Sometimes, when expressing an opinion, getting the details wrong really hurts your argument. Makes you sound ill-informed. Ignorant. Foolish.

For example (you knew there was a “for example”, didn’t you?), the latest edition of The Onion has previews of upcoming shows here in Denver. Here is one such preview.

Over the past few years, the surviving members of INXS, Queen, The Doors, MC5, and others have proven that the death of an iconic frontman is a surmountable obstacle. All it takes is a flagrant disregard for good taste. Joining those shifty ranks is Alice in Chains, a band that typified the ‘90s grunge scene in Seattle for better or worse (mostly worse). Along with Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, original singer Layne Stanley helped pioneer one of the most irritating vocal styles ever, a dark sing-moan that’s been copied by thousands of crappy bands. Stanley died of a drug overdose in 2002, but the remaining members reunited for a tsunami benefit show in early 2005 and have played regularly since with various substitute singers. Currently, it’s William DuVall of Comes With The Fall (don’t worry, no one else has heard of him either), but fans don’t seem to mind. Most of the shows on the tour have sold out.

Layne Stanley? Who the hell is that?

See, the singer for Alice in Chains was Layne Staley. This Layne Stanley guy must be someone else.

For that matter, is it wrong for a band to carry on without its deceased lead singer? I have a hard time judging, especially when that singer killed himself. See, some people believe that it isn’t paying proper respect to the dead to ask someone to fill their shoes; I say that the singer wasn’t showing overwhelming consideration to bandmates when he offed himself. A band is a business and is it somehow wrong for the remaining members of Alice in Chains to want to continue to make a living from something that they worked for, too?

Jerry Cantrell is, I would say, as responsible for the sound of Alice in Chains as Staley was. His music and lyrics, his vocals, his distinctive guitar work all helped define Alice in Chains--something that is obvious to anyone who has listened to his solo albums, Degradation Trip and Boggy Depot. So, is it right that Cantrell should pay for Staley’s drug abuse?

Whatever. The person who wrote The Onion piece obviously wasn’t a big fan of the “grunge” scene or of Alice in Chains in particular. Which is fine. That he or she couldn’t find the time to get the name of the lead singer right, though, speaks of ignorant--not informed--opinion. It’s no sin to dislike a musical style, a band, or a singer, but, as a favor to those of us of a differing opinion, be professional enough to get the details right.