My favorite line in this song is "I'd like to fly but my wings have been so denied." Hits right in the heart. F heroin. What a tragedy losing Layne.

RIP Layne, the greatest to ever do it

Alice In Chains is my favorite band of all time. And their "Unplugged" concert was one of the best shows of all time......of all artists. This particular song, Layne took off his shades and it makes me tear up every time I see it. He was so tortured. I don't know a better artist to portray such emotions. RIP Layne........

Layne really was the best at pure emotional expression. He was a very talented singer to begin with but the way he can express himself so vividly makes him an all time great.

I love watching people experience the tremendous emotion this particular version of this song provides. Great reaction!

I've always related so much with this song. Still climb outta that hole myself. At least I'm not laying on the bottom anymore. Great reaction guys. Hope everyone has an amazing day.

The good thing is he was 1000% invested in the feelings of that song. And we got one of the most amazing performances from AIC. The bad thing is the price he paid for that. He was literally down in a hole. His demons and addictions took over and were killing him. Unfortunately we lost Layne WAY too early. Nutshell is the "final chapter" for him, in my opinion. Even deeper and sadder.

RIP Layne Staley (lead singer) What’s sad is, he fought depression and addiction….sang about it in hidden lyrics and overdosed on heroin 😢

Love ya Layne. Thanks for the music you left behind.

"One person can save millions, but sometimes millions cant save one." RIP Layne

One of my all time favorites. Do you know why Layne looked so relaxed when singing? The answer is heroine. Like most questions about his life. Gone too soon. He was a singular talent

Little did we know that his music was like a sad harbinger.

For grunge, personally I think it goes from best to worst for the Big 5, Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, Nirvana, Soundgarden, then Pearl Jam. I also use the word "worst" loosely as they are all amazing bands

The unplugged songs are always better! Do nutshell unplugged next by Alice In Chains 👍🏼

He's calm because he's high out of his mind on heroin here , Jerry never sings as much as he did this unplugged ...one if the best to ever do it and his voice was almost gone here too that what's insane still sounds so good .

If you watch the whole Unplugged performance you can see Jerry trading concerned glances with Layne during the entire concert. Their relationship was strained but you can tell that band cared for each other, and unlike say Stone Temple Pilots after Scott Weiland died, they never trash-talked Layne after he died.

I've heard this song hundreds of times and I still get goosebumps! So beautiful!!

It was just Even thru his horrific addiction, He never lost his blessing of his voice

They always said this album was a man singing at his own funeral! RIP Layne

You guys should really do this whole Unplugged show. Absolute gold!!! R.I.P. to the greatest frontman to EVER live!!!

I’ve heard this a Million times and I still get the goosebumps when Layne sings #rip

It was 100% real and then he died 🥺 He was singing his truth 😞

Thanks for doing Alice in Chains. They are one of my favourite bands to watch reactions to. Their music is so full of feeling. And the harmonies from Layne and Jerry are absolutely beautiful in this song. R.I.P. Layne. I’d recommend you guys do Bleed the Freak next. Great reaction guys🙋🏻‍♀️👍🏼🙌🏼👏🏼💜🇨🇦

RIP angel. You've got your wings.....

So high he could barely stand and pull this off shows how great he was

Listen to the whole thing, basically giving everyone a real deep insight on drug usage. God Rest Your Soul Layne

It is so sad if you ever saw what Layne looked like when he was healthy he looked like a shell of his former self singing at his own funeral but his voice is still amazing this song still makes me want to cry my favorite two bands from that era which I still think is one of musics best, Alice In Chains and Radiohead and both bands have multiple songs that still bring tears to my eyes.

Great performance while in such sad condition ✌❤🤘

"See my heart, I decorate it like a grave." Peace be with you, Layne.

I stumbled upon your video when I saw Alice in Chains Down in a Hole and brought back memories of my dark struggles many years ago and their song Nutshell is what brought me out (and I'm a HUGE fan of AIC) but one night I listened to the song again (I can never tire of their sound) and the lyrics hit me hard and I then understood that I wasn't the only one who has been through what I've been through. The song Nutshell saved me and I will be forever in debt to them. Rest easy Layne. You're no longer fighting those demons. Thank you for posting this. Peace!

When it come Layne's vocals, the word I would use is "transfixed".

Alice in chains one of the best to come out of the 90s grunge. Rip Layne. You could see how bad the H had him.

Nutshell is my favorite song of theirs but love Down in a Hole. RIP Layne Staley.

Dead man singing.. such a sad story I was heading down into that hole myself

He words so powerful he was telling yall something

The offical video is awesome also !!

1 of my favorite songs ever. I grew up to this. The phrase I would use is channeled their energy, you feel it deep down in your core all the way to your soul. Rest easy Layne

Probably your best song and band reaction yet!

that entire performance is his legacy..R.I.P.. absolutely singing from a different place than anyone realized.

Alice In Chains MTV Unplugged is the best ever! And Layne is the most talented musician ever! I also love Layne's side project Mad Season. Layne wrote so many masterpiece songs. Also, Layne looks absolutely beautiful in this unplugged show. He is very sad because of his battle with drug addiction and depression, and this profound sadness makes the whole show even more haunting, amazing, and unforgettable. All the songs in this unplugged are masterpieces.

Down in a hole and I don't know if I can be saved, see my heart, I decorate it like a grave.

Thank you. Thank you Thank you. Rip Layne

Man that's one of the years of life because I lived that way and I DO UNDERSTAND, but humbled to listen to Alice and chains, 50 now and still listening, great band i miss it

On heroin, wife died of overdose, he died a couple years later. We love him

He was dying at this time from heroin addiction, that's Layne Staley though. Untouchable.

If you ever want a good cry, I suggest listening to their performance of "Nutshell" from their MTV Unplugged show.

The late, great Layne Staley.. He can NEVER be replaced.. So very, very missed... Love you Layne...R.I.P

Great energy between you guys

Mel, the word you were looking for is "consumed". This song always brings me, consumes me, into the depths of Laynes despair at the gravity of his addiction. As a music lover, it has been so sad to see so many great talents lose their battles with addiction and depression. Tragic.

Love hate love live at the Moore theatre

He's calm becasue he's high on heroin. This is a song about addiction sung by a man who'd soon lose his life to the addiction.

I have been a fan of AIC since the beginning I turned 58 this year I just became a fan of you guys

This song is a masterpiece. 😍 Please react to AiC- Bleed the freak live at the Moore :)

You guys should check out Chris Cornell, the band Soundgarden. Sadly Chris decided to check out like Layne did.

Yes! 💜

One of my favorite bands is such a tragic story for layne the lead singer. He's so calm because he's high as a kite on heroin. Another gone way too soon

You need to watch the whole concert amazing

Lane was so bombed on heroin during this performance. It's eerily beautiful. RIP to a Legend! #FuckHerion

Through his ups and downs through addiction, even during this performance, Layne Staley never lost his voice. He still sang like a god.

One of the best bands ever!!!!

Wanna get hit even harder in the feels? Check out "Bleed the Freak" Live @ the Moore Theater! Incredible performance, basically set the entire Rock world on notice a new Vocal King was taking over!

MTV unplugged was AMAZING! I miss it!

I love the bass in this song

That whole album is amazing

He was basically singing his own eulogy here. He wouldn't pass for a few years after this but you can see how sick he was, teeth missing etc. His voice was incredible, but he was a shell of himself the last several years of his life, and it started awhile before this unplugged session.

This band has so much to offer - my favorite is "Would", and I really love "Again". I don't think you can go wrong - this band pulled me through a very difficult death in my family and seemed to come to me just at the right time. R.I.P. Layne Staley.

Dude never ever. I replied more than once. You 'll can be the one's to unite us Americans back. Straight

Hits homeee

He was very sick-it's obvious,tho great performance

This song is a love song from guitarist Jerry Cantrell to the love of his life Courtney Clarke. Early pressings listed this as the 12th track in the album. Later pressings listed this as the 4th track supposedly to fit better with the band’s desire to have the album loosely tell a story from song to song. Songwriter and guitarist Jerry Cantrell said of the song in the Music Bank box set liner notes, “Down in a Hole’s in my top three, personally. It’s to my long-time love. It’s the reality of my life, the path I’ve chosen and in a weird way it kind of foretold where we are right now. It’s hard for us to both understand…that this life is not conducive to much success with long-term relationships." Once Layne got his voice where he wanted it, it stayed there with little effort. He was always better live than studio version. Layne's vocal range can run rings around any other grunge singer 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. 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 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 still was able to figure things out in a snap off the top of his head. Layne just had his demons. With MTV Unplugged, when Layne finally gave the Okay to do it. They were supposed to rehearse in Seattle but NO one showed up. Sean, Mike and Jerry would show up at different times but Layne would be MIA or Layne would show up for one or two songs and then leave. When they finally got to New York, Sean and Mike had an argument with Jerry because they thought with Layne's condition and addiction, he wouldn't be able to hit the high notes. Jerry was the ONLY ONE who was confident that Layne could do it. When you watch DOWN IN A HOLE Unplugged, and Layne hits that high note, you see Jerry look over at Sean and Mike with this "I TOLD YOU SO!" smirk. Layne did it again on ROOSTER Unplugged and Jerry did that same smirk. The Unplugged show in 1996 is so heartbreaking to watch because Layne was deep in his heroin addiction (and yes, I know he was doing other drugs on top of Heroin). His liver was damaged and he knew it. He was just high enough to do the show to fight off withdrawal symptoms and he didn't get dope sick. He was such a ghost of himself during Unplugged. (Of course, Jerry had food poisoning) All Jerry saw when he looked over at Layne was his best friend was going to die soon due to the path Layne had chosen for his life. That show was filmed in April, 1996, premiered in May 1996. They did four shows with KISS in June-July 1996, after which Layne survived an overdose and became a recluse. After that, it was a six-year-long slow suicide. MTV (and the music industry) has more or less blackballed Layne (and yet, they laud over Kurt Cobain every April 5th, because Kurt was the "face of grunge", meanwhile Layne gets a "by the way"). The Grammys went so far as to invite Jerry, Mike and Sean to the Grammy show in 2003 and then refused to put Layne's picture up in the memorial of the musicians who died in 2002. (Or they "forgot" to) which pissed Jerry, Mike and Sean off and they walked out on the show. The friendship between Jerry and Layne was unbreakable. Jerry NEVER once thought of replacing Layne as the singer while Layne was still alive. He always wanted Layne to sing whenever he had AIC do something. If there were ever cosmic soulmates ... Layne and Jerry would be it. (And by that I mean, they were Sympatico with each other. The way they sang together was a perfect pitch where two voices make one. What you hear and see between Jerry and Layne was a genuine friendship. They looked after each other. When one had problems with a song, the other picked up the slack. They were a team. Jerry was doing a solo concert in Charlotte, NC when he heard that Layne was found two weeks after he died and Jerry was trying to get through the concert and crying. He did shows between the time he found out about Layne until Layne's funeral because if he had taken a break then, he didn't think he'd want to continue anything later after the mourning period. Alice In Chains was a band, but they were also a family. They had internal issues just like any family. When Layne died, it was like losing a loved one, a family member, you don't think of the fights you had with the person who died. You defend their memory. There is a reason Jerry wrote NO EXCUSES about Layne and the line "You, my friend, I will defend / And if we change, well, I'll love you anyway." "Whatever dramas are going on in my life, I always find that place inside my head where I see myself as the cleanest, tallest, strongest, wisest person that I can be." -- Layne Staley "My bad habits aren't my title. My strengths and my talent are my title." -- Layne Staley "When I tried drugs they were fucking great, and they worked for me for years, and now they're turning against me - and now I'm walking through hell and this sucks. I wrote about drugs, and I didn't think I was being unsafe or careless by writing about them. I didn't want my fans to think heroin was cool. But then I've had fans come up to me and give me the thumbs up, telling me they're high. That's exactly what I didn't want to happen." -- Layne Staley "My grandmother and mother were such huge losses, but I got Layne, the guys, and I got this.” - Jerry Cantrell, Kerrang! (December 1, 2018) “Jerry really loved Layne [Staley]. They had a bond I haven't seen before,” Jerry’s former manager Bill Siddons, April 19, 2002 (the day Layne was found two weeks after he died).

Good stuff guys, one of the best shows ever but a very sad one. Layne the lead singer here was one of the best voices ever and Jerry the lead songwriter/guitarist/2nd vocalist is just one of the best musicians ever, he’s the one who wrote this song. They were a Very special duo. anyway nice reaction.

Fun fact, you might have noticed that the bass player has something written on his guitar. The Metallica guys were sitting in the front row and they had all just cut off there hair. Mike Inez wrote “Friends don’t let friends get haircuts.” on his bass.

Always sang his own truth..

R.I.P Layne. Every time I hear this song I tear up. So much love for Alice in Chains

Rip Layne. This song got me through alot.

I fear the worst for Layne. His music helped me tremendously through such a dark period of my life. Just knowing what I was going through, I wasn’t alone. I eventually found and was rescued by our Lord Jesus Christ. I hope that that last days and hours when Layne was isolated, that he was able to cut through the darkness surrounding him and accepted the heavenly burning fire that is available to all of us.

You just feel it.....

One of the best rock bands all time. Cut short from heroine. Layne is a boss

I ran into them at the Hampton inn in hampton Virginia they were opening for van halen

That's deep

He was under the influence when this was filmed. He performed so good.

I miss 90's grunge RIP Layne

RIP layne. Gone shortly after this. Was already fading in this performance. So sad

Nirvana always got all the attention, but Alice in Chains had all the talent. Kurt Cobain couldn't hold Layne Staley's Jock with 2 hands ! Layne is 1 of the greatest vocalists I've ever heard and AIC's songs hold up after all these years like a fine wine. Just gets better the more time that passes.

Hey S & M Squad!!

He sang about his struggles

"Ready to Die" T-shirt...Layne is on a downward slope in real-time... "Down in a Hole". Lot's going on here.

Ride on his wave

How I wish he could have been saved.

...but my wings have been so denied.

Unfortunately, that "calm" was heroin. RIP Layne.

Well I have seen you guy's let 2 singers (take you there) Chris Stapleton, now Layne Staley next should be Chris Cornell. He was in a Seattle band called Soundgarden, then he collaborated with a rock band called Rage Against the Machine who had just recently let their lead singer go. They formed a super group called Audioslave. (Like a Stone) is the song you should listen too, and put your seatbelts on he will take you there!!!!!

Nutshell.

hair oh win

His last performance

Layne was calm because he was sick it wasn't long after this he passed this wasn't near his prime

He's so calm because he was on heroin and died Nit too long after this was his last televised performance

Such a tragic end for Layne.

Alice in Chains is nothing to sleep on y'all. Please do more

POWERHOUSE VOCALS‼️‼️