddie Vedder is the one who still alive. All of these guys were essentially childhood friends who toured together and hung out together imagine your Eddie Vedder and you get a call that all your best friends are gone. Would? Is my personal favorite from Alice in Chains
Eddie Vedder was 25 when he joined Pearl Jam, he''s from San Diego. You also left out Andrew Wood of Mother Love Bone who was Chris Cornell's actual best friend. Stone Temple Pilots were a Southern California band. Almost none of these guys knew each other growing up.
A good example of a talk box (or similar effect) is used by Steve Vai when he played with David Lee Roth in the song Yankee Rose. Check that one out. Good song.
@@randywissler9923 Don't remember Frampton's song. Wasn't into him much. Crue's song is a good one. Forgot it had a talk box in it. Roth's song just immediately stuck out to me, but good choices.
I really enjoy you showing us how my favorite metal and grunge bands make their vocals work. I enjoy your reaction to Dave Draiman of Disturbed so very much. I chuckle when you throw up the horns chica. Keep up the great work Miss Maggie.
Hi Maggie it's great to see you again another great video its called a talk box if you ever listen to Peter framton comes alive album he uses a talk box in some of his songs. This is great song I remember this song
Sounds like a talk box but if you watch (or saw) live performances, Layne didn't use one. It was the "wah" pedal on the guitar and his voice. That's it.
Hey Maggie, this sound is from the guitar with Vocoder, a synthesizer used with the guitar, it makes this wha wha effect... It's common to use it, Peter Frampton, Richie Sambora (ex-Bon Jovi)... etc... See you, Guto Blues Boy, from Brazil! 🎸🎸
I was really expecting you to say more about the way he modifies the last chorus because it totally makes the song. For anyone that hasnt heard it yet, find the isolated vocals version.
Maggie I would love to see you react to more AIC and Soundgarden and Audioslave. I love when people listen to great grunge songs for the first time and have such a reaction. Layne’s voice was such a secret weapon as well as the harmonies and guitar playing of master craftsman Jerry Cantrell. The whole band was magic. React next to Soundgarden’s “Limo Wreck” or “Beyond The Wheel (live)”. Chris Cornell also has a great voice! Cheers!
From when this video was made and the recording of down in a hole on mtvs unplugged he was at his worse in his drug addiction. The how show was a man singing at his own funeral
Watch AIC’s video of the album version of down in a hole it’s a major different song from what you heard from the unplugged version ! Their song love hate love has a live version from 1990 that is where you’ll get a good idea of Layne’s vocal range as well !
Great tune & Amazing voice. Unfortunately you picked the edited for tv version video But still is a very powerful song! Thanks for doing this, Nice reaction.. Cheers from Canada
Man in the box is great, for me the song that best shows off Layne's vocals (that almost no one reacts to on youtube ☹) is "Bleed the Freak" - the Live at the Moore version.
Please react to Soundgarden “Slaves & Bulldozers”. This is an incredible song and a total showcase for Chris Cornell’s vocals. Also, Beyond the Wheel (but react to the “recorded live in Sturgis August 1993” video)
2:23 (±) » 1st time I saw someone use it, was Dave Grohl singing "Generetor" with Foo Fighters // you might be able to see in a live performance of the music
Wanna hear a funny story? Layne was actually a drummer initially, and his family & friends thought he had a terrible singing voice in his teenage years. He told them he really did have the potential of being a lead singer- only they hadn't been around to hear it for themselves whenever he would have these brief moments where his talent would bubble up to the surface. Then, suddenly, his family and friends started to sing a different tune (😏). He unlocked his talent and stunned them all after receiving formal coaching on the correct ways to sing. Once he'd been taught, and mastered, the proper techniques to use when singing, he virtually became a force of nature to be reckoned with.
I think that the reason why Layne was so good is he actually never forced or tried for that perfect clean timbre....It was relatable to the human emotion as obv its not perfect either
Hello B-E-A-U-TIFUL People!! SPECIAL QUESTION FOR YOU: What/who should I react to next?!
__________________
In today’s video, I show you my reaction, as a Juilliard trained opera singer and vocal coach, to Alice In Chains - Man in the Box. Help make these videos possible: www.patreon.com/MaggieRenee Free Vocal Course for you: skl.sh/3aHdSuy Follow me on Instagram: @MaggieReneeMusic Thank you for your support! 🤘💖
Please react den den gonzales she's gone by steelheart his singer from indonesia,you will be like'it
We had a couple deaths in the past week. You need to react to Procol Harum (RIP Gary Brooker) performing Whiter Shade of Pale live in Denmark 2006 - even though it originally came out in 1968.
Also RIP to Mark Lanagen (Screaming Trees, Mad Season Queens of the Stone Age). One of the best examples would be the live version of Mad Season - Long Gone Day. Mad Season also has Layne Staley (RIP) from Alice in Chains (which this reaction is to)
21 Guns by green day, but the Broadway version.
Please, please, please do a reaction to Jesca Hoop's Shoulder Charge and/or Born To. Truly a unique performer; absolutely no one sounds like her. (I'm gonna be a pest about this. 🙂)
Give Poets of the fall (carnival of rust) a try :)
"Love Hate Love" live at the Moore for his insane live vocals. Would love to see that one next. Keep up the great work!
Can't recommend this performance enough
Yea this would be a great next choice.
Such good audio from that era of concert
Agreed
Bleed the freak was better. That performance needs to be requested more rather than the same god damn one all the time.
This one next ☝🏼
When an opera singer can’t even understand how Layne had so much power in his voice!
Alice In Chains was one of the few bands that were better live than on record 🔥
✌❤🇨🇦
Thank you for your comment!
With Nirvana as well
I can't tell you how much fun it is to watch an opera singer appreciate grunge! Talent is talent; genre doesn't matter.
No talkbox on this one. The guitar has a wah wah and he's just singing along the guitar's melody. It sounds amazing. Great react, keep em coming :)
It was both actually: a wah and talk box at the same time.
100% was a talkbox on this one
@@Birdmansanders yes. including the very first part of the solo
Nope, no talkbox at all. Just Jerry's guitar, and Layne imitating Jerry's guitar. See any live performance if you don't believe me. 🤘
@@hiatuszero They do use a talk box in some live performances but usually they are too lazy to bother. They’ve played the song a million times and would probably just like it to be over.
Losing Layne Staley to heroine addiction was such a great loss. When his 6'2" body was found, he weighed less than 90 pounds. His demons made his music poignant and powerful, but ultimately took his life. He remains one of my favorite vocalists ever.
😢
Vocals were always on point with Layne.
"Them Bones" is also great song by Alice in Chains and one of my favorites
Alice in Chains on MTV Unplugged. In fact all of the Unplugged series in great.
I never tire of highly trained and skillful singers getting completely blown away by a rock/ metal singer , and layne really lets it fly 🤓
Natural, God given ability. What could have been if he really worked on his gift. Listen how GREAT he sounds with minimal effort😎🖖🏼
That hits different while driving on the freeway
Layne was a special talent that unfortunately came from screams from within himself and his demons 😔 even in the live performance where you saw Down in a Hole he was 20% battery life on heaps of heroin... yet singing he was on point still.... that's all soul
layne staley was insane. great singer. RIP Layne.
It's been said that you could hear Lanes voice coming out of his chest over top of even the monitors
If you haven't checked out any of AIC's live performances other then the MTV live
You've robbed yourself of hearing one of the greatest most powerful vocalist of all time
I grew up in the 60’s and 70’s and started with the Beatles (I had two siblings somewhat older), then in the 70’s I came into my own, and listened to Pop, Rock, and into the 80’s the hair bands, more Rock, then when my son was in his teens, I was exposed to music like this, and loved it! This one and “Rooster’ were two of my favorites. I love some Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Sound Garden, and others. Shocker: I also come here for Home Free reactions! Rock is my favorite, but I do love other genres. Loved watching you get into this one! It was a blast!
Love Hate Love is one of their best songs. Listen to the live at the Moore version. Epitome of vocal power!!!
I SO ENJOYED YOU ENJOYING THIS SONG!!! YOU, ME AND LAYNE WERE ALL SINGING THIS GREAT SONG TOGETHER! WOW! THANKS FOR GIVING THEM A NEW LIFE AGAIN - DEFINITELY IN MY HEART!
Also “Bleed the freak” live at the Moore is a great vocal
Such a great song and performance!
I prefer bleed the freak vs love hate love.
ICONIC TUNE
Layne looked so beautiful and so healthy here. ❤️
Layne was a fucking MONSTER when he was healthy! Anything live at the Moore is a must watch. "Unplugged" is an unhealthy Layne, missing teeth, unmotivated and didn't want to be there, and still delivers.
In the "Down in a Hole" or that entire MTV Unplugged performance, Layne was a shell of what he once was, drugs had taken a heavy toll on him by then.
And it's still a masterpiece... I love aic!
He killed in the Unplugged wtf are you on about? Yeah he was bad on drugs but that was still around 6 years before he died.
@@endocry I agree with you. That concert was a masterpiece.
Man In The Box was the very first video & song to hit it big for the Seattle groups. Layne is actually signing waa, waa over Jerry's talk box. Mark Lanegan said that when he stood on the side of the stage, Layne's voice was so powerful, he could hear it over the instruments.
Amazing as always. You always make my day a little better. The world need more people like you. Love you and have a amazing day!❤️
Thank you for your lovely comments on my videos. You should join our Patreon Community :www.patreon.com/MaggieRenee Lovely people, like yourself, are there supporting each other and it's an AMAZING community! 💖🎶🥳
@@maggiereneemusic working on getting a better paying job😢😢😢 I promise I will when I start getting money!
😘
@@maggiereneemusic thank you. Love you❤️
Your reactions to these songs I grew up with are absolutely priceless.
The live performances is where you see the vocal ability 🔥🔥🔥
Obviously you've read the comments that are telling you to seek out their live performance at the Moore Theater of several songs including this one. Their live performance of this song is AMAZING.
I love seeing new Alice in Chains fans being born and vicariously reliving my first experiences with this band. 😊 Best band there ever was and will be.
Alice in Chains Love Hate Love live at The Moore, never disappoints.
Bleed the Freak; Would; Rooster; Love Hate Love; Sea of Sorrow. There are so many. Have fun.
1:29 "JULLIARD TRAINED SINGER" BUT SHE DOESN'T KNOW THE WORD 'TALK-BOX'??? Either she's claiming to be something she's not or a Julliard education isn't all we thought it was.
This song's origins start with a lunch the band had with some A&R woman who was a vegan (no animal byproducts of ANY kind), who proceeded to tell them how animals were penned up in small crates and killed for steak, etc. So, Layne wrote Man in the Box from the perspective of a penned up calf. It was loosely based around Layne's idea of media censorship. Sean Kinney (the drummer) said it was about veal. LOL.
Layne met Jerry Cantrell ONE TIME, found out he had no family in the area, he had little money left and Layne (drunkenly) offered Jerry a place to live, money, food, clothes, guitars and gear he needed, Layne set Jerry up with a life that could NOT fail unless Jerry let it happen. He set him up with a band when he gave Jerry the number to Sean Kinney's girlfriend and found out that the girlfriend was Mike Starr's sister. He encouraged Jerry to sing more because after all they were Jerry's lyrics, Jerry should sing them. I'm sure Jerry would have made it on his own without Layne, but it would have been the long scenic route to get there.
Jerry wrote Rooster about his father's experiences in Vietnam and when Jerry saw his dad in the audience at one of their shows, Jerry asked Layne (and the guys) to play Rooster and they did. It was the first time Jerry's dad heard Jerry's music and knew that his son understood him through that song. It brought Jerry and his dad closer together. And Layne had a vital part in that reunion. (Meanwhile Layne's own biological father was an opportunist who showed back up in Layne's life AFTER Layne got famous and had money and did drugs with Layne.) Phil Staley was NOT the father Layne expected when he came back into his life.
Layne had tried rehab 13 times, but he could never completely give it up. He tried quitting cold turkey on two of the last attempts at rehab, but that didn't work either. Mad Season is made up of Mike McCready of Pearl Jam, Barrett Martin of Screaming Trees and John Baker Saunders and they all went through rehab. They all got together and dragged Layne out of his condo, got him excited about doing ABOVE album, thinking if he was creative he wouldn't want the drugs, and for the length of time it took to do that, Layne was excited about the project, but it didn't curb his drug habit. Layne wrote the lyrics to the songs he sang on the ABOVE album and he drew the cover art for the album.
Layne was an amazing singer. Very few singers sound better live than they do in a studio version. Layne was one of the few. From what I’ve read and researched, heroin is the worst drug to be addicted to. You don’t want to do anything other than be there and nodding out. The fact that he agreed to do the KISS shows and performed them like he did shows the strength he had. From what I read, when you have the level of addiction Layne had, it is incredibly difficult to function at the intensity of performing a stage show in front of an audience as well as he did. He could have stayed home and stayed high, but Jerry wanted to do the shows. Somewhere, somehow Layne found the strength to do those shows despite what his addiction wanted him to do even though he survived an overdose after the last KISS show in Kansas City, Missouri, became a recluse, and the addiction got him in the end.
Mike Starr was the last one to see him on April 4, 2002, for all anyone knows and what I took from that was that while Layne was telling Mike that he (Layne) was sick, he still tried to get Mike to give up his own prescription drug habit.
After that, no one noticed he had died because he never answered the phone nor opened the door. It took inactivity over the span of two weeks for his ACCOUNTANT to notice something was wrong and called Susan Silver who called Layne's mother to alert her to the situation who then called 911. He died on April 5, 2002, but his body wasn't discovered until April 19, 2002.
And to pour salt in the wound, MTV (and the music industry) has more or less blackballed Layne (and yet, they laud over Kurt Cobain every April 5th, because Kurt was the "face of grunge", meanwhile Layne gets a "by the way"). The Grammys went so far as to invite Jerry, Mike and Sean to the Grammy show in 2003 and then refused to put Layne's picture up in the memorial of the musicians who died in 2002. (Or they "forgot" to) which pissed Jerry, Mike and Sean off and they walked out on the show.
At the age of 34 (when he died), he looked more like an 80-year-old man. He knew he screwed up, between the drugs and his own depression and then his former fiancee dying, Layne just couldn't find a way to dig himself out of his own mess and at the end with his teeth problems and organs failing on him, he gave up trying. He lost sight of who his true friends were and who was using him. He was never going to give up the drugs. Instead, he tried to attain the same high he felt the first time he did drugs and could never achieve it.
Layne's story is more tragic and haunting because you can actually watch and hear him deteriorate over the 12 year span: from the mild use of drugs in 1990 all the way through 1996 when he was deep into a heroin addiction to dropping to 90 pounds by 1998 to 86 pounds when he died in 2002.
Layne wrote songs that gave a normal person insight into the mind and journey of an addict. The pain and depression he endured to write the most brutally honest lyrics a musician could write concerning his feelings on his own addiction and the emotional and physical strength he had to perform those songs live when all he wanted to do was curl away and lose himself in the drug haze I can’t imagine what it was like for him. He was hounded by the press about his addiction. He was ridiculed for his addiction. The music industry blackballed him for his addiction. The Grammys forgot about him when he died. As far as MTV and Rolling Stone were concerned he’s just another addicted singer. They don’t want to acknowledge his contributions to music.
Layne Staley deserved better than what he received from the people around him who he thought mattered. He wrote about things with maturity and knowledge well beyond his years. He didn’t deserve to be turned into tabloid cannon fodder by the press.
Layne was so much more than his drug addiction. He was able to come up with lyrics and harmonies off the top of his head. He stacked his own vocals. He knew enough to know that Jerry Cantrell was playing with the wrong people and gave him contact info for Sean Kinney and Mike Starr. He wrote the lyrics for the songs he sang on Mad Season's Above album and drew the cover art for that album. Layne was a genius in his own right. He still was able to figure things out in a snap off the top of his head. Layne just had his demons.
Layne's whole situation from his drug addiction, to how he died, to how he was found only weighing 86 pounds and the drug paraphernalia, etc is tragic and haunts me when I think about it (and I didn't even know the guy personally).
"Whatever dramas are going on in my life, I always find that place inside my head where I see myself as the cleanest, tallest, strongest, wisest person that I can be." -- Layne Staley
"My bad habits aren't my title. My strengths and my talent are my title." -- Layne Staley
"When I tried drugs they were fucking great, and they worked for me for years, and now they're turning against me- and now I'm walking through hell and this sucks. I wrote about drugs, and I didn't think I was being unsafe or careless by writing about them. I didn't want my fans to think heroin 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." -- Layne Staley
R.I.P. LAYNE😢 WE WILL NEVER FORGET YOU
The beginning was a combination of guitar and Layne Staleys voice.
Layne's voice has been described as what happens when a guitar string learns how to sing.
Love AIC! Check out Rooster and Never Fade. Guitarist Jerry Cantrell wrote Rooster as a tribute to his Vietnam veteran father (who also appeared in its music video) and Never Fade as a tribute to his mother and grandmother whom he lost both to cancer nine months apart from each other.
His lips never touch unless he pronounces an M. It’s always open. His inner articulation skill was incredible.
I always loved Laynes voice
I see Alice in Chains i press like
Please please please watch their live performance of “Love Hate Love”
Songs Rooster, Would, and Rain When I Die are also good showcases of Layne's voice.
Layne is just the best! Thank you for covering this
Love Alice in chains, memories of dancing to these guys in the late 80s& 90s. Thanks again Maggie, so wonderful to relive my youth. Rock voices have range and alot of power! Pearl Jam is also great power in the lead vocal. We called that kind of guitar riff "widdley" when in Edinburgh, Scotland clubs xx
Hello Scottish fan I'm Scottish as well alice and Laynes voice is insane.
Love Hate Love Live At The Moore
The Man In The Box version At that show displays the range and power
The power he uses in this song is a drop of what he was capable of.
Love Hate Love is a must!!!!
The tragedy of grunge music is, is that out of all the legendary grunge singers Kurt Cobain, Scott Weiland, Chris Cornell, Layne Stanley, and Eddie Vedder only Eddie Vedder is the one who still alive. All of these guys were essentially childhood friends who toured together and hung out together imagine your Eddie Vedder and you get a call that all your best friends are gone.
Would? Is my personal favorite from Alice in Chains
Eddie Vedder was 25 when he joined Pearl Jam, he''s from San Diego.
You also left out Andrew Wood of Mother Love Bone who was Chris Cornell's actual best friend.
Stone Temple Pilots were a Southern California band.
Almost none of these guys knew each other growing up.
Also, Mark Arm of Mudhoney is still alive and doing just fine...they just released a new album a few months ago.
this is one of my fav songs by them...I think it is awesome how you rock out to the guitar solos as well as the songs.
A good example of a talk box (or similar effect) is used by Steve Vai when he played with David Lee Roth in the song Yankee Rose. Check that one out. Good song.
Or the greatest vox song ever, do you feel like I do by Peter Frampton. Also Mick Mars on Kickstart my heart.
@@randywissler9923 Don't remember Frampton's song. Wasn't into him much. Crue's song is a good one. Forgot it had a talk box in it. Roth's song just immediately stuck out to me, but good choices.
No matter how old I get whenever I hear that “feed” hit my mind still gets blown, even after 30+ years.
"Nutshell" live Unplugged, just pure emotion
A once in a lifetime talent
love your reaction. lane was a beast
I loved your reaction to this Alice and Chains
Alice In Chains’ Love Hate Love live at The Moore
I really enjoy you showing us how my favorite metal and grunge bands make their vocals work. I enjoy your reaction to Dave Draiman of Disturbed so very much. I chuckle when you throw up the horns chica. Keep up the great work Miss Maggie.
Thank you for your comment. Hope to see you on my Slipknot LIVE reaction stream tonight?
Hi Maggie it's great to see you again another great video its called a talk box if you ever listen to Peter framton comes alive album he uses a talk box in some of his songs. This is great song I remember this song
Great reaction! Thanks!
Thank you!! 🤘🤗🤘
Layne has a hurricane in his throat.
Sounds like a talk box but if you watch (or saw) live performances, Layne didn't use one. It was the "wah" pedal on the guitar and his voice. That's it.
So much fun watching you rock out!
God I love your reations, makes me smile!
🤗🙌🤗
Love love your reactions keep up the good work! ⚡
Hey Maggie, this sound is from the guitar with Vocoder, a synthesizer used with the guitar, it makes this wha wha effect... It's common to use it, Peter Frampton, Richie Sambora (ex-Bon Jovi)... etc...
See you, Guto Blues Boy, from Brazil! 🎸🎸
E.L.O. also used it for a while in the '70s
Only Layne could make a pancho look moody
Jerry is an absolute beast.
You aren't even close to this voice but I LOVE LOVE your reaction
At the intro, it's a guitar pedal called a Wah, Layne is just singing along to it
I love how are enjoying the music :) :)
Still hoping for Queensryche Take hold of the flame live in tokyo...😊
Thank you for your comment. Did you like my last reaction to Queensryche?
Love hate love” live at the Moore is one of the best vocal performances 👍🏼
Such a masterpiece so beautifully haunting
Not you falling in love with this classically trained grunge man! 🤣💅😜🥰 Layne has my heart, too, it's okay.
I don’t think anyone is going to mind listening to that solo and Layne’s vocal entrance that follows again.
Kind of an odd one that you should check out is Layne's collaboration with Heart on a cover of Bob Dylan's "Ring Them Bells". Incredible vocalist.
I was really expecting you to say more about the way he modifies the last chorus because it totally makes the song. For anyone that hasnt heard it yet, find the isolated vocals version.
Maggie I would love to see you react to more AIC and Soundgarden and Audioslave. I love when people listen to great grunge songs for the first time and have such a reaction. Layne’s voice was such a secret weapon as well as the harmonies and guitar playing of master craftsman Jerry Cantrell. The whole band was magic. React next to Soundgarden’s “Limo Wreck” or “Beyond The Wheel (live)”. Chris Cornell also has a great voice! Cheers!
I love your attitude you're awesome and very easy on the eyes too🥰
Thank you for your lovely comment. Can't wait to see you on my livestream tonight? 🤗💖
From when this video was made and the recording of down in a hole on mtvs unplugged he was at his worse in his drug addiction. The how show was a man singing at his own funeral
Well done, you are tons of fun!!! 🤘😲
Layne is twice as powerful on the live version at the Moore than he is on the studio version!
Watch AIC’s video of the album version of down in a hole it’s a major different song from what you heard from the unplugged version ! Their song love hate love has a live version from 1990 that is where you’ll get a good idea of Layne’s vocal range as well !
Great tune & Amazing voice.
Unfortunately you picked the edited for tv version video
But still is a very powerful song!
Thanks for doing this, Nice reaction..
Cheers from Canada
Alice in Chains was such a amazing tremendously terrific cool a masterpiece of a group Jerry Cantrell was so young then still got it now
Man in the box is great, for me the song that best shows off Layne's vocals (that almost no one reacts to on youtube ☹) is "Bleed the Freak" - the Live at the Moore version.
Please react to Soundgarden “Slaves & Bulldozers”. This is an incredible song and a total showcase for Chris Cornell’s vocals. Also, Beyond the Wheel (but react to the “recorded live in Sturgis August 1993” video)
Guitar + Wah (Cantrell) + Layne vocals....in the live performances I have seen I have not seen Jerry Cantrell use a talk box but might have in studio.
I really can't believe that this is the first time you've heard this song.
2:23 (±) » 1st time I saw someone use it, was Dave Grohl singing "Generetor" with Foo Fighters // you might be able to see in a live performance of the music
"Love Hate Love" Live version, say less
Wanna hear a funny story? Layne was actually a drummer initially, and his family & friends thought he had a terrible singing voice in his teenage years. He told them he really did have the potential of being a lead singer- only they hadn't been around to hear it for themselves whenever he would have these brief moments where his talent would bubble up to the surface.
Then, suddenly, his family and friends started to sing a different tune (😏). He unlocked his talent and stunned them all after receiving formal coaching on the correct ways to sing. Once he'd been taught, and mastered, the proper techniques to use when singing, he virtually became a force of nature to be reckoned with.
He also played trumpet in 5th grade (:
I think that the reason why Layne was so good is he actually never forced or tried for that perfect clean timbre....It was relatable to the human emotion as obv its not perfect either
Watch/listen to Love Hate Love live by them if you want to hear the power in his voice.
R.I.P. Layne...besides Chris Cornell he always was my Nr One Grunge Singer....check out ROOSTER!
Always enjoy your analyses. Would love to see what you think of Club for Fives version of Brothers In Arms and their Basso, Tukka. Be well!
By the way loved this. More Alice In Chains please 😊
The rockingest Fing song you will ever hear MaM
1990 they got a live version of this that will blow your mind right away it's 10 times more Is power then studio track
when i saw you reacting about the guitar part, i thought that was stupid. 5sec later, i realized that's exactly same as my reaction......
2:22 another exa,ple of a top box being used is by the band Bon Jovi.