Expert: Toni Suzanne Blankenship - 7/15/2010

Question
QUESTION: Hello there!

My question is on the Hit Parader article named "Alice in Chains Breaking Loose" (this:http://aic.gsg2007.de/Artikel/Hit%20Parader.html)Why the writer and the guys talk as if that Metallica Tour had really happened?

Thanks in advance.

ANSWER: Hello Anna! Sorry for the un-timely reply. Have been out of town.

The article in question can be considered as fake. The JOF interview part took place but at an earlier date than reported. Jar Of Flies was released in January 1994, and the Metallica tour was scheduled for mid-summer 1994. The supposed "author" just combined his intro with a previous interview, and unfortunately released said article pre-maturely. He also added (or as it's called "padded" with false info). The fake questions about "how the Metallica tour " was going was most likely re-vised from a question about how the band felt about the upcoming tour. The author took liberties and falsified the "responses". He probably felt safe in doing that (STUPID!) because the tour had not been publicly cancelled at the time he wrote (falsified) the article. It shows how much you cannot trust certain publications. Good eye catching and spotting that load of garbage!! You must be a true AIC fan to have noticed it!
Again, sorry for the delay in my reply.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: It's unbelievable that magazine has published an wrong information like this. Do you know if there was not an errata submission or something at a subsequent editions? I mean, this uncorrected article keep being exhibited until this day.

Answer
Hello Again Anna!
I see that you are as outraged as alot of fans feel when articles of this nature are published and then exposed as false. Thankfully, it only happens very rarely. Hit Parader never published an explanation or a retraction. The magazine was going bankrupt at about this same time period, and after the obviously faked article was published, it was too late too come up with an explanation or excuse for the blatant falsification. Hit Parader's reputation took another hard hit.

The only people who could bring "suit" or request a re-traction were the members of AIC. They themselves were too busy with much internal turmoil at this particular time. It is not widely known, but Alice In Chains had actually disbanded when the Metallica tour was cancelled. They didn't want any other stories coming out (supposedly the whole rift was about Layne's relapse after having just come out of rehab, and his reluctance to tour) and so just let the article stand. All their fans knew that the tour never happened, but not why. The band weren't speaking/split up, and everything went to pieces. Later in 1994, Layne hooked up with Mike McCready and they put together the band Mad Season. Alice did not reform until the spring (April) of 1995.

I know that the article is bad journalism, and should have been retracted or explained. Truth is, at the time of it's publication:
1) Hit Parader was already going down (bankruptcy/lawsuits/low sales/staff changes)
2) Alice In Chains had just disbanded, after cancelling the Metallica tour virtually on the eve of it's launch.
3) AIC Management/publicity were not willing to demand correction because then the truth of AIC's breaking up and Layne's drug problems were a much worse story, and bound to leak out.

Hope this helps clarify the surrounding circumstances, possibly explaining why things happened as they did and why the article was never challenged. It's wrong that it was never addressed and retracted, but only proves that you cannot believe everything you read. Especially from a fan rag.