3 Facts You Might Not Know About Alice In Chains

The year before grunge broke in 1991, Alice In Chains released their debut album, Facelift. This LP sits on a dividing line between the glitzy hard rock scene that the Seattle bands would nudge from MTV and greater pop culture. And you likely know Alice In Chains’ biggest hits, “Man In The Box”, “Would?”, and “Rooster”. But here are three facts you might not know about the grunge legends.

Glam Roots

This isn’t the first time I’ve used a lazy pun to connect one’s musical roots with hair metal. But long before grunge became a rock subgenre, singer Layne Staley joined a band called Sleze, which sounded more like Mötley Crüe than Black Sabbath. Sleze later changed their name to Alice N’ Chains, and though the styling resembles Guns N’ Roses, the change predates Appetite For Destruction.

Staley’s teenage band didn’t achieve the success of Mötley Crüe or GN’R; for that, he’d have to wait until meeting guitarist Jerry Cantrell. His new band with Cantrell, the drummer Sean Kinney, and the bassist Mike Starr existed under various names, including Diamond Lie, before adopting the name of Staley’s former outfit—this time styled as Alice In Chains. From there, they ousted the hair metal scene Staley once inhabited.

Bon Jovi

But it seems Alice In Chains weren’t finished with hair metal. While recording their debut LP, Facelift, producer Dave Jerden heard Bon Jovi’s smash “Livin’ On A Prayer” on the radio. Richie Sambora’s talk box riff stood out to Jerden, who then suggested adding the effect to “Man In The Box”. Once the breakthrough track landed on MTV, Cantrell’s bluesy riff helped shift pop culture toward the Pacific Northwest. And as Bon Jovi did in the 1980s, Alice In Chains recorded several hits that defined the 1990s.

Odd Times

Cantrell, as Alice In Chains’ primary songwriter, was influenced by Black Sabbath. And if you’ve been trained in the dark arts of Black Sabbath, you must know Tony Iommi is the riff lord. So Cantrell became a lord of the riffs himself, as bangers like “Man In The Box” and “Them Bones” prove. The latter riff is written in a 7/8 time signature as opposed to most tunes, which are written in bars of 3 or 4. Now, without getting into the weeds of music theory, bars of 7 don’t easily feel natural. But you may not have noticed the missing beat in “Them Bones”. It makes Staley’s epic screams all the more jarring.