Today marks the 20th and 12th anniversaries of the deaths of Kurt Cobain and Layne Staley. Take some time to reflect on them, their music, and their individual legacies.
Kurt Cobain:
- Here We Are Now: Seattle rock journalist Charles R. Cross’s retrospective/analysis of the enduring legacy of Cobain’s too short life and career.
- Kurt Cobain Remembered 20 Years After His Death: The Associated Press speaks to Arcade Fire’s Win Butler, Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong, Beck and Neil Young.
- 10 Reasons Kurt Cobain Wasn’t Murdered: In case you find yourself arguing with a conspiracy theorist.
- MTV’s Breaking News Coverage of Cobain’s death, April 8, 1994:
Layne Staley:
- How Alice in Chains Found the Most Memorable Voice in Grunge: A short retrospective I wrote for the Atlantic about Layne’s voice and talent for the tenth anniversary of his death.
- The Last Days of Layne Staley: An article by Charles R. Cross published a few months after Layne’s death, which gives some insight into his later years.
- Layne’s obituary: Published by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer after his body was found on April 19, 2002.
- Layne’s last live performance, July 3, 1996:
Beyond these links and videos, if you want to know more about both of them and the broader Seattle scene in general, I would highly recommend reading Greg Prato’s Grunge Is Dead and Mark Yarm’s Everybody Loves Our Town.
Icepicks and Nukes 
Can’t wait for your book to be finished and released. It’ll be nice to have a ‘trilogy’ of sort…
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