This weekend, while hanging out with some friends up in Minneapolis, we got into a discussion about Alice In Chains. My friend Steve had the latest album by the band playing, and I voiced my displeasure with the fact that Jerry Cantrell used the Alice In Chains moniker for the new album despite the absence of the deceased Layne Staley. I don’t mind the new material and understand that Cantrell was the creative force behind most of the band’s classic material, but it just isn’t Alice In Chains without Layne.
On our drive back home today, “River of Deceit” came on the radio, the classic grunge tune by the Layne Staley/Mike McCready side-project Mad Season. As we rolled through the fields of Minnesota, I was moved by Staley’s eerie vocals, his voice filled with the passion and pain of a soul singer. After my weekend-long appreciation of Layne Staley, I decided there was no better choice for the BDWPS video clip of the week: