It was a dash of Heavy Metal, with a caldron of gloom, despair, drug addiction, and personal demons stirred in nicely with that razor-sharp Alternative essence that would soon change the landscape of Generation X, among other things. Singer Layne Staley had formed an earlier incarnation of Alice In Chains in until meeting friend Jerry Cantrell, who would thereafter be the guitarist and primary songwriter for the band; they soon recruited bassist Mike Starr and drummer Sean Kinney. Each band member brought their own flare to the sound that would feed the angst and hopelessness of the post-baby boomer nihilists.
10. We Die Young (1990)
20. Over Now (Alice In Chains, 1995 / MTV Unplugged, 1996)
Greatest Hits is a greatest hits collection by the American rock band Alice in Chains. It was released on July 24, on Columbia Records. Greatest Hits is the second collection of hit songs by the band, albeit shorter than the previous release, Nothing Safe: Best of the Box. Mike Starr plays bass on the album's first five songs, while Mike Inez plays bass on the last five. The album featured two covers.
9.) Sludge Factory
It's not an easy task choosing the 10 best Alice in Chains songs, especially with their stellar history, but we're giving it a shot. Pearl Jam and Nirvana may have gotten a little more glory in the early '90s but it's hard to pick a band that was more influential on hard rock music for the next two decades than Alice in Chains. The group cranked out one of the most impressive catalogs of any band during the '90s, with several memorable hits. Sadly, the drug addiction and ultimate death of singer Layne Staley put Alice in Chains' standout career on hold for much of the next decade, but an impressive return with William DuVall joining the band in has shown that their second era will be able to continue the success of the first.
The Number Ones. Album Of The Week. Counting Down. Alice In Chains are widely revered by hard rock fans and guitarists especially , though their critical standing is secretly kind of a wash. Even the angst-ridden Tool, from nearly the same era, are a little too ripe for parody and their supporters a little too cultish for the kind of almost utopian evenhandedness that these guys receive. They bent guitars and voices into miserably beautiful shapes, and sometimes radio agreed.
