Chords for Mike Portnoy - Remembering Alice in Chains' Layne Staley
Tempo:
56.65 bpm
Chords used:
C
F
Eb
Gb
Bb
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
[Bb] [B] I remember the first time I heard Alice in Chains, it was before the Facelift album came out.
A friend of mine was working for their record company and played me some of their stuff.
And they went through a huge change of style when Facelift came out.
It was kind of like Pantera.
Pantera went through this huge change and then they blew up.
Alice in Chains was similar.
They suddenly were more of the Seattle thing.
The whole Seattle thing was breaking through.
You had Pearl Jam and Nirvana and even other bands that weren't from Seattle like Smashing
Pumpkins or Jane's Addiction.
Anyway, Alice in Chains, I remember they came out with Facelift and then they were on the
Clash of the Titans tour.
So here you had Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax.
It was like a thrash tour and then you had Alice in Chains.
They didn't really fit in at first, but I think it was one of those things where they
were just undeniably awesome.
It's funny because they came in as the underdogs on that tour and then ended up totally eclipsing
all of those bands.
Their whole movement kind of left the thrash bands in the dust and kind of paved the way
for the rest of the 90s.
The thing about Alice in Chains was the songs were amazing and the vocals.
Lane's vocals were so unique and original, but as awesome as Lane was, you've got to
give so much credit to Jerry as well because I think a big part of their sound is Jerry's voice.
I know after Lane passed away and then they came back with William singing, a lot of people
were like, oh my God, he sounds like Lane.
Well, no, the sound you're hearing is that Jerry Cantrell sound.
I think he deserves a lot of that credit too.
[F] My favorite album of theirs was Dirt.
When the Dirt album came out, that still to this day is one of my favorite albums of all time.
It's just so dark.
It's just really dark and the harmonies and the melodies are so unique and dark.
That's a timeless album.
If you read the lyrics on Dirt, it's all about his heroin addiction.
Half the songs on that album, he's crying out for help and just laying it out there
very openly and writing about [G] it.
[Eb] I guess there were many years after the band broke up or took a break and you hear the
stories of how Lane was just shacked up and just doing drugs and just whittling away and
dying and not only Lane, but Mike Starr as well.
I remember watching one of those celebrity rehab shows [Gb] that Mike was on [Eb] and his struggles
with drugs and everything.
The list of rock and metal casualties to drug abuse, it's scary.
I myself am a recovering alcoholic and addict and I'm very fortunate to be here and to have
escaped the clutches of addiction.
You see people like Lane and Mike and so many others that weren't as fortunate and really
struggled with those demons.
[C] It's sad and I have a lot of compassion because I know how hard it is.
It's not something, if you have that gene, if you're an addict, you can't just put it down.
It's a monkey that's always on your back and it never goes away.
Even people with 20 years clean, 30 years clean can relapse and hit rock bottom like that.
It's scary.
Anytime I am struggling, I have to look at some of the less fortunate fellow musicians
that didn't make it out alive.
If anything, those kind of inspire me to try to stay away from it for another day.
[F] [C] [A] [C]
A friend of mine was working for their record company and played me some of their stuff.
And they went through a huge change of style when Facelift came out.
It was kind of like Pantera.
Pantera went through this huge change and then they blew up.
Alice in Chains was similar.
They suddenly were more of the Seattle thing.
The whole Seattle thing was breaking through.
You had Pearl Jam and Nirvana and even other bands that weren't from Seattle like Smashing
Pumpkins or Jane's Addiction.
Anyway, Alice in Chains, I remember they came out with Facelift and then they were on the
Clash of the Titans tour.
So here you had Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax.
It was like a thrash tour and then you had Alice in Chains.
They didn't really fit in at first, but I think it was one of those things where they
were just undeniably awesome.
It's funny because they came in as the underdogs on that tour and then ended up totally eclipsing
all of those bands.
Their whole movement kind of left the thrash bands in the dust and kind of paved the way
for the rest of the 90s.
The thing about Alice in Chains was the songs were amazing and the vocals.
Lane's vocals were so unique and original, but as awesome as Lane was, you've got to
give so much credit to Jerry as well because I think a big part of their sound is Jerry's voice.
I know after Lane passed away and then they came back with William singing, a lot of people
were like, oh my God, he sounds like Lane.
Well, no, the sound you're hearing is that Jerry Cantrell sound.
I think he deserves a lot of that credit too.
[F] My favorite album of theirs was Dirt.
When the Dirt album came out, that still to this day is one of my favorite albums of all time.
It's just so dark.
It's just really dark and the harmonies and the melodies are so unique and dark.
That's a timeless album.
If you read the lyrics on Dirt, it's all about his heroin addiction.
Half the songs on that album, he's crying out for help and just laying it out there
very openly and writing about [G] it.
[Eb] I guess there were many years after the band broke up or took a break and you hear the
stories of how Lane was just shacked up and just doing drugs and just whittling away and
dying and not only Lane, but Mike Starr as well.
I remember watching one of those celebrity rehab shows [Gb] that Mike was on [Eb] and his struggles
with drugs and everything.
The list of rock and metal casualties to drug abuse, it's scary.
I myself am a recovering alcoholic and addict and I'm very fortunate to be here and to have
escaped the clutches of addiction.
You see people like Lane and Mike and so many others that weren't as fortunate and really
struggled with those demons.
[C] It's sad and I have a lot of compassion because I know how hard it is.
It's not something, if you have that gene, if you're an addict, you can't just put it down.
It's a monkey that's always on your back and it never goes away.
Even people with 20 years clean, 30 years clean can relapse and hit rock bottom like that.
It's scary.
Anytime I am struggling, I have to look at some of the less fortunate fellow musicians
that didn't make it out alive.
If anything, those kind of inspire me to try to stay away from it for another day.
[F] [C] [A] [C]
Key:
C
F
Eb
Gb
Bb
C
F
Eb
[Bb] _ _ _ [B] I remember the first time I heard Alice in Chains, it was before the Facelift album came out.
A friend of mine was working for their record company and played me some of their stuff.
And they went through a huge change of style when Facelift came out.
It was kind of like Pantera.
Pantera went through this huge change and then they blew up.
Alice in Chains was similar.
They suddenly were more of the Seattle thing.
The whole Seattle thing was breaking through.
You had Pearl Jam and Nirvana and even other bands that weren't from Seattle like Smashing
Pumpkins or Jane's Addiction.
Anyway, Alice in Chains, I remember they came out with Facelift and then they were on the
Clash of the Titans tour.
So here you had Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax.
It was like a thrash tour and then you had Alice in Chains.
They didn't really fit in at first, but I think it was one of those things where they
were just undeniably awesome.
_ It's funny because they came in as the underdogs on that tour and then ended up totally eclipsing
all of those bands.
Their whole movement kind of left the thrash bands in the dust and kind of paved the way
for the rest of the 90s.
The thing about Alice in Chains was the songs were amazing and the vocals.
Lane's vocals were so unique and original, but as awesome as Lane was, you've got to
give so much credit to Jerry as well because I think a big part of their sound is Jerry's voice.
I know after Lane passed away and then they came back with William singing, a lot of people
were like, oh my God, he sounds like Lane.
Well, no, the sound you're hearing is that Jerry Cantrell sound.
I think he deserves a lot of that credit too.
_ [F] My favorite album of theirs was Dirt.
When the Dirt album came out, that still to this day is one of my favorite albums of all time.
It's just so dark.
It's just really dark and the harmonies and the melodies are so unique and dark.
That's a timeless album.
If you read the lyrics on Dirt, it's all about his heroin addiction.
Half the songs on that album, he's crying out for help and just laying it out there
very openly and writing about [G] it.
[Eb] I guess there were many years after the band broke up or took a break and you hear the
stories of how Lane was just shacked up and just doing drugs and just whittling away and
dying and not only Lane, but Mike Starr as well.
I remember watching one of those celebrity rehab shows [Gb] that Mike was on [Eb] and his struggles
with drugs and everything.
The list of rock and metal casualties to drug abuse, it's scary.
I myself am a recovering alcoholic and addict and I'm very fortunate to be here and to have
escaped the clutches of addiction.
You see people like Lane and Mike and so many others that weren't as fortunate and really
struggled with those demons.
[C] It's sad and I have a lot of compassion because I know how hard it is.
It's not something, if you have that gene, if you're an addict, you can't just put it down.
It's a monkey that's always on your back and it never goes away.
Even people with 20 years clean, 30 years clean can relapse and hit rock bottom like that.
It's scary.
Anytime I am struggling, I have to look at some of the less fortunate fellow musicians
that didn't make it out alive.
If anything, those kind of inspire me to try to stay away from it for another day.
[F] _ [C] _ [A] _ _ [C] _ _
A friend of mine was working for their record company and played me some of their stuff.
And they went through a huge change of style when Facelift came out.
It was kind of like Pantera.
Pantera went through this huge change and then they blew up.
Alice in Chains was similar.
They suddenly were more of the Seattle thing.
The whole Seattle thing was breaking through.
You had Pearl Jam and Nirvana and even other bands that weren't from Seattle like Smashing
Pumpkins or Jane's Addiction.
Anyway, Alice in Chains, I remember they came out with Facelift and then they were on the
Clash of the Titans tour.
So here you had Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax.
It was like a thrash tour and then you had Alice in Chains.
They didn't really fit in at first, but I think it was one of those things where they
were just undeniably awesome.
_ It's funny because they came in as the underdogs on that tour and then ended up totally eclipsing
all of those bands.
Their whole movement kind of left the thrash bands in the dust and kind of paved the way
for the rest of the 90s.
The thing about Alice in Chains was the songs were amazing and the vocals.
Lane's vocals were so unique and original, but as awesome as Lane was, you've got to
give so much credit to Jerry as well because I think a big part of their sound is Jerry's voice.
I know after Lane passed away and then they came back with William singing, a lot of people
were like, oh my God, he sounds like Lane.
Well, no, the sound you're hearing is that Jerry Cantrell sound.
I think he deserves a lot of that credit too.
_ [F] My favorite album of theirs was Dirt.
When the Dirt album came out, that still to this day is one of my favorite albums of all time.
It's just so dark.
It's just really dark and the harmonies and the melodies are so unique and dark.
That's a timeless album.
If you read the lyrics on Dirt, it's all about his heroin addiction.
Half the songs on that album, he's crying out for help and just laying it out there
very openly and writing about [G] it.
[Eb] I guess there were many years after the band broke up or took a break and you hear the
stories of how Lane was just shacked up and just doing drugs and just whittling away and
dying and not only Lane, but Mike Starr as well.
I remember watching one of those celebrity rehab shows [Gb] that Mike was on [Eb] and his struggles
with drugs and everything.
The list of rock and metal casualties to drug abuse, it's scary.
I myself am a recovering alcoholic and addict and I'm very fortunate to be here and to have
escaped the clutches of addiction.
You see people like Lane and Mike and so many others that weren't as fortunate and really
struggled with those demons.
[C] It's sad and I have a lot of compassion because I know how hard it is.
It's not something, if you have that gene, if you're an addict, you can't just put it down.
It's a monkey that's always on your back and it never goes away.
Even people with 20 years clean, 30 years clean can relapse and hit rock bottom like that.
It's scary.
Anytime I am struggling, I have to look at some of the less fortunate fellow musicians
that didn't make it out alive.
If anything, those kind of inspire me to try to stay away from it for another day.
[F] _ [C] _ [A] _ _ [C] _ _