Friday, August 8, 2008
Live from Planet Earth Alice in Chains: Articles
A metal band with an alternative-rock edge, Alice in Chains was among the biggest to emerge from the grunge scene that spawned Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden. The group's dark, bitter songs, laden with references to drug addiction and death, occupy a musical landscape somewhere between Metallica's dense head bangers and Pearl Jam's grinding anthems. Layne Staley formed Alice in Chains with an earlier lineup while still in high school. In 1987 he met Jerry Cantrell at the Music Bank, a notorious Seattle warehouse rehearsal space, and the two put together the newly christened Alice in Chains along with Cantrell cohorts Kinney and Starr. By 1989 the group had signed to Columbia Records, where it became the beneficiary of an aggressive promotion campaign that saw the release of a five-song promotional EP, We Die Young, and had the group opening for a range of disparate acts, including Iggy Pop and Poison. As a result, by September 1991, Face Lift (#42) had sold a half-million copies and featured the Grammy-nominated “Man in the Box.” A low-key and mostly acoustic EP, Sap, and a track in the Seattle youth culture movie Singles kept the band in the public eye between albums.
The group’s thematically bleaker sophomore effort, Dirt (#6), went platinum in 1992 (eventually selling 3 million copies), and the group’s appearance on the following summer’s Lollapalooza Tour confirmed its popularity. Reports of drug abuse, however, had begun to plague Staley and the band; a couple of songs from Dirt - “Junkhead” and “Angry Chair” - had hinted at mental fatigue and self-destruction. Yet Alice in Chains’ success was at an all-time high: In late 1993 Dirt went double-platinum, and the following year the acoustic Jar of Flies rocketed to #1, the first EP to ever top the Billboard album chart. In 1994 Staley hooked up with fellow Seattleites Mike McCready (Pearl Jam), Barrett Martin (Screaming Trees), and John Baker Saunders to play a few gigs under the name Gacy Bunch; the next year they changed their name to Mad Season and released Above (#24, 1995), but Staley quit the side project (replaced by Mark Lanegan of Screaming Trees) before its second album.
In 1995 Alice in Chains returned to action with a self-titled album (which debuted at #1), but the quartet failed to tour, owing to internal discord and rumored addictions. Even so, the band reconvened in 1996 for its first public performance in three years to record and release MTV Unplugged (#3), which stripped the band’s hard-rock sound to an acoustic, unexpectedly melodic core. Nothing new was heard from Alice in Chains until the 1999 release of Music Bank (and the excerpted Nothing Safe - Best of the Box). Named for the warehouse where the band lived and recorded in its early days, the album was a 48-song collection that mixed two new tracks (“Get Born Again” and “Died”) with the band’s hits, live recordings, demos, and B sides. Another anthology of sorts, Live documented performances from throughout the band’s career.
On April 20, 2002, Layne Staley’s body was found in his Seattle apartment fifteen days after the lead singer died from an overdose of cocaine and heroin.
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Top 200 90s Alternative Rock Songs
No. | Song | Artist | Album | Year | Last Rank |
1 | Karma Police | Radiohead | OK Computer | 1997 | 1 |
2 | No Excuses | Alice in Chains | Jar of Flies | 1994 | 2 |
3 | Smells Like Teen Spirit | Nirvana | Nevermind | 1991 | N/A |
4 | Bittersweet Symphony | The Verve | Urban Hymns | 1997 | 9 |
5 | Heaven Beside You | Alice in Chains | Alice in Chains | 1995 | 3 |
6 | One Headlight | The Wallflowers | Bringing Down the Horse | 1996 | 4 |
7 | Jesus Christ Pose | Soundgarden | Badmotorfinger | 1991 | N/A |
8 | Bullet With Butterfly Wings | Smashing Pumpkins | Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness | 1995 | N/A |
9 | Lithium | Nirvana | Nevermind | 1991 | N/A |
10 | 1979 | Smashing Pumpkins | Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness | 1995 | 5 |
11 | Paranoid Android | Radiohead | OK Computer | 1997 | 12 |
12 | Down in a Hole | Alice in Chains | Dirt | 1992 | 8 |
13 | Nutshell | Alice in Chains | Jar of Flies | 1994 | 7 |
14 | Otherside | Red Hot Chili Peppers | Californication | 1999 | 6 |
15 | Losing My Religion | REM | Out of Time | 1991 | 10 |
16 | Everlong | Foo Fighters | The Colour and the Shape | 1997 | N/A |
17 | Cherub Rock | Smashing Pumpkins | Siamese Dream | 1993 | N/A |
18 | Come As You Are | Nirvana | Nevermind | 1991 | N/A |
19 | Wonderwall | Oasis | (What's the Story) Morning Glory? | 1995 | 13 |
20 | The Way | Fastball | All the Pain Money Can Buy | 1998 | 14 |
21 | I Stay Away | Alice in Chains | Jar of Flies | 1994 | N/A |
22 | Brain Stew | Green Day | Insomniac | 1995 | N/A |
23 | Creep | Stone Temple Pilots | Core | 1992 | 15 |
24 | In Bloom | Nirvana | Nevermind | 1991 | N/A |
25 | Rotten Apple | Alice in Chains | Jar of Flies | 1994 | 16 |
26 | Heart Shaped Box | Nirvana | In Utero | 1993 | N/A |
27 | Plush | Stone Temple Pilots | Core | 1992 | N/A |
28 | The Man Who Sold The World (Cover) | Nirvana | MTV Unplugged in New York | 1994 | 17 |
29 | Californication | Red Hot Chili Peppers | Californication | 1999 | 24 |
30 | Ænima | Tool | Ænima | 1996 | N/A |
31 | Grind | Alice in Chains | Alice in Chains | 1995 | N/A |
32 | Mr. Jones | Counting Crows | August and Everything After | 1993 | 19 |
33 | Personal Jesus | Depeche Mode | Violator | 1990 | N/A |
34 | Under The Bridge | Red Hot Chili Peppers | Blood Sugar Sex Magik | 1991 | 18 |
35 | Bound for the Floor | Local H | As Good As Dead | 1996 | N/A |
36 | Touch, Peel and Stand | Days of the New | Days of the New | 1997 | N/A |
37 | Man In The Box | Alice in Chains | Facelift | 1990 | N/A |
38 | Your Woman | White Town | Women In Technology | 1997 | N/A |
39 | No Shelter | Rage Against the Machine | The Battle of Los Angeles | 1999 | N/A |
40 | All The Small Things | Blink-182 | Enema of the State | 1999 | N/A |
41 | Would? | Alice in Chains | Dirt | 1992 | N/A |
42 | In The Meantime | Spacehog | Resident Alien | 1995 | 20 |
43 | Dumb | Nirvana | In Utero | 1993 | 25 |
44 | You Ought to Know | Alanis Morissette | Jagged Little Pill | 1995 | N/A |
45 | All I Want | Toad the Wet Sprocket | Fear | 1991 | 21 |
46 | December | Collective Soul | Collective Soul | 1995 | 23 |
47 | Dirt | Alice in Chains | Dirt | 1992 | N/A |
48 | Mayonaise | Smashing Pumpkins | Siamese Dream | 1993 | N/A |
49 | Song 2 | Blur | Blur | 1997 | N/A |
50 | A Long December | Counting Crows | Recovering the Satellites | 1996 | 27 |
51 | Santa Monica | Everclear | Sparkle & Fade | 1995 | 30 |
52 | Rooster | Alice in Chains | Dirt | 1992 | N/A |
53 | Counting Blue Cars | Dishwalla | Pet Your Friends | 1995 | 29 |
54 | Buddy Holly | Weezer | Blue Album | 1994 | N/A |
55 | Burden In My Hand | Soundgarden | Down on the Upside | 1996 | 34 |
56 | Soma | Smashing Pumpkins | Siamese Dream | 1993 | 40 |
57 | Junkhead | Alice in Chains | Dirt | 1992 | N/A |
58 | Flagpole Sitta | Harvey Danger | Where Have All The Merrymakers Gone? | 1998 | N/A |
59 | Enter Sandman | Metallica | Metallica | 1991 | N/A |
60 | I Alone | Live | Throwing Copper | 1994 | 26 |
61 | Run | Collective Soul | Dosage | 1999 | 32 |
62 | Find The River | REM | Automatic for the People | 1992 | 47 |
63 | A Tout Le Monde | Megadeth | Youthanasia | 1994 | N/A |
64 | Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm | Crash Test Dummies | God Shuffled his Feet | 1993 | 31 |
65 | Unglued | Stone Temple Pilots | Purple | 1994 | N/A |
66 | Low | Cracker | Kerosene Hat | 1993 | 33 |
67 | Streets of Philadelphia | Bruce Springsteen | Soundtrack: Philadelphia | 1993 | 35 |
68 | Interstate Love Song | Stone Temple Pilots | Purple | 1994 | 41 |
69 | Self Esteem | The Offspring | Smash | 1994 | N/A |
70 | Sex and Candy | Marcy Playground | Marcy Playground | 1997 | 36 |
71 | Lucky Man | The Verve | Urban Hymns | 1997 | 37 |
72 | Semi Charmed Life | Third Eye Blind | Third Eye Blind | 1997 | 39 |
73 | Thief | Our Lady Peace | Happiness... Is Not A Fish That You Can Catch | 1999 | 28 |
74 | Possum Kingdom | Toadies | Rubberneck | 1994 | N/A |
75 | Rape Me | Nirvana | In Utero | 1993 | N/A |
76 | Zero | Smashing Pumpkins | Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness | 1995 | N/A |
77 | Tyler | Toadies | Rubberneck | 1994 | N/A |
78 | Lucky | Radiohead | OK Computer | 1997 | 46 |
79 | Blow up the Outside World | Soundgarden | Down on the Upside | 1996 | N/A |
80 | Drive | REM | Automatic for the People | 1992 | 49 |
81 | Iris | Goo Goo Dolls | Dizzy Up the Girl | 1998 | 38 |
82 | Today | Smashing Pumpkins | Siamese Dream | 1993 | N/A |
83 | Big Empty | Stone Temple Pilots | Purple | 1994 | 54 |
84 | Hate To Feel | Alice in Chains | Dirt | 1992 | N/A |
85 | Mary Jane's Last Dance | Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers | Greatest Hits | 1993 | 43 |
86 | Why I'm Here | Oleander | February Son | 1999 | N/A |
87 | Sour Girl | Stone Temple Pilots | No. 4 | 1999 | 45 |
88 | Closing Time | Semisonic | Feeling Strangely Fine | 1998 | 62 |
89 | Nearly Lost You | Screaming Trees | Sweet Oblivion | 1992 | N/A |
90 | Say It Ain't So | Weezer | Blue Album | 1994 | N/A |
91 | What's The Frequency, Kenneth? | REM | Monster | 1994 | 51 |
92 | Carnival | Natalie Merchant | Tigerlily | 1995 | 87 |
93 | Crazy Life | Toad the Wet Sprocket | Coil | 1997 | 71 |
94 | Never Let You Go | Third Eye Blind | Blue | 1999 | 63 |
95 | Linger | The Cranberries | Everybody Else is Doing It | 1993 | 91 |
96 | Losing A Whole Year | Third Eye Blind | Third Eye Blind | 1997 | N/A |
97 | You Learn | Alanis Morissette | Jagged Little Pill | 1995 | 76 |
98 | Runaway Train | Soul Asylum | Grave Dancer's Union | 1992 | 68 |
99 | All My Friends | Counting Crows | This Desert Life | 1999 | 67 |
100 | Don't Look Back In Anger | Oasis | (What's the Story) Morning Glory? | 1995 | 44 |
101 | Rhinoceros | Smashing Pumpkins | Gish | 1991 | 52 |
102 | Hand In My Pocket | Alanis Morissette | Jagged Little Pill | 1995 | 55 |
103 | Ava Adore | Smashing Pumpkins | Adore | 1998 | N/A |
104 | Rain When I Die | Alice in Chains | Dirt | 1992 | N/A |
105 | Tighter & Tighter | Soundgarden | Down on the Upside | 1996 | 58 |
106 | Only in Dreams | Weezer | Blue Album | 1994 | N/A |
107 | Killing in the Name of | Rage Against the Machine | Rage Against the Machine | 1992 | N/A |
108 | Outshined | Soundgarden | Badmotorfinger | 1991 | N/A |
109 | One of Us | Joan Osborne | Relish | 1995 | 90 |
110 | Tonight, Tonight | Smashing Pumpkins | Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness | 1995 | 69 |
111 | Zombie | The Cranberries | No Need To Argue | 1994 | 85 |
112 | Saint Joe on the School Bus | Marcy Playground | Marcy Playground | 1997 | N/A |
113 | Bittersweet Me | REM | New Adventures in Hi-Fi | 1996 | 74 |
114 | Good Morning Baby | Bic Runga and Dan Wilson | Soundtrack: American Pie | 1999 | N/A |
115 | Good | Better than Ezra | Deluxe | 1995 | 78 |
116 | Take a Picture | Filter | Title of Record | 1999 | 95 |
117 | The Chemicals Between Us | Bush | The Science of Things | 1999 | N/A |
118 | The Good Life | Weezer | Pinkerton | 1996 | N/A |
119 | We Are | Vertical Horizon | Everything You Want | 1999 | 70 |
120 | Whats My Age Again? | Blink-182 | Enema of the State | 1999 | N/A |
121 | Don't Follow | Alice in Chains | Jar of Flies | 1994 | 81 |
122 | Selling The Drama | Live | Throwing Copper | 1994 | 80 |
123 | On a Plain | Nirvana | Nevermind | 1991 | N/A |
124 | Bulls on Parade | Rage Against the Machine | Evil Empire | 1996 | N/A |
125 | Ironic | Alanis Morissette | Jagged Little Pill | 1995 | N/A |
126 | Drive | Incubus | Make Yourself | 1999 | N/A |
127 | Stranger By the Day | Shades Apart | Eyewitness | 1999 | N/A |
128 | Love Spreads | Stone Roses | Second Coming | 1994 | 83 |
129 | Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth | Primitive Radio Gods | Rocket | 1996 | 77 |
130 | Cuts You Up | Peter Murphy | Deep | 1990 | N/A |
131 | Enjoy The Silence | Depeche Mode | Violator | 1990 | N/A |
132 | Fake Plastic Trees | Radiohead | The Bends | 1995 | N/A |
133 | Weapon and the Wound | Days of the New | Days of the New | 1997 | N/A |
134 | Over Now | Alice in Chains | Alice in Chains | 1995 | N/A |
135 | Prophecy | Remy Zero | Villa Elaine | 1998 | 59 |
136 | Fell On Black Days | Soundgarden | Superunknown | 1994 | 84 |
137 | Headache | Frank Black | Teenager of the Year | 1994 | N/A |
138 | High | Feeder | Polythene | 1998 | N/A |
139 | Compliment | Collective Soul | Dosage | 1999 | N/A |
140 | Woodburning | Toad the Wet Sprocket | Dulcinea | 1994 | 96 |
141 | About A Girl (Live) | Nirvana | MTV Unplugged in New York | 1994 | N/A |
142 | Creep | Radiohead | Pablo Honey | 1993 | 72 |
143 | In the Garage | Weezer | Blue Album | 1994 | N/A |
144 | Gotta Get Away | The Offspring | Smash | 1994 | N/A |
145 | Nothing Else Matters | Metallica | Metallica | 1991 | N/A |
146 | Shine | Collective Soul | Hints, Allegations, and Things Left Unsaid | 1993 | N/A |
147 | Breed | Nirvana | Nevermind | 1991 | N/A |
148 | Casual Affair | Tonic | Lemon Parade | 1996 | N/A |
149 | Fade Into You | Mazzy Star | So Tonight That I Might See | 1993 | 93 |
150 | My Friends | Red Hot Chili Peppers | One Hot Minute | 1995 | 54 |
151 | Black Hole Sun | Soundgarden | Superunknown | 1994 | 48 |
152 | My Name is Jonas | Weezer | Blue Album | 1994 | N/A |
153 | Out of My Head | Fastball | All the Pain Money Can Buy | 1998 | N/A |
154 | Beautiful Disaster | 311 | Transistor | 1997 | N/A |
155 | Champagne Supernova | Oasis | (What's the Story) Morning Glory? | 1995 | 94 |
156 | All I Know | Screaming Trees | Dust | 1996 | N/A |
157 | Gone Away | The Offspring | Ixnay on the Hombre | 1997 | N/A |
158 | Santeria | Sublime | Sublime | 1996 | N/A |
159 | Columbia | Oasis | Definitely Maybe | 1994 | N/A |
160 | The Freshman | Verve Pipe | Villains | 1996 | 42 |
161 | All Over You | Live | Throwing Copper | 1994 | 65 |
162 | The Unforgiven | Metallica | Metallica | 1991 | N/A |
163 | Jeremy | Pearl Jam | Ten | 1991 | N/A |
164 | Hold Her Down | Toad the Wet Sprocket | Fear | 1991 | N/A |
165 | Piece Of Pie | Stone Temple Pilots | Core | 1992 | N/A |
166 | Silvergun Superman | Stone Temple Pilots | Purple | 1994 | N/A |
167 | Black | Pearl Jam | Ten | 1991 | 50 |
168 | Warm Machine | Bush | The Science of Things | 1999 | N/A |
169 | Rocket | Smashing Pumpkins | Siamese Dream | 1993 | N/A |
170 | Whiskey In The Jar (Cover) | Metallica | Garage Inc. | 1998 | N/A |
171 | Closer | Nine Inch Nails | Downward Spiral | 1994 | N/A |
172 | Just | Radiohead | The Bends | 1995 | 89 |
173 | Hows It Gonna Be | Third Eye Blind | Third Eye Blind | 1997 | N/A |
174 | Jumper | Third Eye Blind | Third Eye Blind | 1997 | N/A |
175 | Mysterious Ways | U2 | Achtung Baby | 1991 | N/A |
176 | Army Ants | Stone Temple Pilots | Purple | 1994 | N/A |
177 | Uno | Muse | Showbiz | 1999 | N/A |
178 | Everything You Want | Vertical Horizon | Everything You Want | 1999 | N/A |
179 | My Iron Lung | Radiohead | The Bends | 1995 | 64 |
180 | Desperately Wanting | Better than Ezra | Friction, Baby | 1996 | N/A |
181 | What The Hell Have I? | Alice in Chains | Nothing Safe | 1999 | N/A |
182 | Hello Kitty Kat | Smashing Pumpkins | Pisces Iscariot | 1994 | N/A |
183 | Walk On The Ocean | Toad the Wet Sprocket | Fear | 1991 | N/A |
184 | Break It Down Again | Tears for Fears | Elemental | 1993 | N/A |
185 | Laid | James | Laid | 1993 | N/A |
186 | Morning Glory | Oasis | (What's the Story) Morning Glory? | 1995 | 86 |
187 | Head Over Feet | Alanis Morissette | Jagged Little Pill | 1995 | N/A |
188 | Quiet | Smashing Pumpkins | Siamese Dream | 1993 | N/A |
189 | The Day I Tried to Live | Soundgarden | Superunknown | 1994 | N/A |
190 | Far Behind | Candlebox | Candlebox | 1993 | 100 |
191 | King Nothing | Metallica | Load | 1996 | N/A |
192 | Lake Of Fire (Cover) | Nirvana | MTV Unplugged in New York | 1994 | N/A |
193 | Scar Tissue | Red Hot Chili Peppers | Californication | 1999 | N/A |
194 | The Difference | The Wallflowers | Bringing Down the Horse | 1996 | 92 |
195 | Muscle Museum (Live) | Muse | Showbiz | 1999 | N/A |
196 | The Bends | Radiohead | The Bends | 1995 | 66 |
197 | Sweet 69 | Babes In Toyland | Nemesisters | 1995 | N/A |
198 | Pepper | Butthole Surfers | Electriclarryland | 1996 | 73 |
199 | Underneath the Sky | Oasis | The Masterplan | 1998 | N/A |
200 | Disarm | Smashing Pumpkins | Siamese Dream | 1993 | N/A |
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