Among the many contrived marketing ploys record labels have employed to differentiate their acts, the scheme created for Los Angeles band Life, Sex & Death stands out for its sheer audacity. The group, whose acronym spelled out LSD, promoted its frontman Stanley as a genuine vagrant living on the streets. In promotional images he appeared in attire evoking a more polished Tom Waits, while the remaining members—guitarist Alex Kane, bassist Bill E. Gar, and drummer Brian Michael Horak—looked like standard-issue glam-metal musicians. Chris Stann, the singer’s actual identity, delivered a gravelly yet full-bodied voice that evoked pre-grunge rock, and his lyrics offered considerably more substance and reflection than those typical of most Los Angeles groups. The self-titled 1992 album balanced hard rock and metal with even-handed competence, even if its sonic choices remained conventional. Despite these attributes, the record met with outright commercial failure, and the band dissolved within a few years of its formation; the fabricated homeless backstory may well have hindered rather than helped their prospects at Warner Bros.
