First reaction to Alice in chains - Don't follow 😥 | reaction

[@OldSkoolDad23]

Layne Staley has one of the best voices in Rock.✌🏻

[@IDONTLIKEMONDAYS-w2h]

The Best ❤

[@user-cc9vw4mo6g]

In music*

[@theMenace985]

The first voice you hear is Jerry Cantrell the guitarist/co-vocalist who also wrote the song. Layne does harmonies and the big chorus at the end.

[@michaelblaine6494]

I first got into Alice right when this came out,I was 14. I was so new to the band that for about 2 weeks I thought Jerry only sang harmonies and that both parts of this song were sung by Layne,I thought he had two distinct sounding voices that he alternated between🤦🏻‍♂️😂

[@tamibrandt]

Regarding DON'T FOLLOW ... The band came home from being on tour for nearly three years on/off, found out that SOMEONE forgot to set up an automatic bill pay situation, and was kicked out of the band house they were renting for late rent. So they moved into the studio. Jerry had called engineer/producer Toby Wright and asked if he'd be willing to do an EP with them. Toby said, "Yeah, sure." When Jerry showed up, Toby asked, "so where are the songs?" Jerry: "About that... there aren't any. Can we hold up here and work?" So they spent 7 days living and working in a studio. Jerry, Mike Inez, and Sean would do the music, and then Layne would take it, lock himself in a room and write a song to the music. So whenever you see Layne as writer or co-writer on a Jar of Flies song... it was because he locked himself in a room and wrote his part of the lyrics he still had a drug addiction he was dealing with but it wasn't getting in the way of the music. One of the 13 times Layne tried rehab was AFTER they finished Jar of Flies... He completed the program, immediately went to Mark Lanegan's place directly off the plane, got high, and showed up at rehearsals high one day before they were supposed to go on tour with Metallica in 1994. As for having to cancel the tour with Metallica, James Hetfield is a jackass. JERRY was the one who was friends with the guys in Metallica. Layne wasn't. Layne tolerated the Metallica guys being in the front row of the Unplugged show for Jerry's sake. There's no love lost between Layne and Metallica since AIC had to cancel the 1994 tour with Metallica and James Hetfield made fun of Layne's addiction because AIC couldn't do large tours due to Layne's addiction. When Hetfield went through his own stint in rehab for being an alcoholic, he had the audacity to ask for "understanding" while he went through his rehab. Yet, he didn't give that same "understanding" to Layne when Layne was going through it. During the 2nd KISS show in 1996, Layne took a shot at Metallica for wearing mascara and eyeliner, etc etc which they were at the time. Metallica says their Death Magnetic album started out as a tribute to Layne and SHINE was about Layne, but they did that for Jerry not because they all of a sudden started to like Layne after he died. "Oh, but Lars named his kid Layne." If he did it was a guilty conscience that got the better of him for how Metallica treated Layne. Then the band sort of took a hiatus and Layne tried his 13th time at rehab (11 attempts in a rehab facility and 2 times cold turkey) and on his 2nd attempt at kicking drugs cold turkey, this time in the wilderness with 3 friends. When they stopped at a Safeway for a food run, someone was giving Layne crap, and Layne decked the guy. His friends dragged him out of the store and they ended up in a parking lot with some kids who were blasting NO EXCUSES. They were wondering if it was Layne in the car. The minute the chorus of the song hit, Layne sang it PERFECTLY on key with the song and there was NO DENYING it was Layne then. When he got back to Seattle, he fell off the wagon and back into addiction. But Mike McCready, Barrett Martin and John Baker Saunders dragged him out of his condo and got him interested in Mad Season's Above album. McCready thought if Layne was around sober musicians, he would want to be sober. It didn't work, but what came out of it were these dark, beautiful, haunting songs that Layne wrote the lyrics to (everything he sang outside of Lennon's I DON'T WANNA BE A SOLDIER, Layne wrote the lyrics to for Mad Season. McCready was thinking of demoing and Layne raised the ante to "Screw demoing, we're doing a full album" Jerry was going to do a solo album, but nothing would be as good as something he did with AIC, so he started working on Tripod in December 1994-January 1995... then he brought Toby Wright in, thinking once the guys heard he was working with Toby, they'd come running. Everyone but Layne, Jerry had to go find and then talk Layne into coming back. So Mad Season did Live at the Moore on April 28-29, 1995, and then Layne returned to AIC to record Tripod. Layne mentioned wanting to try rehab again, AIC manager Susan Silver nixed that. They had an intervention labeled as a band meeting where Susan Silver basically made Layne responsible for 45 people (including himself, his bandmates, and HER) and that these 45 people were depending on him to write and perform. When Layne's mother heard that, she asked why they couldn't find a new singer until Layne completed rehab, Susan told her, "You don't get it, LAYNE IS Alice In Chains." So, a lot of Layne's anger at the management and record company went into the Tripod album. DON'T FOLLOW is a gloomy, introspective track that can be interpreted in two ways: 1) The main character is running away from home, tired of the life he has to live. 2) A drug addict warning others not to do drugs, as you can’t turn back. DON'T FOLLOW kinda ties into the next song SWING ON THIS. According to producer Toby Wright who worked on Jar of Flies, Tripod AND re-editing the video for the Unplugged show, "It was Jerry's concept of having him start out the song, and Layne comes in, and then we finish up [with a] two-sides-to-the-story type of thing, which I thought was a brilliant concept." The first verse that is sung by Jerry Cantrell "Hey, I ain't never coming home / Hey, I'll just wander my own road / Hey, hey, I can't meet you here tomorrow, no / Say goodbye, don't follow / Misery so hollow Jerry isn’t happy with his life at home, so he decides to run away, thinking it will fix his problems. He is telling his friends and family that he’s running away, and not to bother looking for him. It’s likely he could be telling them this through the form of a note, rather than just saying it in person. In the first couple of lines in the third verse sung by Layne "Ooh, forgot my woman, lost my friends / Things I'd done and where I've been" This is part two of the song; the tempo and tone of the song shift from gloomy and bland to more upbeat in a dark cynical way. He has traveled down the wrong path and realized he has estranged himself from everything he once knew.

[@ronaldblondeau3883]

this was how layne said goodbye and not to follow his path .this song is the reason i don't use drugs.

[@barbsanti10]

Watching the new AIC sing this as a tribute to Layne is heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time. My very favorite AIC songs. Miss you Layne ❤️😢

[@redrune100]

Absolutely my favorite AIC song. So many emotions this song brings to the surface.

[@lem01ne]

Their most painful but beautiful song imo ❤

[@kevinbarberio5143]

Very sad, R.I.P Layne. My favorite tune from them, and there is many. Love your soul and reaction.

[@darleenmcbride8900]

What a beautiful song 😍

[@Skorpio420]

Beautiful, and sad.

[@pamagnolia]

Sad but beautiful song.

[@MM-cv5il]

This song brings me back in time. So beautiful it speaks to my soul ❤

[@eggstu]

Beautiful song but sad in a way. 2 best friends dealing with one going through a life ending addiction. This song is one of them basically pleading to the addict that they are going to far and then the addict telling him sorry dont follow me here and accepting his fate almost but also crying for help to take him home. Straight from their souls

[@coreywickramasekera9968]

Great song 🎵 haven't listened to it for awhile

[@HelptheBroncos]

You get it. Thank you.

[@coreywickramasekera9968]

FAVORITE BAND OF ALL TIME

[@sebastiansolimando1464]

great topic, greetings from Uruguay 🎸✌️😎🇺🇾

[@coreywickramasekera9968]

That's Jerry, I think late comes in with the close, but Jerry is LEAD VOCAL ON THIS 😊

[@jlittleboy]

Really appreciate the reaction.

[@RevLowe]

Loved this thank you.

[@JoélW608]

So good...AIC are a fav!

[@rbrice4128]

I loved alice in chains. Bogey Depot. Lol. Youd get it if you was there. But might I make a suggestion. Faith No More. The Albumn King For A Day, Fool for A Lifetime. The song, Take This Bottle. Please give this a listen. It will have an effect. Its one for all us broken hearted drinkers. But I believe that you darlin, would appreciate it. And I thank you once again for your elegant take on wonderful music.

[@chrisbloomfield3350]

I have one of these lyrics tattooed on me.....if only people would have listened before........

[@TigerGreene]

"Take me home" means he wants to end his life. The singer Layne was addicted to heroin and that's what took him.

[@Yungposter]

Meine Anmeldung ist nun registriert!✌️

[@dominicpardo4783]

Heroin is so destructive.

[@atman4733]

Contrast..

[@lancerx1759]

Sad songs need to be sung for better or worse they are necessary

[@2azz539]

Im sure you know, love but Layne died from a drug overdose. Very, sad song. He knew his time was short.