Soundtrack of Your Life: Mad Season - "River of Deceit"

MAD SEASON - "RIVER OF DECEIT" from their 1995 album, "ABOVE"

Whoo buddy, I loved me some Alice in Chains in the 90's. There was no one more bummed than I was when Alice frontman Layne Staley shuffled off this mortal coil in April 2002 from a drug overdose. I was especially a big fan of the ballads that were a specialty of that band, because of Layne's superior rock singing and his harmonizing with guitarist Jerry Cantrell. "River of Deceit" by Alice In Chains side project Mad Season was like an exquisitely wrapped tasty treat for Layne-iacs back in the 90's.

The Nineties was kind of side project heaven in the music scene, with a large number of those more successful ones being concentrated in the so-called "grunge" bands of the moment, including Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, in the form of Brad (PJ side project formed by guitarist Stone Gossard) and Temple of The Dog (which included Eddie Vedder, Chris Cornell, Stone Gossard, PJ bassist Jeff Ament, PJ guitarist Mike McCready, and Soundgarden's Matt Cameron on drums). Mad Season was formed 1994 and featured Layne Staley of Alice in Chains, Mike McCready of Pearl Jam and drummer Barrett Martin of the excellent Screaming Trees, a band that your 90's-ologist has not yet had the time to laud, but soon will, I promise. The band eventually disbanded in 1999 after one successful album (1995's "Above") and the death of bassist John Baker Saunders from a heroin overdose.

If you want even more details about the band, MTV has a very comprehensive article for you. Me, I really just want to talk about this wonderful song. The reason I even remembered it is because I have a really supportive mom who has been enabling my pop culture habit for years. She finally sent the tapes of my college radio show (the tapes are mostly between 1997 and 1999, though I had a show all four years of college,'96-2000) to me, and "River of Deceit" is one of the first songs that caught my eye. Layne's prodigious vocal talent was on full display here. He was one of the reasons that my transition from R&B/Hip-Hop and dance music was so smooth...this white boy can sang! This, along with the top-notch guitar stylings (which are like some good-ass Pearl Jam leftovers), made this song a staple of a 90's rock diet.

I really wanted to show you guys the video for this song, but Sony BMG isn't having it. Here's a live clip instead, lucky you!