Which of course does not mean his fans may not mourn his passing.
Alice in Chains debut album, "Facelift," was released in 1990 and the group quickly rose to prominence... In a 1996 interview with Rolling Stone magazine,... "now I'm walking through hell, and this sucks." So by his own account, fully half of his career -- much enjoyed by his fans -- sucked. Let's at least hope that in their safe, clean, pseudo-taboo vicarious descent into junkie hell they got good value for their money.