Better times... Arab Man Reacts to Alice In Chains - Frogs (From MTV Unplugged)

[@ronsuper100]

"Friends, don't let friends get friends haircuts," written on Mike Inez bass guitar was for Metallica, who was sitting in the front row. The whole band (Metallica) had cut their hair short earlier that year in 1996. Also a reference to the Friends TV show.

[@melany5506]

Frogs is up there for my favorite song so hauntingly beautiful. Laynes vocals ♥️♥️ are absolutely beautiful especially in this live

[@ladolcevitafl]

One of my fav AIC songs.

[@melissap5664]

Thank you so much for doing FROGS. ❤❤❤ No one ever does this one .

[@annak8666]

The ending of this band including Layne Staley broke my heart! This unplugged concert ist so special and it makes me happy when people discover it again. Big part of my youth. Thank you for reacting and greetings from Germany!

[@Kaya97899]

Layne is the best… he had the most amazing unique haunting voice… ❤

[@tamibrandt]

Layne's biological father was a drug addict who left the family when Layne was 8 years old. When Layne figured out why he left the family, he swore he'd never turn out like his dad. Well, he started drinking at 15, drugs came after that. He talks about it in the song HATE TO FEEL about not wanting to turn out like his dad but he did anyway. Layne's own biological father was an opportunist who reunited with his son after he saw him on a magazine cover and proceeded to get high with him. Part of Layne’s issue with Phil Staley was the fact that when he came back into Layne’s life, he wasn’t the father Layne expected. Layne did deserve a better father. Layne’s stepdad, Jim Elmer was the father Phil never was. 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. Once during the Lollapalooza 1993 tour where he was using alcohol to deal with the cravings and withdrawal symptoms. Even with a chaperone/bodyguard paid for by AIC management, it didn't work. Then, he tried cold turkey again in 1994 when he and two friends went camping in the wilderness to kick drugs cold turkey but that didn't work either. The second he got back to Seattle he went back to his old routine. 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. He had to be revived by friends five or six times when they were touring on Facelift and Dirt tours. (Possibly more, don't know). But after that fourth KISS show on July 3, 1996, when they played the Kemper Arena... he overdosed after the show and survived only to become a recluse. It was a six-year-long slow suicide after that. Layne had done so much for Jerry, giving him a place to live, money, clothes, food, guitars and gear, a band. Layne gave Jerry a life that could NOT fail unless Jerry let it happen. But getting a front-row seat to watch what had happened to Layne over the years, Jerry had to watch his best friend deteriorate in a span of 12 years (1990-2002), and Jerry couldn't do anything about it. Jerry had talked himself blue in the face but Layne didn't want help. Alice In Chains was a band, but they were also a family. The guys in Alice In Chains just wanted to exist, they didn't try to control each other. Jerry Cantrell booked recording time at a studio in Woodinville, Washington where there was a pond with really cool frogs and he was booked there for a week and all they got were the frog sounds at $10,000 a day. Layne was born on August 22, 1967, so he would have been around 28 years old when the Tripod album was released. However, the significance of that particular birthday is probably a reference to the infamous 27 Club. The last line is a callback to their song DIRT, specifically: "I want to taste dirty, a stinging pistol / In my mouth, on my tongue / I want you to scrape me from the walls" Within the context of DIRT, this is a rather bleak allusion to suicide by gunshot. Additionally, in tandem with the 27 Club, these lines in FROGS may be alluding to Kurt Cobain of Nirvana, who died from a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. Putting all of this together, these lines seem to be Layne’s self-reflection on his hard-fought survival with drug abuse in the rock and music industry, as many artists (and those in the 27 Club, in particular) died young due to struggles with drug addiction. Unfortunately, “I’m still young, it’ll be me” is darkly prophetic; Layne died of a drug overdose on April 5, 2002, but Layne wasn't found until two weeks later on April 19, 2002. He had a long and painful struggle with substance abuse. The autopsy showed that he had injected himself with speedball, a mixture of cocaine and heroin. 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 (I'd put his weight at 125-130 pounds in 1996, his healthiest weight was 170 pounds) to dropping to 90 pounds by 1998 to 86 pounds when he died in 2002. To get the radio effect on the end ... Layne owned a Jimi Hendrix fuzz face effects box and Toby Wright (an engineer on the album) found a plastic battery-operated square mic like the Elvis type. You couldn’t sing too loud into it. It sounds like an AM radio. Layne did some doubling effects with that by messing with the mid-range, tone and treble and taking the low end out. He just wanted to make it more interesting. The majority of FROGS talks about betrayal and loneliness. It also largely discusses addiction and its effects, a common theme throughout the album. This could be attributed to the loneliness stated in the song. Because of its sludgy sound and dooming lyrics (especially in the outro), FROGS could be argued as Alice in Chains bleakest song. This is also the longest Alice in Chains song, clocking in at 8 minutes and 18 seconds.

[@AFatWhiteShark]

Searching your comments on these, like they're easter eggs

[@notsosmileyface]

People dont realise what Layne was going through. HEROIN addiction is hell beyond words! It is so painful! You can see it in his eyes, he is probably so exhausted by this point. Genuinely i feel sorry for him here. Ive been there myself and its a very dark place! Almost without any hope! And the fear of getting your next fix because of the pain without it is unbearable, its psychically and mentally draining beyond words. When i tried to quit the only way i can describe it to people how it feels. It's like lava and ice being poured all over you starting from the head to the bottom of your feet! Shivering 🥶 but sweating at the same time. Back spasms and muscle twitching and contractions! Nerve pain! Feels like you have been doing a marathon run and just finished it on top of it. On top of that anxiety like you are being pushed to an edge of an huge skyscraper building. Your feet and hands get clamy! And total panic. Then just like being tortured and you cant wait for it to go away. And because of all the pain you cant fall asleep even though you so desperately want to..as it would be much easier to just not feel! Then at a certain point you end up falling asleep without knowing. You hallucinate because of the body being warm! You have weird vivid dreams. Just to wake up and hell comes right back at you! And you have to put up with this for about 5 days straight! With no break. You are so drained that you don't have energy to even go to have a wee! You throw up and have diarrhea also while everything else is going on. Your body is in total shock! Its like everything is upside down. It leaves you with major ptsd and trauma. Thats why many people are so affraid of trying to quit. They would want too, but they are very scared of that feeling... Because its real beyond any imagination! Even me writing this comment made my heart start to race a little. Awful just AWFULLY BAD! HELL & BACK! The high is like heaven and the comedown and withdrawal like hell! No in-between. And that's horrid. That's how i always describe it. My curiosity drove me to try it. And unfortunately that's the bad thing about being curious! Being on heroin is no peace! Im talking when you are already addicted! Of course at the start just like anything is beautiful, it feels like being in love for the very first time. And the crazy thing is while going through that hell! When you are over the withdrawal symptoms. You get the depression which puts you back right into taking it again. Even though you know deep down you should never touch it again. But you do it anyway. As the high is that addicting! Its total peace. And you are willing to pay the price for that peace. Unfortunately when you are coming down again you realise the mistake you made. And you kick yourself for it. But it's too late. As you messed it up again. And you need to go through hell again. The only way i got out of it is by being tired of having to feel the pain. And also by giving yourself a break from it because i was forced it meant i started to think logically compared to before when i wasn't. But i couldn't see it as heroin blinds you from realising it. You are completely numb to everything. Also to people with people addicted to it. I know you would want them to quit using but that won't work, if anything by forcing it on them you will make it worse. Show them love anyway and appreciation even though that is going on. Thats what helped me people who didn't judge me. Its reverse psychology! Anyway that's my story. Now im 5/6 months sober! And enjoy peace and quiet. Now i enjoy quiet and peace. The only way I can say for people struggling is give yourself time! Its key to it TIME!!

[@susannesoto3512]

Awesome analysis

[@sweetlankom7355]

Thank you for it.

[@harrypothead42024]

This is the first video I saw of yours. I was just looking for Alice in Chains reactions. I like the way that you really get into the Nitty Gritty of stuff and I am now a subscriber

[@dannyp927]

I'm glad you went on the rant. I've told you a few times, I enjoy songs that make me feel. There isn't much of that today... This is also my favorite song from that show, so hauntingly beautiful. The guitar work makes this song, hitting the harmonics in the down parts...so good. I'm glad you guys, and (I hope) everyone here in the viewership, enjoyed it.

[@kevinstenger9758]

You should hear the studio version! A completely different animal, but still the same.

[@Raven5563]

Mike Inez's bass lines-- with those deftly placed harmonics, Sean's handling of the drums on this-- everything just comes together to create this beautifully haunting song, and Layne's voice-- i liked that you pointed out just how beautiful his singing voice-- vs his roaring voice-- actually is, and how technically competent he was. And of course, Jerry's guitar-- that winding countermelody really adds a whole 'nother level. Gorgeous song. ❤ Wonderful video, Sir!

[@seanduddy857]

Thanks Brother i like your thoughts through out this video... Big Love from Trinidad...

[@heatheral-hammadi3046]

Great reaction! It’s interesting to hear your thoughts!!

[@thetruckersmanifesto3873]

I went to college in Seattle. I walked buy his apartment every day. I never met him. I've seen his corvette. It wasn't him driving. He had assistance. People that got the mail, brang his drugs, payed his bills. I did see dede Ramone. Not fare from were layne lived. I could hear him from across the street. Bullshiting is the bast way I could describe the conversation. He had a cigarette. Lot of famous people in the area.

[@AmyJoTraut]

Check out Heart’s rendition of Dylan’s Ring them Bells. They got Layne to sing on it and it has a rare sound for his voice but still beautiful

[@20th_century_Ghost]

Frogs is a narcoleptic swamp of a grey opiate specter. A languid soup of questions without answers. A half-naked asylum patient shuffling through the hallways; holding a melted wax candle and a fistful of regret; singing a poisonous lullaby as the light dies.

[@thetruckersmanifesto3873]

I remember thinking, I should say hi. But I didn't. Didn't Wana both him like a crazy fan. Loved his music enough to Wana show the respect not to invade his privacy. He died about 5 months after seeing him. I did stop and was like omg.

[@patrickbernardy3100]

Frogs! First Comment! "Ribbet!"

[@cynthiahutchinson459]

Metallica was in the front row and they had just cut their hair, Mike was ribbing them.

[@SaraKvammen-tx7qc]

Oh,I love Layne...to me he is up there with Dimash.

[@roeloftooms]

Sounds a bit like Steven Wilson (my girlfriend is a fan of him)

[@TheThirdfish24]

Thank you, thank you!! I thought i was the only one that hated the shit that's going on today. It's made in a factory bullshit for our ears, and it's disgusting!

[@androtaz2621]

It's ok man. this entire thing was essentially a dying man trying his best.

[@rwalex01]

I came here to hear him sing, not you 😂

[@thetruckersmanifesto3873]

Right now I live 6 blocks from the president of the Philippines in Manila. Seen him 3 times. Actually a little scary. His body gards , there look and damener are of hit man. Anyway won't bug u know more.

[@nihaalmander803]

We are here to listen to him sing not you😂

[@ArabManReacts]

hahahahaha

[@heatheral-hammadi3046]

No. We are here to listen to the reaction. Of you don’t like it just go put the song on and don’t choose REACTIONS!!

[@heatheral-hammadi3046]

Oh haha. You got me. I didn’t listen to the whole thing until commenting.