Mark Langan, the leader of the band Screaming Trees, dies at the age of 57
Mark Lanegan, the gruff-voiced singer who fronted Screaming Trees before going on to have a successful solo career, died Tuesday at his Killarney, Ireland, home. "No more information is available at this time, At this time, the family requests that everyone respect their privacy." Lanegan was 57 years old.
Lanegan rose to popularity in the late 1980s and early 1990s as the frontman In the early days of the band, his rich, dramatic voice gave weight to guitarist-songwriter Gary Lee Conner's compositions before he took on a more active role himself.
The tracks "Nearly Lost You" and "All I Know" are charted in the Top 10 on Billboard's Modern Rock chart. Lanegan launched a concurrent solo career during his time with Trees, commencing with the 1990s The Winding Sheet, an album that featured guest appearances by Nirvana's Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic. After Screaming Trees disbanded in 2000, he pursued a solo career, frequently performing with Queens of the Stone Age and collaborating with former Belle and Sebastian singer Isobel Campbell, Duke Garwood, and Afghan Whigs' Greg Dulli. The latter group was known as the Gutter Twins.
Lanegan's memoir Sing Backwards and Weep, published in 2020, goes into exquisite detail about his early years. Behind the scenes, he battled alcoholism and heroin addiction while continuing to pursue a musical career. He went to treatment for the first time after Courtney Love paid for it. He described why Love benefited him in a Rolling Stone interview after the book came out. "I recall Courtney sending me a letter in which she stated, 'Kurt loved you as a big brother and would have wanted you to survive.'" "The world needs you to live," he explained. He later met Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme (who played as a second guitarist in the band).
On November 25, 1964, Mark William Lanegan was born in Ellensburg, Washington, roughly 100 miles southeast of Seattle. Lanegan's parents were both teachers who divorced when he was young. In his memoir, he claims that his mother was verbally abusive to him, therefore he chose to live with his father. "My father spent very little time attempting to parent me," he wrote.
Clairvoyance, Screaming Trees' debut album, was released to minimal attention in 1986. The music was a psychedelic whirlwind of guitar, church organ, and Lanegan's raspy vocals. After joining SST, the band issued similar-sounding records every year until 1989, during which time it gained a loyal local fanbase.
After a show, one fan approached Lanegan and said, "I'm a tremendous fan of yours." Please contact me if you ever need an opening or want to do anything musical together." Lanegan and Gary Lee had co-produced Jamboree, the 1988 Beat Happening album Lanegan and Gary Lee had co-produced. Lanegan recounted in his memoir a later incident in which Novoselic begged to join the Trees, but Lanegan advised him to stay.
Lanegan began writing his songs for his solo debut, 1990's The Winding Sheet, after feeling artistically constrained in Screaming Trees. (Cobain ended up singing on two tracks on the album, "Down in the Dark" and a rendition of Lead Belly's "Where Did You Sleep Last Night," both of which included Novoselic.) The following year, Nirvana became a worldwide phenomenon, and Lanegan reaped some of the benefits from both the interest in The Winding Sheet and the publication of Screaming Trees' Uncle Anesthesia.
The band's biggest hit was "Nearly Lost You," which was put on the soundtrack for Cameron Crowe's love letter to Seattle, Singles. Lanegan had discovered heroin and was drinking again by this point. In a 2012 interview with Spin, he cringed as he reflected on the origins of "Nearly Lost You," which also appeared on the Trees' Sweet Oblivion album. "It's one of those tunes I'd rather not hear again," he stated. “Why? Because it was written particularly to be single. It's a cheesy, corny song. But, hey, what the hell? That's all there is to it." When asked if it was ever requested by fans at his solo gigs, he responded never. "Fortunately, they have better taste." (Despite Lanegan's assertions)
Screaming Trees released one more album, Dust, in 1996, which included the hits "All I Know" and "Sworn and Broken," but continued to tour until 2000. Lanegan, meanwhile, continued to release solo albums. In January 1994, he released Whiskey for the Holy Ghost, one of his best albums, which had more nuanced and emotive songs than The Winding Sheet. Lanegan's drug addiction increased after Cobain committed suicide a few months later.
The following year, Lanegan worked with Alice in Chains vocalist Staley on "I'm Above" and "Long Day Gone," both of which appeared on Mad Season's debut album, Above. (The supergroup, which also included Pearl.)
Lanegan cleaned up when his life in Seattle, where he had moved in the 1990s, became unsafe. He'd duped a heroin dealer and had a cop on his tail, so he looked into the Musicians' Assistance Program in California, which Courtney Love had told him about. He told Rolling Stone, "They paid for my rehab." "However, I found I needed a lot more than that, and Courtney ended up paying my rent there for months." After years of causing myself harm, I was also unemployable and a physical wreck.
Lanegan moved into a recovery facility after completing his treatment.