Capo2002

All I hear in the music news these days is how it's been a decade since Kurt Cobain killed himself, how he was a genious, Nirvana was great, etc, etc. Yet I don't hear a single thing being mentioned about Layne Staley, and on April 5th it'll be exactly 2 years since he died of a heroin overdose.

I realize that Nirvana was very influential in the early 90's, and I haven't overlooked their accomplishments. I was and still am a Nirvana fan, but Layne Staley and Alice in Chains for that matter haven't gotten any respect in the media. Not one thing has been mentioned at all about him and it's a little upsetting to me.

Let's give the power to the people in this poll, and give us a vote on which musician deserves more recognition for their accomplishments: Layne Staley or Kurt Cobain.

Hollowgen

well, i think AIC was pretty uneven in terms of quality, consistenly. towards the end, wasn't it more of a collaborative effort between Cantrell and Staley?

anyhow, Cobain not only wrote the lyrics, he wrote most of the music himself too. and some of his songs will be always remembered as brilliant musical statements. i'm not sure that i could say the same about Staley. and this is from a completely objective point of view. i really like Nirvana and Alice In Chains alot. not a huge fan of Mad Season, however.

fallow

Just hanging around here gives me all the Layne Staley raving I need.

And Cobain deserves, and receives, more recognition for his accomplishments.

db27

Layne rocks, Cobain rocks a little less, but meant more to the industry and to music today.

Though I prefer AIC to Nirvana anyday by a landslide and a half!

The Antipodean

I enjoy AIC but after a while their songs all sound the same. Nirvana on the other hand seemed to constantly strive for something more and showed tremendous growth over just 3 albums. Who knows how they might've ended up if Cobain had lived but I have to go with Cobain for his influence.

Drexl

I think one reason why you hear more about Cobain than Staley, other than obviously because Nirvana was more popular than AIC, was because Cobain killed himself when the band was still successful and commercially viable. AIC hadn't had a hit for years when Staley died.

Also, Cobain was 27, so he was part of that fabled group with Hendrix, Robert Johnson, Joplin, et al.

Ergyu

Not quite. It was more like that during the beginning than the end. Almost every song on the S/T record, the last one, has writing credits towards all 4 members. After that though, Cantrell pretty much wrote everything that was to become the next AIC record, but eventually became his first solo record. All in all Cantrell Wrote about 90 percent of the music, collaborating with Layne on about 75 percent of that.

I don't think either band ever missed a step though. Every song they both put out is pure gold in my mind. I just happen to enjoy Alice in Chains more than Nirvana.

MJKTool

I prefer Alice In Chains. I'm big into vocals, and Layne had a monster of a voice. Nirvana was definetly more influential, wiping a whole genre of music out of business. But musically I connect more with AIC.

Josh H

I prefer AiC to Nirvana, though I like both.

Still, I have to give the nod to Kurt here, as he was undoubtably more influential on music of the era (and to this day).

Nirvana wasn't that original, they were basically just in the right place, with the right sound, at the right time. But you can't fault them for that, and it doesn't take away from the impact they had on music.

Tony Dvdfan

I'm split on the poll....i do agree than Layne deserves more recognition, i always liked AIC much more than Nirvana...as a band i think they were always overlooked, and his death was very much underreported....
On the other side of the poll, Cobain was more influential and his songwriting was superior to AIC.

wendersfan

Cobain by a mile. About the only nice thing I could say about Staley is that at least he had more talent than that guy from Stone Temple Pilots.