Welcome to our collection of quotes by Layne Staley. We hope you enjoy pondering them and please share widely.
Wikipedia Summary for Layne Staley
Layne Thomas Staley (born Layne Rutherford Staley; August 22, 1967 – April 5, 2002) was an American musician, songwriter and the original lead singer of the rock band Alice in Chains, which rose to international fame in the early 1990s as part of Seattle's grunge movement. He was known for his distinctive vocal style and tenor voice, as well as his harmonizing with guitarist/vocalist Jerry Cantrell. Staley was also a member of the glam metal bands Sleze and Alice N' Chains, and the supergroups Mad Season and Class of '99.
"Man in the Box", the second single from Alice in Chains' debut album, Facelift (1990), garnered Staley critical recognition for his vocal style. Alice in Chains' EP Jar of Flies (1994), debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, making it Alice in Chains' first record—and the first-ever EP—to top the chart. However, Staley's deteriorating condition due to heroin abuse led him to enter a rehabilitation clinic. He began to work on a side project with several Seattle musicians, Mike McCready of Pearl Jam, Barrett Martin of Screaming Trees and John Baker Saunders of The Walkabouts, which came to be Mad Season, while Alice in Chains went into hiatus.
During Alice in Chains' hiatus, reports of Staley's drug addiction began to gain widespread circulation in fan and media communities, in part due to changes in his physical condition brought on by prolonged heroin abuse. On April 10, 1996, the band returned with a performance on MTV Unplugged in New York; it was their first concert in two-and-a-half years.
From mid-1996 onwards, Staley was out of the public spotlight, never to perform live again. Staley struggled with depression and addiction for much of his adult life and later died from a speedball overdose on April 5, 2002, at the age of 34. Staley was ranked at No. 27 on Hit Parader's list of "Heavy Metal's All-Time Top 100 Vocalists" in 2006, and at No. 42 on Complex's magazine list of "The 50 Best Lead Singers of All Time" in 2012. Seattle officially declared August 22, 2019, as "Layne Staley Day". Staley earned six Grammy Award nominations as a member of Alice in Chains.
I'm dumbfounded by me all the time. Wow! What a.... thrill.....and a joy.
We started this band as kids, and as time has gone on, we've grown and are learning to accommodate each others' differences.
I saw all the suffering that Kurt Cobain went through. I saw this real vibrant person turn into a real shy, timid, withdrawn person.
What do you mean, I'm a wild front man! I'm jumping all over, I do the dance moves.
I wrote about drugs, and I didn't think I was being unsafe or careless by writing about them. I didn't want 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.
Every article I see is dope this, junkie that, whiskey this -- that ain't my title.
We survived a Slayer crowd every night for about 50 days and thought we could do about anything after that.
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.
We try to be real nice and friendly to people, but sometimes they take advantage of that.
There were a lot of drugs. We kinda just passed the time that way. For a couple of years we were all doin' anything we could get our hands on.
There are lasting consequences for using drugs. I'll still be paying for my prior use.
People have a right to ask questions and dig deep when you're hurting people and things around you.
My bad habits aren't my title. My strengths and my talent are my title.
Music is the doorway that has led me to drawing, photography, and writing.
Music is the career I'm lucky enough to get paid for, but I have other desires and passions.
It was all about music, about getting your friends to come and see you play. I don't see that same intimacy happening very much today.
I was in a band when I was 15. We were a glam band. Then I couldn't afford to buy makeup. At the time that was the thing.
I started out when I was about 12, playing drums. I started singing when I was about 15.
I haven't read anything but regurgitated rumors. Nothing new, and nothing true.
I found out through the Internet that I have AIDS. I learned that I was dead. Where else would I find these things?
I don't think any drug that can cause brain damage, failing kidneys, hardening arteries, pain, and suffering should be made available.
I don't take part in it the way I used to-the bimbos, the free beers, free drugs, all that. That's still there if you want it, but I don't really seek that out any more.
Drugs will have a huge effect on my work for the rest of my life, whether I'm using or not.
At home I'm just a guy who has interests that extend far beyond music.
Andrew Wood's death changed things for a few weeks. I probably got even heavier into drugs after that.
A lot of power-pop comes out of LA, a lot of speed metal comes out of New York.
Our perception of songs that we've written... the meaning changes from day to day... to whatever stage we're at in our life and careers.
Kurt and I weren't the closest of friends, but I knew him well enough to be devastated by his death. For such a quiet person, he was so excited about having a child.
There's no huge, deep message in any of the songs. We recorded a few months of being human.
The songs are about things that we were thinking and we wrote 'em down, and when you listen to 'em, whatever you think it's about... THAT'S what it's about!
I've always looked for the perfect life to step into. I've taken all the paths to get where I wanted. But no matter where I go, I still come home.
Drugs are not the way to the light. They won't lead to a fairy-tale life, they lead to suffering.
My bed isn't made, I'm tired, I haven't slept well for two weeks. I haven't been laid in a month. I don't have a girlfriend. I have a warrant for my arrest.