This week on Songs on the Couch, we sit with one of the darkest and most confronting songs of the grunge era: “Would?” by Alice in Chains.

Written as a response to the death of Andrew Wood from Mother Love Bone, Would? isn’t a song about drugs - it’s a song about judgment, shame, and empathy. We unpack how Alice in Chains became the only major grunge band to write openly about heroin addiction while still living inside it, and how Layne Staley’s voice turned vulnerability into something impossible to ignore.

On the couch, we explore the psychology of addiction, internalised stigma, and why this song doesn’t ask for forgiveness - it asks a question. One that still makes listeners uncomfortable decades later.

Heavy music, heavy themes, and a reminder that understanding doesn’t mean approval.