In an interview conducted by Warren Huart, engineer Dave Jerden remembers his time with Alice In Chains and Layne Staley in the 1990’s. He remembered a famous Los Angeles metal station disrespecting Staley. Alternative Nation transcribed Huart’s comments.
“When we first put this song out [‘Man in the Box’], radio stations all turned it down. They all said Layne’s voice is wrong. There was this metal station here in Los Angeles and this woman that was on – what do they call that- program director-she was on the radio saying how proud she was about this band she found and all this stuff and its going on the radio.
I was driving to the Concrete Foundation which is a metal thing where all the producers of the radio station get together – I went straight to her and said ‘you’re full of shit- I produced Man in the Box,’ and she turned around and walked away because she know exactly what I was going to say.
They’re bragging about Alice In Chains and they turned them down. They said Layne’s voice was all wrong. That was the first station we went to. There was this syndicated radio station in Texas- they had 100 stations in the country. They picked it up and that was it.”
