Mad Season - Wake Up | Layne Staley | Singer Reacts & Musician Analysis

[@ChadH2023]

This album is a low-key masterpiece, the live at the moore version is even better. When you can sing like Layne, you don't need any effects to enhance the song.

[@jennifern7593]

💯

[@kevincoady5248]

No auto tune in 1994, produced said he wouldn’t even allow pro tools to be used on his vocals. Several music engineers stated he did almost every song in 1 take, added harmonies in one take and DONe. Engineer asked him to do another take he said no u have it and engineer relocate we and said he was right. He was magical!

[@SirMo]

I just absolutely love the recognition Layne Staley is getting from the internet all these years later. Back in the day, AIC and the rest of the bands were overshadowed by Nirvana's fame. And I didn't feel like Staley got the credit he deserved when he was alive.

[@romanmartinez6458]

Layne Staley's mom sang this live after he died. Gut wrenching. I cried hard. Check it out

[@Tdub0911]

Those vocals are legendary. Of course there are voices that are unique and easily identified but Layne stands with a very small group of singers where they are almost perfect.

[@glenbud]

He’s crying to himself to wake up before it’s too late….he wasn’t strong enough to save himself

[@danz9093]

Layne Staley (singer and writer of the lyrics ) had a well known and severe issue with heroin addiction. Slow suicide refers to his addiction and perhaps ine of the most pertinent ways to describe it. For ten long years, the leaves to rake up refers to, at that stage, his 10 year long addiction and the carnage that's all around him, hence needing to rake up the leaves. I think any sense of pain that anyone feels like they want to but can't, or any urge or craving that you know is bad for you can be tapped into for this song. But it is definitely about a guy wanting to change but feeling compelled to continue doing something that is poisoning himself and his loved ones

[@ldyson8]

Seattle "grunge bands" were bands like Alice In Chains, Sound Garden, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, etc.

[@heywoodjablowme8120]

Motherlovebone, the Melvin's, Green River and lastly Citizen Dick....just touch me I'm dick.

[@tabuencajosemanuel5102]

And all of them were having unique sound and style

[@CorinneWoods]

Back in the 90s they didn’t have auto tune! That’s his natural voice! He was very talented. Great reaction! Oh ya and mad season - “I don’t know anything” live at self pollution broadcast is a good one also!

[@corvus_kay6755]

In the late 90s they did, but not at that time, that is correct

[@SirMo]

@@corvus_kay6755 yes, Cher's song "Believe" was released on Oct. 19, 1998, which is the start of the auto-tune era. And this album was released in 1995.

[@Kaya97899]

Layne Staley had the most amazing unique voice of all time period. RIP angry angel you will never be forgotten❤

[@matthewgoodA1206]

Mad Season featured members of Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains and Screaming Trees. On guitar, vocals and drums, respectively. The bass player came from a more obscure band called The Walkabouts. He met the guitarist of Pearl Jam in a rehab facility and they decided to get together after their stints were done. At the time Alice In Chains had temporarily broken up over Layne relapsing. He was unfortunately starting to go farther down with his addiction. The other members were aware of this and hoped they could rein him in a bit by working on music together. Sadly, in the end that was not the case, as Layne ultimately succumbed to his substance abuse. And the bassist also passed away in the course of a relapse, a couple years before Layne. So the band only released one studio album together, but Layne said in an interview it was the musical recording he was the most satisfied with. P.S. Including your own experiences with witnessing addiction gave the reaction a powerfully personal edge.

[@jessicaadams1479]

You should check out more. This entire album is amazing. Artificial red is one of my favorites, I don’t want to be a soldier (remake of John Lennon), I don’t know anything is really catchy. I wish they had done more. Also I think the live at the Moore versions are even better than the studio.

[@davidadams5280]

Any band with Layne was great. Even the songs he didn't write. He had something special. Of course his voice but I am thinking he must of just known what sounded great like few others. Because if he was a part of it then it was great

[@PigsHalo]

The organic sound, that has soul in its imperfections is what grunge was. This period in music produced so much raw sound. You may not realize it, but you totally understand grunge by the way you're reviewing this.

[@trumbell]

Layne Staley is my favorite singer from the 90's grunge era and his life is so, so sad. But he told us all about it in his music and vocals. A true legend. R.I.P Layne you are loved by many

[@troygill4968]

This song is about heroine. Layne crying for what he was going through. Breaks my heart to this day.

[@NickoBanaa]

Amazing song, Laney voice it's from another world in this song, he nailed it

[@steveg5864]

Love how you appreciate everything on this song like I do. You are awesome, and thank you for keeping Lane's voice relevant these days !

[@alicaveltman3021]

I highly recommend you listen to Alice in Chains their Live song from Live at the Moore. Love Hate Love.

[@stevend3753]

This is an open letter from Layne to himself. He knew his drug addiction was going to kill him, and he needed to wake up and kick the habit.

[@melany5506]

Love that you did a video on Mad Season! They were timeless and amazing. Layne was a musical prodigy, amazing one of a kind singer. RIP

[@andybricks576]

This my favourite song showcasing Layne's singing.

[@coreywickramasekera9968]

BTW, that artwork on the album is LAYNE STALEY'S original artwork he created

[@coreywickramasekera9968]

SLOW SUICIDE, is his BATTLE WITH ADDICTION

[@Brcan19]

FINALLY some mad season reactions😭

[@TechnicalHotDog]

One of my favorite songs. It is indeed about addiction - Layne basically singing to himself to wake up and get past it. Sadly he would die from it years later.

[@heywoodjablowme8120]

A lot of his songs are about smack.

[@melany5506]

@@heywoodjablowme8120I’m going to go out on a limb here and assume that technicalhotdog knows that

[@joetaylor5113]

Imagine one of your first grunge songs you ever listen to is mad season wake up..

[@coreywickramasekera9968]

This song is sad, I HEARD THIS ALBUM when it first came out,LAYNE STALEY/ ALICE IN CHAINS ⛓️ are and were my favorite band, to me this whole album is "A CRY FOR HELP"

[@eggstu]

This album is phenomenal. Definitely worth checking out if you like this song

[@gNome_5]

That's one way of describing it-heroin addiction is certainly akin to the most abusive of all "love affairs!" 😭💔🤘🏻❤️♾️ RIP to the GOAT- Layne Thomas Staley 08-22-67-04-05-02

[@gravewaxxsupercoven1980]

This song is about his (Layne's) heroin addiction. **also, the audio of the song is very, very, low. Its to quiet to hear.

[@920WASHBURN]

When I was young I would give this cd to girls and say if you don't like this, don't call me back

[@gNome_5]

Classic! LOL 😆 Btw, I'd have called you back in a heartbeat! 😜

[@920WASHBURN]

@@gNome_5 I know you would have. I was very handsome

[@gNome_5]

@@920WASHBURN 😂

[@GeminiJeff34]

River Of Deceit was the best vocals on this album but definitely dig into Chris Cornell!

[@ryanr5319]

Lifeless Dead is a nice nugget. ❤

[@heywoodjablowme8120]

Temple of the Dog

[@stonebringer1]

🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸. What a great choice! And a great reaction Millie.

[@Roh_Echt]

River of Deceit...another good one on that album. I'm Above, Artificial Red, I Don't Know Anything; also good. If you like Layne Staley's voice, you should try Love, Hate, Love by Alice in Chains - Live at the Moore (1990).

[@jts12fan]

We all have God in us, and you could clearly hear it in Laynes voice.

[@josephbond8280]

The Grunge music. One of best music eras.

[@denmill5564]

Pretty good commentary on the opening! Interesting to hear your take! I was in my late20’s when this went down. Alice In Chains/ Nirvana, Metallica with Guns n Roses were on the rock sations(radio) and MTV.24-7

[@eu.rafaelfreitas]

The choice could not be better =)

[@phil-nt4yz]

this is the layne i listen to this all the time.. This is what i want at my funeral.

[@andybricks576]

Me too, I've dealt with opiate addiction since I was 20 yrs old, I'm 55 now, I don't use so much anymore but I've tried 4 Rehab's, 2 Prison stints & I'm still fighting to stop, it isn't an easy road at all!

[@Lewsfuntime-yy8hs]

I use to listen to this song in the 90s and always thought it had a doors vibe.

[@Nobody-br1rq]

You should have done the live at the moore version, it is sooooo much better

[@SubsurfaceTalks]

The beauty of this simple production (no auto tune and stuff) is that those bands sounded super killer in concert - they just could play like not many bands can play nowadays when overproduction in music can often mask the lack of raw skill and talent and soul.

[@tamibrandt]

Mad Season is definitely more blues-y than grunge. For me with Mad Season it was the way Layne sang WAKE UP, and ARTIFICIAL RED, and then RIVER OF DECEIT, everyone else may like LIFELESS DEAD and it's good because Layne sings it but WAKE UP, ARTIFICIAL RED and RIVER OF DECEIT are my top ones The band is Layne Staley singing, Mike McCready of Pearl Jam on guitar, Barrett Martin of Screaming Trees on drums and John Baker Saunders (who was from Minneapolis but McCready met him in rehab there and dragged him back to Seattle with him after their rehab stint.) Mark Lanegan of Screaming Trees sings of a few of the songs on the Above album. Layne Staley's vocal range can run rings around any other grunge singer (including Chris Cornell) in my opinion. Layne could sing the phone book and never hit a wrong note. Even at the end of his life, with no teeth and a lisp, his voice, wit and humor were all still there. Layne's voice and vocal range was so powerful he did NOT need auto tune or pro-tools until he lost his teeth and had a lisp around 1998, and even then he still killed the vocals. Barrett Martin (who played with Layne in Mad Season) said that when he stood to the side of the stage, he could hear the sound of Layne’s vocal resonance come out of Layne's body LOUDER than it did coming out of the speakers, Layne's voice was that powerful. The shows they did live at the Moore in 1995... Layne killed the vocals on every song he sang. Even "All Alone" was just an instrumental to begin with and then Layne went in and added the bare minimum of vocals and made it haunting. And ALSO on the Live at the Moore they covered John Lennon's I Don't Want to Be a Soldier... Layne's vocals are AWESOME on that, and the song's good up until they put a distortion pedal on the saxophone. But up until then Lennon may have wrote the song, but Layne perfected it. Layne drew the Above album cover art and wrote the lyrics to the songs he sang on the Above album so they're about his addiction and recovery/12 step, WAKE UP is basically telling himself to wake up from the 10 year love affair w/drugs Slow suicide's no way to go (of course that is what happened, after the KISS shows in 1996 to 2002 it was a 6 year long slow suicide. My Top 5 Mad Season songs: WAKE UP (Live at the Moore, 1995), ARTIFICIAL RED (Live at the Moore, 1995), RIVER OF DECEIT (Live at the Moore, 1995), a toss up between I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING (Live at the Moore, 1995) OR X-RAY MIND (Live at the Moore, 1995), I DON'T WANT TO BE A SOLDIER (Live at the Moore, 1995... John Lennon wrote it, Layne PERFECTED the vocals, the song is good until they decided to put a distortion pedal on the saxophone, then it's just noise). Aside from I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier... Layne wrote all the songs he sang on Mad Season and he drew the cover art for Mad Season's Above album. Back in 1994, near the end of the classic Seattle period, four musicians came together from a wide cross-section of Seattle’s heaviest bands. They included Pearl Jam’s lead guitarist Mike McCready, Alice In Chains lead vocalist Layne Staley, the not-from-Seattle-but-he-fit-right-in bassist John “Baker” Saunders, and Barrett Martin came from the bands Skin Yard and Screaming Trees. Mike and Baker had met in rehab in Minneapolis, and they immediately hit it off with their love of the Delta Blues and the bright clarity that comes from a newly sober mind. They played a series of secret shows at Seattle’s now-legendary Crocodile Café. The intent was to tighten-up the songs and try out the new material on a live audience, and during these shows, they realized a singular vision that would manifest in the studio a few weeks later. Mike McCready wanted to do demos, and Layne said screw that, we're doing a whole album right out of the gate. 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, but that didn't work either. After he returned home from the second attempt at detoxing cold turkey, McCready started calling and then just showing up at Layne's condo with Baker in tow. 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 original songs he sang on the ABOVE album (not including Lennon's I DON'T WANT TO BE A SOLDIER.. even though, LAYNE PERFECTED that song), and he drew the cover art for the album. The vibraphone is done by a Seattle Jazz musician known as Skerik. The Above album was released internationally on March 14, 1995, on Columbia Records and it immediately struck a resonant chord with the public that sent the album into gold status within a few weeks. It peaked at #24 on the Billboard Top 200, and the album’s first single, “RIVER OF DECEIT,” was a bona fide radio hit in the United States, reaching the #2 spot on the American modern rock charts. All of this happened, I might add, without the band playing a proper, advertised show or any touring. They did the 4 shows at the Crocodile and the main show that got turned into a VHS/DVD Mad Season Live at the Moore. Mad Season essentially played a grungier version of the Blues. This unusual chemistry made us sound totally unique for our time, in an era of post-Grunge, formula rock that was beginning to dominate popular music then, as it still does to this day. Above was the only complete album of Layne Staley’s introspective, mystical lyrics, and in the almost 30 years since its release. Layne was an extremely intelligent, humorous, and gracious human being, and he cared about things like politeness and kindness to strangers, qualities that seem to be forgotten in today’s narcissistic, nihilistic culture. He laughed easily and talked openly with his fans, and his guest list at shows was always reserved for the young, marginalized people who couldn’t afford to buy a ticket. Those were Layne’s people, the ones without a voice, and through the power of poetic language, Layne gave them a voice. Barrett Martin's best personal memory of Layne "came when we were making the Above album and he was in the studio lounge reading Kahlil Gibran’s iconic book, The Prophet, a book I highly recommend everyone read at some point in your lives. I told him I had read it as a teenager, and I liked the part about the arrows you fire into the world to keep the darkness at bay. Layne said that as musicians we were like burning arrows, arcing across the sky. We started talking about what it meant to be an artist with a spiritual message and I can tell you that Layne deeply felt that he had a spiritual message to convey in his music, even if his lyrics were dark. And that is because darkness must exist first in order for light to emerge in contrast to it; the two are inseparable parts of the same continuum. "This theme is evident in all of Layne’s songs, both with Mad Season and Alice In Chains, and that is because he existed in a realm between darkness and light, a place where he could see both. So please remember this: Layne was very young when he wrote and sang those lyrics, he was only in his mid-twenties (Layne was ONLY 27 when he was with Mad Season in mid to late 1994 through April 1995, before he returned to AIC to record Tripod), yet he said a huge amount with that incredible voice." Several years after Layne’s passing Barrett Martin got a call from an old friend in Massachusetts who had a couple of young children. While on a family drive through the countryside, he was playing the Above album when the last song on the album, ALL ALONE, came on. One of the little ones in the back seat asked if there were angels singing on the song, a question that he relayed to Barrett over the phone. “Yeah, he was a certain kind of angel,” Barrett said, “a dark one perhaps, but an angel all the same.” Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine said Layne sang like an angry angel. After Layne died and Baker died, McCready wanted to restart Mad Season with Chris Cornell singing and Chris had learn how Layne sang the songs before he could put his variation on it. Layne was so much more than his drug addiction. He was able to come up with lyrics and harmonies off the top of his head. He knew enough to know that Jerry Cantrell was playing with the wrong people and gave him contact info for Sean Kinney and Mike Starr. He wrote the lyrics for the songs he sang on Mad Season's Above album and drew the cover art for that album. Layne was a genius in his own right. He was able to figure things out in a snap off the top of his head. Layne just had his demons. At the age of 34, he looked more like an 80-year-old man. He knew he screwed up, between the drugs and his own depression and then his former fiancee dying, Layne just couldn't find a way to dig himself out of his own mess, and at the end with his teeth problems and organs failing on him, he gave up trying. He lost sight of who his true friends were and who was using him. He was never going to give up the drugs. Instead, he tried to attain the same high he felt the first time he did drugs and could never achieve it. 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 to dropping to 90 pounds by 1998 to 86 pounds when he died in 2002. Layne kept his humor and wit even to the end of his life.

[@peyinchains]

I love ur face 7:59-8;02 because that was how I first reacted to this song to! Wonderful band and song u listen to more if u like this song! Rest easy Layne Staley

[@stevedaniels623]

Epic album.

[@jeremymarsh2174]

What a great choice, if I could hear the song. With my volume cranked 100% I can barely hear the song but your mic is super loud. mixing the 2 together, just a bad ear experience I couldn't make it to the first chorus

[@StephanieShearer-v3b]

That’s an all star lineup there babe! 🙏🏻

[@luckylarry88]

Long gone day live was the best song on this album, only one with a duo. It's so different, and it's the song Layne told his mom he was most proud of writing. All the live versions of songs on this album are much better in my opinion.

[@joetaylor5113]

Layne own mother told me that that was his favorite song that he ever wrote

[@dns9643]

Thank You for reacting to this song. What a pretty song…Cheers from New Orleans.

[@barbaradalziel9421]

Laynes authentic voice no affects used

[@deathtotruthers1]

Layne Staley? Not many effects? Try no effects. Autotune didn't exist until 1997 (thank God - one of those things you wish they could uninvent). Other than layering his voice, what you heard from Layne was what you got.

[@StephanieShearer-v3b]

Hahaha! That’s chicks funny !……. Layne using effects 😂😂😂…… ummm don’t think so sweetheart

[@StephanieShearer-v3b]

Someone needs to tell her that they were a supergroup! 😂

[@dokanyon]

This is classic british rock level song there

[@eamv88]

Love your review.

[@hanhabenero3398]

Review mad season locomotive (sang by Mark lanegan) amazing song aswell

[@danielhead8123]

rip Layne

[@coreywickramasekera9968]

I'm so late seeing this reaction, I hope you do ALICE IN CHAINS ⛓️, LOVE, HATE, LOVE from FACELIFT LIVE at THE MOORE THEATER in Seattle

[@romanmartinez6458]

Your references are spot on

[@lonspangrud5983]

This was before auto tune.

[@Stormvogel262]

You should REALLY check the live version in the Moore. Staley was just way better live, a huge difference.

[@marislachaunieks8155]

Live version in a Moore was more more better, more live, more emotional. For me it's a best reckording... I've 55.. but i cry allways when i seeing his mother "singing" with her son..

[@stephenstuckey]

Love Hate Love. Live. Incredible performance. Alice In Chains of course.

[@Neonlight80]

Your mic is very very loud

[@nathanwaibel454]

Turn your speakers down dummy..

[@gargola72]

Gracias por recordarme Mad Season😊 Una vez tuve ese álbum pero lo perdí hace años. Dentro del grunge, fuera de Nirvana, te recomendaría 'jeremy', 'black' y 'even flow' de pearl jam, '4 of july' y 'black hole sun' de soundgarden, 'rooster' y 'would?' de alice un chains, 'plush' de Stone Temple pilots y 'milktoast' de helmet (aunque con este último tengo la duda si es grunge o noise rock). Sorry por la lista de mercado, pero no podía elegir un único tema del género😋

[@danielkowalczyk7259]

BRYGADA KRYZYS - Cosmopolis

[@TheTodd5761]

At face value I'd say it's about a man struggling to overcome his drug addiction but on a deeper level I wonder if its not Layne touching on his long time girlfriends overdose and his subsequent decent towards his own

[@mr.mayhem6755]

She didn't die until a year after he made this song.

[@TheTodd5761]

@@mr.mayhem6755 well that certainly ruins an added layer of emotion Ive had for this song since I was a teenager and first experienced it 😔

[@mr.mayhem6755]

@@TheTodd5761 I'm sorry pal!! He's talking to himself in this song, but yeah this song came out in 1995 Demri Parrot died in 1996 if I'm not mistaken after unplugged! But they were separated during unplugged so he was already very depressed!

[@TheTodd5761]

@@mr.mayhem6755 lol it's all good. Nothing wrong with gaining a little more knowledge 👍

[@keith38able]

Has to do with his addiction, and no auto tune.

[@barbaradalziel9421]

If you like mad season listen to layne in alice in chains

[@AlexanderNagi]

The host is brutal to listen to for many reasons

[@fernywings8922]

The live version is better Millie ❤

[@Iii-qk1bd]

I still waiting to Dimash

[@trevorjones1775]

Marry me please!!

[@davidpeters44]

autobiographical

[@JV-mw7gv]

😞

[@nicholaskruger9460]

If rather the music be way louder than your voice. Your voice ruin the mix. I couldn’t finish it cause the music is to low snd you’re way to loud.

[@ronduffield1939]

You got to check out the live version from the Moore theater. River of deceit,long gone day

[@ronduffield1939]

Alice in chains, Soundgarden, Nirvana,pearljam are all from Seattle

[@heywoodjablowme8120]

Live at the Moore