A.D. Amorosi Mark Lanegan’s nickname — “Dark Mark” — was no accident. As evidenced by the music and especially the autobiography of the Washington-born singer — who died Tuesday at the age of 57 after long battles with substance abuse, kidney disease and recently Covid-19 — were as darkly uplifting as they were distinctive.Anchored by his forceful baritone, his best songs depicted scenes of “decadence, depravity, anything, everything,” as he wrote in his 2020 autobiography, “Sing Backwards and Weep.”Despite his forbidding demeanor, after rising to prominence with the Screaming Trees in the late 1980s, Lanegan worked with a wide array of artists, ranging from Queens of the Stone Age to Belle & Sebastian’s Isobel Campbell to Marianne Faithfull.
Here are twelve of Lanegan’s brightest dark musical moments. Screaming Trees “Night Comes Creeping” (1988) Three years into their career, the band that allowed Lanegan to escape his hated backwater hometown of Ellensburg, Washington signed with white-hot indie label SST.
The group’s second album for the label, “Invisible Lantern,” was capped with this thrashing yet melodic closing track, “Night Comes Creeping.” It blazes by with a chiming, Byrds-y guitar line and Lanegan’s growling croon high in the mix.Mark Lanegan – “Down in the Dark” (1990) This dour, galloping track from Lanegan’s first solo album is one of two from that set to feature his friend Kurt Cobain on backing vocals.
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