Sign In:

149 users online Sign Up! (forgotten password?)

Alice In Chains - Speedball!

greed by Graham Reed [Edit this content] ▾ 2 comments 00:42 May 9th, 2002
Alice In Chain’s singer Layne Staley, who was discovered dead on April 19th, died from a drug overdose after all, just as everyone suspected - so the death certificate says.

After all, this is the band whose breakthrough album 'Dirt' included such tracks as 'Godsmack' and 'Junkhead' – no hidden drug subtext there eh? – and a singer with a long and well-documented history of drug addiction. He was once quoted as saying - "[Drugs] worked for me for years, and now they're turning against me - and now I'm walking through hell.".

The cause of death, according to the death certificate was; "accidental" officially attributing the death to "acute intoxication of the combined effects of opiates (heroin) and cocaine." (known as a speedball, amongst drug users, the same combination also led to the death of John Belushi) The body was in a state of decomposition, with the date of death being estimated as April 5th: leaving the body two weeks to decompose before being found.

Alice in Chains last released a new studio album in 1995 – since then there’s been an unplugged album and a compilation and a retrospective box set released. Oddly For a band so revered, the most recent Alice in Chains Cd was never released in the UK.. Ironically, it was called "live".

*ahem*.

Alice In Chains
From the archive

Alice In Chains - Speedball!

AIC were a great band. Such a waste of talent that Layne's life ended this way. Loads of emotion in their songs that a lot of people will carry with them for a very long time. Just goes to show what effect certain hard drugs have on people. Thankfully Danny from Wildhearts managed to get off them - and to do a great tour recently. Long live rock n roll, get stoned, stay off the heavy drugs though!
Old_Anonymous_Comments | 12 May '02, 18:59 | X | Reply

Re: Alice In Chains - Speedball!

it's a shame that the author of this article makes light of such a tragic incident. Alice In Chains were a very important contributor to a generation worth of Rock music, and the way in which Layne Staley succumbed to drug addiction is a potent comment about the way in which people expect Rock stars to behave, i.e "Live fast, Die Young". Of course every rock DJ is playing loads of AIC tracks, but how dusty was their collection a month or so ago? How hypocritical is that?

Add your comment

Reply


 or Abandon