10 Amazing Hard Rock Songs Featuring Killer Guest Stars
8. Black Gives Way to Blue - Alice in Chains
Having a record like Black Gives Way to Blue in your arsenal feels like it shouldn't really be possible. Alice in Chains were virtually dead in the water once Layne Staley passed away, and to see them have a second act like this is something that most rock fans only dream of. That pain never does go away though, and sometimes you need someone to comfort you through it all.
Being the only tribute to Layne on the entire record, the title track is one of the prettiest sounding songs in the Alice songbook, featuring an amazing piano performance that you don't normally hear in their tunes. This isn't just some session work either, with the band actually getting Elton John to come play the piece that they wrote.
For fans of Elton's style, his fingerprints are all over this one too, having just the right attention to melody while never really getting in the way and letting Jerry Cantrell do his thing with the arrangements. Jerry was originally hesitant to even ask Elton at first, convinced that he wouldn't do it or it would be too different from what he normally played. Then again, when you have the same amount of emotion in your song, a common thread can come from all sorts of places.