When it comes to 1990s rock artists and its most famous grunge groups, Alice in Chains often gets overlooked. But when the dust settles, the band might be the best of all.
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With co-lead singers Layne Staley (a dynamic, morbid artist who passed away too young in 2002 at the age of 32) and Jerry Cantrell (who continues along with the band in its new format), the group was big, hard, heavy, and sharp like a double-edged sword.
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Here below, though, we wanted to dive into four songs that made the band globally famous—four songs you likely didn’t know Cantrell wrote on his own for Alice in Chains.
“Them Bones”
With a searing voice, Staley sings over heavy metal guitars and percussion that could shatter your spirit on this song, released on the band’s 1992 album Dirt. One of the band’s biggest hits, as evidenced by it being included on several greatest hits albums, the track features big riffs and lyrics about death, grave,s and other bleak, morbid subject matter. What else would you expect from perhaps the heaviest band to come from the Pacific Northwest grunge scene? Sings Staley on the two-and-a-half-minute song written by Cantrell,
I believe them bones are me
Some say we’re born into the grave
I feel so alone
Gonna end up a big ol’ pile of them bones
Dust rise right on over my time
Empty fossil of the new scene
I feel so alone
Gonna end up a big ol’ pile of them bones
“Rooster”
Also released on Dirt and featured on the band’s iconic MTV Unplugged Performance, this song is one of the more personal tracks from Cantrell, who wrote it about his father, Jerry Cantrell Sr., a veteran of the Vietnam War. “Rooster” was a nickname for Jerry Sr., given to him by his own father for his cocky nature—one the military couldn’t beat out of him, even though they tried. In the band’s box set Music Bank, Cantrell wrote of the track, “It was the start of the healing process between my Dad and I from all that damage that Vietnam caused.” On it, Staley sings,
Ain’t found a way to kill me yet
Eyes burn with stingin’ sweat
Seems every path leads me to nowhere, mm-mm
Wife and kids, household pet
Army green was no safe bet
The bullets scream to me from somewhere
Here they come to snuff the Rooster, aw, yeah
Yeah, here come the Rooster, yeah
You know he ain’t gonna die
No, no, no, you know he ain’t gonna die
“Down in a Hole”
Also from Dirt, this song investigates the feelings of being so far into something emotionally you may never get out. Written by Cantrell (strangely) for his then-romantic partner Courtney Clarke, the musician said of the song on the Music Bank box set liner notes, “It’s hard for us to both understand …that this life is not conducive to much success with long-term relationships.” Sings Cantrell and Staley, in unison to open the song,
Bury me softly in this womb
I give this part of me for you
Sand rains down and here I sit
Holding rare flowers in a tomb, in bloom
Then Staley sings in the chorus,
Down in a hole and I don’t know if I can be saved
See my heart, I decorate it like a grave
Oh, you don’t understand who they thought I was supposed to be
Look at me now, a man who won’t let himself be
“Would?”
This song was written by Cantrell in honor of fallen grunge icon Andrew Wood, who died just days before his own band Mother Love Bone released their debut LP Apple. In a 2017 interview about the track, Cantrell said, “A really significant thing for all of us—was kind of a heavier foreshadowing of some things that would directly affect us and our friends—was the death of Andy Wood. That song was me thinking about him like we all did, and trying to put that down and just kind of write a little ode for him.” Sings Staley,
Know me broken by my master
Teach thee on child of love hereafter
Into the flood again
Same old trip it was back then
So I made a big mistake
Try to see it once my way
Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images
