If I say the name Mark Lanegan you mind might go to the Screaming Trees The band vaulted him into his iconic status. But He left his mark as a musician with greater depth on his worked that continued on after the Screaming Trees. The world lost a greater talent than just a rock singer now that Mark Lanegan is dead at the age of 57. He was like the Oscar Wilde of grunge, now he is the voice of wisdom crawling from the shadows, almost a bard of Tom Waits magnitude.
Mark died his home in Ireland. We should all be surprised Mark Lanegan made it to 57. He lived a life wrestling with addiction and mental illness. Early reports suggest it was covid related, but the singer had already penned a book called 'Devil in a Coma" regarding his experiences with co-vid. It is likely that he had worn his internal organs out from abuse so he never fully recovered, or the media are like ghouls when it comes to death so we might never know. Early speculation was suicide, which lines up with his grunge peers he survived. This pretty much leave Eddie Vedder as the last of the grunge singers.
After Screaming Trees he went on to work with Queens of the Stoneage. His smoky baritone known for slithering around grooves provide a change in mood from the other vocal approaches of that band. Rather than try to carry a torch for the music of an era which was a cultural shift more than just a music genre. I think this more reflective nature he possessed kept him alive as long as it did a rip 30 years longer than his friend Kurt who joined the 27 club. What I appreciate about Mark and the music he left behind for us is he died leaving a body of work that is free form venturing forward into lost years of confusion aging rock stars sometimes never come back from. His memory is intact and honored, we celebration what he left behind as he is passing on into the sweet oblivion.
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