Alice in Chains is an American rock band from Seattle, Washington, formed in 1987 by guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell and drummer Sean Kinney, who later recruited bassist Mike Starr and lead vocalist Layne Staley. Starr was replaced by Mike Inez in 1993. William DuVall joined the band in 2006 as co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist, replacing Staley, who died in 2002. The band took its name from Staley’s previous group, the glam metal band Alice N’ Chains.
Although widely associated with grunge music, Alice in Chains’ sound incorporates heavy metal elements. The band is known for its distinctive vocal style, which often included the harmonized vocals between Staley and Cantrell (and later Cantrell and DuVall). Cantrell started to sing lead vocals on the 1992 acoustic EP Sap, and his role continued to grow in the following albums, making Alice in Chains a two-vocal band.
Alice in Chains rose to international fame as part of the grunge movement of the early 1990’s, along with other Seattle bands such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden. They achieved success during the era with the albums Facelift (1990), Dirt (1992), Alice in Chains (1995), as well as the EP Jar of Flies (1994). Although never officially disbanding, Alice in Chains was plagued by extended inactivity from 1996 onward, due to Staley’s substance abuse, which resulted in his death in 2002. The band toured in 2006, with DuVall taking over as lead vocalist full-time. The new line-up have released the albums Black Gives Way to Blue (2009), The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here (2013), and Rainier Fog (2018).
Alice in Chains have sold over 30 million records worldwide, and over 14 million records in the US alone. The band has had 18 Top 10 songs on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, 5 No. 1 hits, and received 11 Grammy Award nominations. The band was ranked number 34 on VH1’s 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock and was ranked as the 15th greatest live band by Hit Parader. Since its formation, Alice in Chains has released six studio albums, three EPs, three live albums, four compilations, two DVDs, 43 music videos, and 32 singles.
Musical style
Although Alice in Chains has been labeled grunge by the mainstream media, Jerry Cantrell identifies the band as primarily heavy metal. He told Guitar World in 1996, “We’re a lot of different things … I don’t quite know what the mixture is, but there’s definitely metal, blues, rock and roll, maybe a touch of punk. The metal part will never leave, and I never want it to.” The Edmonton Journal has stated, “Living and playing in Seattle might have got them the grunge tag, but they’ve always pretty much been a classic metal band to the core.”
Over the course of their career, the band’s sound has also been described as alternative metal, sludge metal, doom metal, drone rock, hard rock, and alternative rock. Regarding the band’s constant categorization by the media, Cantrell stated “When we first came out we were metal. Then we started being called alternative metal. Then grunge came out and then we were hard rock. And now, since we’ve started doing this again I’ve seen us listed as: hard rock, alternative, alternative metal and just straight metal. I walked into an HMV the other day to check out the placement and see what’s on and they’ve got us relegated back into the metal section. Right back where we started!” Drummer Sean Kinney rejects the grunge label, stating in a 2013 interview “I mean, before we first came out there was no grunge, they hadn’t invented that word. Before they invented the word grunge we were alternative rock and alternative metal and metal and
rock, and we didn’t give a shit whatever, we were a rock and roll band!.” According to Mike Inez, they were always the metal stepchildren of the Seattle scene.
The band are influenced to a great extent by English metal music; in 2018, Jerry Cantrell proclaimed Black Sabbath guitarist Tommy Iommi as “one of his biggest” inspirations, whilst Layne Staley named his “first influences” as Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. Cantrell adjudged English rock singer Elton John as “the artist that made me want to be a musician”. In addition, members of Alice in Chains have cited artists including AC/DC, The Beatles, David Bowie, Miles Davis, Hanoi Rocks, Jimi Hendrix, King’s X, Kiss, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Queensrÿche, the Rolling Stones, Scorpions, Soundgarden, U2, UFO, Van Halen, and ZZ Top as influential or inspirational.
Jerry Cantrell’s guitar style combines “pummeling riffs and expansive guitar textures” to create “slow, brooding minor-key grinds”. He is also recognized for his natural ability to blend acoustic and electric guitars. While down-tuned, distorted guitars mixed with Staley’s distinctive “snarl-to-a-scream” vocals appealed to heavy metal fans, the band also had “a sense of melody that was undeniable”, which introduced Alice in Chains to a much wider audience outside of the heavy metal underground.
According to Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic, Alice in Chains’ sound has a “Black Sabbath-style riffing and an unconventional vocal style”. The band has been described by Erlewine as “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”. Three of the band’s releases feature acoustic music, and while the band initially kept these releases separate, Alice in Chains’ self-titled album combined the styles to form “a bleak, nihilistic sound that balanced grinding hard rock with subtly textured acoustic numbers”.
Alice in Chains is also noted for the unique vocal harmonies of Staley (or DuVall) and Cantrell, which included overlapping passages, dual lead vocals, and trademark harmonies typically separated by a major third. Cantrell said it was Staley who gave him the self-assurance to sing his own songs. Alyssa Burrows said the band’s distinctive sound “came from Staley’s vocal style and his lyrics dealing with personal struggles and addiction”. Staley’s songs were often considered “dark”, with themes such as drug abuse, depression, and suicide, while Cantrell’s lyrics often dealt with personal relationships.
Legacy
Alice in Chains has sold over 14 million records in the United States, and over 30 million records worldwide, released two number-one albums, had 23 top 40 singles, and has received eleven Grammy nominations.The band was ranked number 34 on VH1’s 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock. Alice in Chains was named 15th greatest live band by Hit Parader, with vocalist Layne Staley placing as 27th greatest heavy metal vocalist of all time. The band’s second album, Dirt, was named 5th best album in the last two decades by Close-Up magazine in 2008.
In October 2008, Guitar World ranked Jerry Cantrell’s solo in “Man In The Box” at No. 77 on their list of “100 Greatest Guitar Solos”. In August 2009, Alice in Chains won the Kerrang! Icon Award.
In November 2011, Jar of Flies was ranked number four on Guitar World magazine’s top ten list of guitar albums of 1994. It was also featured in Guitar World magazine’s “Superunknown: 50 Iconic Albums That Defined 1994” list, and in May 2014, the EP was placed at number five on Loudwire’s “10 Best Hard Rock Albums of 1994” list.
Pantera and Damageplan guitarist Dimebag Darrell had expressed his admiration for Jerry Cantrell’s guitar work in an interview for Guitar International in 1995, saying that “the layering and the honest feel that Jerry Cantrell gets on [Alice in Chains’ Dirt] record is worth a lot more than someone who plays five million notes”.
Street musician Wesley Willis wrote a song about the band entitled “Alice in Chains”, featured on his 1996 album Feel The Power.
Billy Corgan revealed that the song “Bleeding The Orchid” from The Smashing Pumpkins’ 2007 album Zeitgeist has a bit of an homage to Alice in Chains in the harmonies and was indirectly inspired by the death of Layne Staley.
Elton John stated that he is a fan of Alice in Chains and a big admirer of Jerry Cantrell. According to Jon Wiederhorn of MTV, Godsmack has “sonically followed Alice in Chains’ lead while adding their own distinctive edge”. Godsmack singer and founder Sully Erna has also cited Layne Staley as his primary influence. Godsmack was named after the Alice in Chains song “God Smack” from the album Dirt. Staind has covered Alice in Chains’ song “Nutshell” live, which appears on the compilation The Singles: 1996-2006, and also wrote a song entitled “Layne”, dedicated to Staley, on the album 14 Shades of Grey. Three Days Grace also performs a cover of “Rooster”, which can be seen on the DVD Live at the Palace. Other bands that have been influenced by Alice in Chains include Korn, Creed, Nickelback, Taproot, Stone Sour, Puddle of Mudd, Queens of the Stone Age, Rains, Theory of a Deadman, A Pale Horse Named Death, Smile Empty Soul, Avenged Sevenfold, Seether, Incubus, Hoobastank, Mudvayne, 10 Years, Breaking Benjamin, Days of the New, Dallas Green, and Tantric. Metallica said they have always wanted to tour with the band, citing Alice in Chains as a major inspiration for their 2008 release, Death Magnetic.
Alice in Chains has also had a significant influence on modern heavy metal. Their songs were covered by various metal bands such as In Flames, Opeth, Dream Theater, Secrets of the Moon, Suicide Silence, 36 Crazyfists, Cane Hill, Ektomorf, Dritt Skitt, Grave and Thou, who described their 2018 EP Rhea Sylvia as “a melodic grunge, Alice in Chains homage”. In 2009, Anders Fridén of Swedish melodic death metal band In Flames cited Layne Staley as an inspiration for his vocals on the band’s later albums. In addition to fellow musicians, the band has also received praise from critics, with Steve Huey of AllMusic calling them “one of the best metal bands of the ’90s” upon reviewing the 1999 compilation Nothing Safe.
In 2009, the Vitamin String Quartet released the album The String Quartet Tribute to Alice in Chains, featuring instrumental versions on viola, violin and cello of 12 of the band’s biggest hits.
In August 2015, journalist David de Sola published the biography Alice in Chains: The Untold Story. An updated version covering the period from 2014 to 2017 was published in November 2018. Neither the band nor their management had any involvement with the book. Sources tied directly to the band were interviewed instead.
In June 2017, Metal Injection ranked Alice in Chains at number 1 on their list of “10 Heaviest Grunge Bands”. Ozzy Osbourne ranked Facelift at number 9 on his list of “10 Favorite Metal Albums”.
The claymation dolls of the band members used in the music video for “I Stay Away” are on display at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame museum in Cleveland, Ohio.
Tracklist
A1 Dam That River
A2 Them Bones
A3 Would?
A4 Love, Hate, Love
A5 God Smack
B1 Junkhead
B2 A Little Bitter
B3 Rain When I Die
B4 Hate To Feel
Alice in Chains discography (Studio albums)
Facelift (1990)
Dirt (1992)
Alice in Chains (1995)
Black Gives Way to Blue (2009)
The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here (2013)
Rainier Fog (2018)
Current members
Jerry Cantrell – lead guitar, vocals (1987–1998, 2005–present), rhythm guitar (1987–1992, 2005–2006)
Sean Kinney – drums, backing vocals (1987–1998, 2005–present)
Mike Inez – bass guitar, backing vocals (1993–1998, 2005–present)
William DuVall – vocals, rhythm guitar (2006–present)
Former members
Layne Staley – lead vocals (1987–1998); occasional rhythm guitar (1992–1998); died 2002
Mike Starr – bass guitar, backing vocals (1987–1993); died 2011
Associated acts
Sleze
Alice N’ Chains
Diamond Lie
Gypsy Rose
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