We Die Young

Directly from the linear notes of the Music Bank box set (written by Cantrell):

"I'd just temporarily moved in with Susan Silver because Sean and I had just had a fight. So I was riding the bus to rehersal and I saw all these 9, 10, 11 year olds with beepers dealing drugs. The sight of a 10 year old kid with a beeper and a cell phone dealing drugs equalled 'We Die Young' to me."

"We Die Young is about gang violence. That was something that was happening in Seattle, something that kinda opened our eyes. It just seemed like things were getting out of hand. Incidents where kids were getting shot, and getting their tennis shoes ripped off their dead bodies. It just seems like these kids are dying at younger and younger ages and getting involved in gang activity."

Layne Staley, 1991

RIP Layne

it's pretty much about young,punk kids that are like 9,10,11 and up gettting into gangs and dying at early ages,thus the title

altho i believe this is about violence and murder/death at an early age, i think 9-10yrs is pushing it. ALOT. drugs or drug wars also seem to be a part of it: "Take another hit And bury your brother" Seems to be that no matter how many people die, or how close they are to you, it seems worth it for that hit.

ok heres what i think, this song is the proggression of life, starts off and goes on through and the title "we die young" explains the abrupt ending, i mean it just stops, signaling death at a young age

Please keep in mind this is my own personal interpretation of this song, but I feel like this is a song about war. The guitarist, Jerry Cantrell, had a father who was a veteran in a war, and was highlighted in the video for their later song "Rooster". Although the guitarist himself said the song was about underage filth and crime, maybe the images of the brave men fighting for our country (who were also very young) tied in with his image of the drug use he saw (There were also a large number of soldiers who abused narcotics in Korea/Vietnam). Suppose an image of deja vu came over him, something clicked, and this song was born. But, again, this is my own interpretation, this is how I see the song. Either way, it's still an incredible portrayal of violence, and the horrors for which it bestows. (I had a pretty wild take on this song at first. I thought "Scary's..." was a modified word in place of "Gerrie's..." (not sure on spelling) as what soldiers called the enemy in war. I was almost convinced it was this until I began to read what others wrote, then I changed my opinion. All in all, I think a song is your own personal meaning, how you take it.)

I saw on a Muchmusic they said this song was about kids dying on the streets in gangs and stuff like that.

violence im guessing anyhow great song by a good band

i agree with gang violence

THIS SONG IS NOT ABOUT DRUGS. it IS about gangs and gang violence.