Yesterday

I was driving to work today listening to Alice in Chains, and I realized what yesterday was. Yesterday, April 5th, is a sad day in history for music fans of Nirvana and Alice in Chains.

Kurt Cobain
On April 8, 1994, Cobain was found dead in his home. An autopsy report later concluded Cobain's death was a result of a "self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head." The report estimates Cobain to have died on April 5, 1994. He was 27 years old.

I remember when this happened, but not being too shocked by it. I actually figured he would have died from an overdose before anything else. But I did love Nirvana, and since they are noted as changing the music world in 1990, it was sad to see someone with so much talent and influence go out like that, so soon.

Layne Staley
"When police kicked in the door to Layne Staley's University District apartment on April 19, 2002... there, on a couch, lit by a flickering TV, next to several spray-paint cans on the floor, not far from a small stash of cocaine, near two crack pipes on the coffee table, reposed the remains of the rock musician." He was 34 years old. The autopsy report later concluded that Staley died after injecting a mixture of heroin and cocaine known as a "speedball". By coincidence, the coroner's office estimated that Staley had died on April 5, the same date that fellow Seattle Grunge rocker Kurt Cobain was estimated to have died eight years earlier.

It was reported that Layne had been suffering horribly from the effects of years of drug use, and he was in so much pain on a daily basis, that he did not want to live anymore. I WAS shocked when I heard this, or maybe I was more sad. I, still to this day, love the music Alice in Chains created, Layne's voice is one of those unique sounds that will never be matched, in my opinion.

But when you look at the songs they wrote, mainly on DIRT (my personal favorite AIC album), there is no denying the inspiration behind the songs. Tracks such as "Sickman", "Junkhead", "Dirt," "God Smack," "Hate To Feel" and "Angry Chair" were related to Staley's heroin use. And then there are songs that point to death; "Them Bones", "Rain when I die", "Down in a Hole".

I was just thinking about this today, so figured I would post it. Not sure many people know they both died on the same day, and hell, you might not have even been big fans. But at least now you have learned something new!