RIP Mark Lanegan: His Essential Playlist: We celebrate the late singer’s legacy with a 30 song Spotify playlist.

Today, the music world lost a titan, the gravelly voiced,  inimitable vocalist Mark Lanegan, has died at the age of 57.

While the details are scarce (the singer had been suffering after a long and treacherous bout with COVID), the loss is palpable. He was truly a genre unto himself, mixing alternative rock, folk and blues to great, cinematic effect. By many accounts a grumpy individual, but capable of pulling beauty from sparse musical arrangements.

While Lanegan came of age as a singer for Seattle rockers Screaming Trees, he saw his status rise, not shrink, after leaving that underrated group.

He would go on to launch a solo career as well as a long list of collaborations, including fellow rain soaked acts Nirvana and supergroup Mad Season (his pairings with Cobain and Staley are a sobering realization that Eddie Vedder, Mark Arm and Tad Doyle are some of the last frontmen standing from the grunge era).

Indeed, many of his fans were unfamiliar with his work with the Screaming Trees (sans sole breakthrough hit Nearly Lost You). Instead he came to many listeners attention through his work with Queens of The Stone Age, doing lead vocals on tracks like Into The Fade, Hanging Tree and more.

His momentum continued, working with an array of artists including The Afghan Whigs Greg Dulli (with both The Gutter Twins and The Twilight Singers), PJ Harvey, Moby, Soulsavers, Martina Topley-Bird (covering the xx) and many more.

And that’s not even touching on his solo career, including highlights like 2004’s Bubblegum, 2014’s Phantom Radio, and the outtakes collection Houston.

Indeed, choosing the best tracks from such a prolific singer was akin to pulling teeth. My original plan was to choose his 10 best, which was a fools errand, then I thought I could limit it to the top 20, but even that was too constraining. I could have gone all damn day but I finally capped it at 30 (even then it feels like merely scratching the surface. Feel free to add your own favorites in the comments).

So let’s celebrate the memory of this whiskey voiced dynamo with the Spotify playlist below, featuring many of the aforementioned selections, and many more.

This is a true loss of a unique musical talent, and the best way we can remember him is through his artistry, which expressed heartbreak, solace, yearning and worldweary musings in one unique package.

RIP Mark Lanegan, 1964-2022.