ALICE IN CHAINS BAND PAGE
 ALICE IN CHAINS
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CURRENT NAME
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Alice In Chains |
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FORMER NAMES
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- |
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ORIGIN
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Seattle, Washington, USA |
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STATUS
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Active |
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FORMED IN
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1987 |
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LABEL
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Virgin Records |
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GENRE
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Grunge |
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STYLE
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- |
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LYRICAL THEME
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- |
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BAND ADDED
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2004-03-20, 00:00 |
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LAST UPDATE
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2010-11-29, 15:40 |
In many ways, Alice in Chains was the definitive heavy metal
band of the early '90s. Drawing equally from the heavy riffing of
post-Van Halen metal and the gloomy strains of post-punk, the band developed
a bleak, nihilistic sound that balanced grinding hard rock with subtly
textured acoustic numbers. They were hard enough for metal fans, yet
their dark subject matter and punky attack placed them among the front
ranks of the Seattle-based grunge bands. While this dichotomy helped the
group soar to multi-platinum status with their second album, 1992's
Dirt, it also divided them. Guitarist Jerry Cantrell always leaned toward
the mainstream, while vocalist Layne Staley was fascinated with the
seamy underground. Such tension drove the band toward stardom in their
early years, but following Dirt, Alice in Chains suffered from
near-crippling internal tensions that kept the band off the road for the remainder
of the '90s and, consequently, the group never quite fulfilled !
their potential.
Staley formed the initial incarnation of the band while in high school
in the mid-'80s, naming the group Alice N Chains. Staley met Cantrell
in 1987 at the Seattle rehearsal warehouse the Music Bank and the two
began working together, changing the group's name to Alice in Chains.
Cantrell's friends Mike Starr (bass) and Sean Kinney (drums) rounded out
the lineup,and the band began playing local Seattle clubs. Columbia
Records signed the group in 1989 and the label quickly made the band a
priority, targeting heavy metal audiences. Early in 1990, the label
released the We Die Young EP as a promotional device and the song became a hit
on metal radio, setting the stage for the summer release of the group's
debut, Facelift. Alice in Chains supported the album by opening for Van
Halen, Poison, and Iggy Pop, and it became a hit, going gold by the end
of the year. As the band prepared their second album, they released the
largely acoustic EP Sap in 1991 to strong reviews.
Prior to the release of Alice in Chains' second album, Seattle became a
media sensation thanks to the surprise success of Nirvana. As a result,
Alice was now marketed as an alternative band, not as a metal outfit,
and the group landed a song, the menacing "Would?," on the Singles
soundtrack during the summer of 1992. "Would?" helped build anticipation for
Dirt, the group's relentlessly bleak second album that was released in
the fall of 1992 to very good reviews. Following its release, Starr
left and was replaced by Mike Inez. Dirt went platinum by the end of 1992,
but its gloomy lyrics launched many rumors that Staley was addicted to
heroin. Alice in Chains soldiered on in the face of such criticism,
performing successfully on the third Lollapalooza tour in 1993, which
helped Dirt reach sales of three million.
The band released the low-key EP Jar of Flies in early 1994. It debuted
at number one upon its release, becoming the first EP to top the album
charts. Despite the band's continued success, they stayed off the road,
which fueled speculation that Staley was mired in heroin addiction.
Later that year, Staley did give a few concerts as part of the Gacy Bunch,
a Seattle supergroup also featuring Pearl Jam's Mike McCready, the
Screaming Trees' Barrett Martin, and John Saunders. The group subsequently
renamed itself Mad Season and released Above in early 1995. Later that
year, Alice in Chains re-emerged with an eponymous third album, which
debuted at number one on the American charts. Again, the band chose not
to tour, which launched yet another round of speculation that band was
suffering from various addictions and were on the verge of disbanding.
The group did give one concert — their first in three years — in 1996,
performing for an episode of MTV Unplugged, which was released !
as an album that summer. Despite its success, the album did nothing to
dispel doubts about the group's future and neither did Cantrell's solo
album, Boggy Depot, in 1998.
Cantrell basically released Boggy Depot because he couldn't get Staley
to work, but its very existence — and the presence of Inez and Kinney
on the record, not to mention Alice producer Toby Wright — seemed to
confirm that the group was on moratorium at best, defunct at worst.
Staley, for his part, stayed quiet, conceding his spot on Mad Season's second
album to Screaming Trees singer Mark Lanegan. In 1999, Sony put
together a three-disc Alice in Chains box set, Music Bank, divided between the
group's best work and assorted rarities. At the turn of the new
millennium, Columbia Records issued Live, which plucked material from
bootlegs, demos, and festival shows covering the years 1990, 1993, and 1996.
As if the group hadn't been repackaged as many times as possible with
its limited repertoire, a ten-track best-of set, Greatest Hits, appeared
in July 2001. With no sign of the group reclaiming their spot atop the
alt-metal heap (and such copycat acts as Godsmack, Days of the New,
Puddle of Mudd, and Creed taking the Alice in Chains formula to the top of
the charts), Cantrell completed his sophomore solo effort, Degradation
Trip, in 2002. But just two months before the album's release, in April
2002, the news that every Alice in Chains fan had been fearing for
years had finally come to pass: Layne Staley was found dead due to a lethal
overdose of cocaine and heroin. Although understandably grief-stricken,
Cantrell launched his solo album's supporting tour according to
schedule, opting to open shows in the summer for another Alice in
Chains-influenced band, Nickelback.
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Buy Alice In Chains albums
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Song: Check My Brain
