Alice in Chains made no impression on me as a teenager. I grew up in the UK, where grunge in general and this band in particular made less of an impact than in the US. Moreover, I came of age at the end of the 90s, after the relentless wave of flannel shirts, heroin addiction, and self-loathing had already abated, replaced by the bouncing, bilious, baseball cap-wearing doyens of shock rock and nu metal. I was aware of, but didn’t much care for, Nirvana and Pearl Jam, while Alice in Chains simply did not register. I was encouraged to explore their back catalogue by some American friends of mine – and the experience has left me somewhat shaken. Their music is harrowing; it brings to mind teenagers slumped on the floor of some grimy train station toilet, shooting up, like the heroin addicted child prostitutes of the soul-destroying German autobiography Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo. I’m not sure if rock music gets any darker than 90s-era Alice in Chains – even Nirvana had moments of levity and irony, while things didn’t end quite so badly for Trent Reznor as they did for Layne Staley. Which, of course, brings us to the – in my opinion, unfortunate – fact that Alice in Chains continued after Staley’s departure in 1995, and ultimate death from a heroin overdose in 2002. This is unfortunate because, from my perspective, and despite Jerry Cantrell’s obvious and considerable talent, Alice in Chains’ post-1995 albums are the work of an entirely different band. They belong squarely in the 90s and, for this reason, I exclude their post-Staley material from this ranking, leaving only four records for consideration – Facelift, their 1990 debut; Dirt, released in 1992: the EP Jar of Flies, which came out in 1994; and their self-titled album from 1995.
Facelift (1990)
The second half of Alice in Chains’ debut album is uncomfortably reminiscent of 80s hair metal, an unfortunate conjuring of Skid Row, Motley Crue, perhaps Guns N’ Roses at their most generic, and liberal dollops of Black Album-era Metallica (the vocal style occasionally verges on copyright infringement). Tellingly, however, the lyrics on Facelift mostly eschew the life-affirming, occasionally vindictive exuberance of hair metal, dealing instead with an (albeit vaguely articulated) sense of self-loathing, interpersonal dysfunction, and addiction. There are several clues on this album that Alice in Chains not only had a darker and more interesting potential than their contemporaries, but that something was seriously amiss with whoever was writing the lyrics. This becomes most apparent on the album’s highlights, “We Die Young”, “Sea of Sorrow”, and especially “Man in the Box”, with its profoundly disturbing, but immensely powerful chorus. Ultimately, the best moments on Facelift come when Alice in Chains dispense with the hairspray, and pioneer the menacing grunge style that would define mid-90s American rock music.
* *
Standout track: “Man in the Box”
Dirt (1992)
So much for the ‘difficult second album’. Dirt is the crowd favourite, and a defining classic of grunge. It’s relentlessly dark and unremittingly hard, which again testifies to the fact that Alice in Chains were more metal influenced than their contemporaries. Happily, however, the album never goes in the plodding, doomy direction of the self-titled album, while the appreciable disjunct evident on Facelift between the swaggering 80s metal and the self-loathing of the lyrics had been thoroughly expunged by this point. The resultingly dirty and abrasive sound is perhaps the most representative rendering of grunge music on record, most notably on “Would?”, the album’s feral, threatening closer. A worrying proportion of Dirt’s lyrical content – “Them Bones”, “Rain When I Die”, “Down in a Hole” – is about death, or some grim foretelling of death, or some reference to the grave. Layne Staley, it would appear, knew what awaited him. When he isn’t reflecting on looming oblivion, he’s generally talking about drugs, how much he loves them (“Junkhead”), or how much they’ve messed his life up (“Sickman”). Overall, it’s harrowing and hard going, though a rare and precious shaft of light is provided by “Rooster”, a simultaneously downbeat and rousing tribute to Jerry Cantrell’s father, a veteran of the Vietnam War.
* * * * *
Standout track: “Would?”
Jar of Flies (1994)
This EP was apparently put together in a single week, as an experiment to introduce the new bass player to the band. It’s a triumph, an island of melancholy calm in the ocean of fire and madness represented by Dirt and Alice in Chains, the records that preceded and followed it. The songs on Jar of Flies are more melodious, more radio friendly, and altogether gentler – “No Excuses” borders on REM-esque jangle pop; “Rotten Apple” and “I Stay Away” are rockier, but much less demonic than the material on Dirt or Alice in Chains, and certainly among the band’s finest work. “Nutshell” is almost unlistenably sad, and the point where the terrible toll taken by fame and addiction on Layne Staley becomes most palpable. There’s an unexpected warmth and optimism on “Don’t Follow”, which is basically a country song, complete with sleepy straw-chewing harmonica. The haunting instrumental “Whale and Wasp” carries menace, but also considerable tenderness. But these later songs, and the unhinged closer “Swing on This”, hint at gathering storm clouds. As Layne sings, “say goodbye, don’t follow” – as if he knew where he was headed. This only makes Jar of Flies more affecting and more impressive as an artistic achievement.
* * * * *
Standout track: “Nutshell”
Alice in Chains (1995)
Cheery sentiments about planning Layne Staley’s funeral open Alice in Chains, the band’s self-titled third album, and the tone doesn’t change much throughout the following hour. This was the last album recorded with Staley, at the height of his heroin addiction, and from the first minute to the last, the dial is set at unremitting misery and hostility, toward self and others. The sound, meanwhile, seems almost wilfully uncommercial and abrasive when compared with its predecessor. This is basically a heavy metal record. Staley delivers a rather half-assed performance, which is understandable given his predicament, but unfortunate, given his central importance to my enjoyment of the band. Unfortunate, too, is that the songs aren’t really to my taste. They’re too long, too plodding, too doomy for a sissy such as myself, especially when compared with the four-minute slices of blistering hard rock on Dirt. The lyrics are also, at times, worryingly incoherent. There are undoubtedly highlights – “Grind” is an uncompromising opener; “Heaven Beside You” is a strange, unsettlingly jaunty slice of acoustic-flavoured grunge; and “Over Now” brings a poignant end to the album. Overall, though, not my drug of choice, so to speak.
* *
Standout track: “Grind”
Ranking
1. Jar of Flies
2. Dirt
3. Facelift
4. Alice in Chains
Selected playlist
1. Them Bones
2. Man in the Box
3. Grind
4. We Die Young
5. Would?
6. Over Now
7. No Excuses
8. Rooster
9. Nutshell
10. Don’t Follow