27 Years In the past, Alice in Chains Delivered the “Stunning, Darkish, and Ugly” Dust

At the very least two-thirds of the phrase “intercourse, medication, and rock ‘n’ roll” reigned supreme on the planet of Alice in Chains when work started on their sophomore full-length album, Dust.

“[Drugs] have been taking up,” Alice in Chains drummer Sean Kinney defined within the e-book Grunge Is Lifeless. “We have been doing no matter we may get our arms on — and as a lot. It positively began working in opposition to us. That file, individuals may most likely establish with it — it’s all proper there. It’s laid out — defined precisely what we have been doing, what we have been going by way of. It sounds [like] what was echoing in our heads at the moment. From then on, a few of us continued additional down in that route, and a few of us didn’t. That’s a tricky album for me. Individuals are like, ‘That’s your best file.’ It’s bittersweet.”

Initially shaped in 1987 and hailing from the Seattle space, Alice in Chains — which was initially comprised of Layne Staley (vocals), Jerry Cantrell (guitars), Mike Starr (bass), and Kinney — began out as a hair steel band, earlier than morphing into their trademark detuned and darkish sound in time for his or her debut providing, 1990’s Facelift. And whereas Nirvana appears to get the lion’s share of credit score for being the band that made “grunge” a common phrase, it was truly Facelift that was the primary grunge album to make its presence felt on the charts (peaking at No. 42 on the Billboard 200) — due to the shock hit single/video “Man within the Field.”

Nevertheless, it was throughout that album’s seemingly endless supporting tour (which noticed the quartet open for everybody from Van Halen to Excessive to Iggy Pop to Slayer) that the band members started dabbling with arduous medication — which might in flip, have an effect on the lyrical content material and sound of their subsequent full-length providing.

“Dust was a heavy file,” remembered Cantrell in the identical e-book. “We got here right down to L.A., and issues had gotten darker across the band. As they are going to — when you’re f**king round with the fallacious shit. And we have been. We rented a ranch home out in Malibu, and we rehearsed in it. We have been developing with all these things that was simply aggro. Tremendous highly effective, very heavy lyrical content material. It was a critical step up from Facelift — I equate it, so far as artistically, [to] what … Nirvana [did] from [Bleach] to Nevermind.”

Hooking up as soon as once more with the producer of Facelift, Dave Jerden (who had additionally labored with the likes of Jane’s Habit, Crimson Sizzling Chili Peppers, and Frank Zappa), the album was recorded at a number of studios — London Bridge Studio in Seattle; Eldorado Recording Studios in Burbank; and One on One Recording Studios in Los Angeles. And in line with Cantrell, the classes have been halted for a spell — resulting from an unforgettable occasion in US historical past.

“We got here right down to LA, began monitoring the file, and that Rodney King verdict got here down,” the guitarist recalled. “The f**king city went up in flames. We have been staying on the Oakwoods in Venice — so we needed to come from Studio Metropolis to Venice whereas the entire metropolis’s in a riot. We referred to as up Tom Araya from Slayer, and we went out to the desert and hung on the market for some time, ’til the shit cooled down. We needed to postpone till the riots f**king chilled out. That’s a second I’ll always remember — tied to that file.”

Regardless of all of the ups and downs, it will not deter the band from creating a real heavy masterpiece, as there may be not a filler observe within the bunch — “Them Bones”, “Rooster”, “Down in a Gap”, “Offended Chair”, and “Would?” would all get the music video therapy and cross over to rock radio. However a number of the darkest materials was tucked deep within the album, notably, 4 songs — “Junkhead”, the title observe, “God Smack”, and “Hate to Really feel” — that appear to element Staley’s dependancy and struggles with heroin.

Nevertheless, in line with Cantrell, it’s not correct to imagine Layne was the only real offender when it got here to medication. “All of us partied man, so to level the finger at [Layne] — may as effectively level the finger in any respect of us. Sadly, he’s the lead singer, and the lyrical content material of what he was writing — he was placing it on the market. I all the time thought that was very courageous of him, and I all the time stood behind that. It’s the kind of factor that we all the time supported ourselves in — going all the way in which with it, whether or not it was good or unhealthy. I imply about expressing it artistically. We dicked round — I don’t suppose none of us can say we didn’t attempt it, in a single type or one other.”

(Learn: 25 Years In the past, Alice in Chains Dialed Down the Quantity with Jar of Flies)

And regardless of a darkish cloud seemingly hovering over the band, the album served as Alice in Chains’ main industrial breakthrough. Launched on September 29, 1992 (and that includes a canopy picture of a lady partially buried in… dust), Dust peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard 200, and went on to promote four million copies in the USA alone. Regardless of all of the success, the wheels have been already coming off — Starr exited the band halfway by way of the tour (and was changed by Ozzy Osbourne’s then-bassist Mike Inez), and this could be the final album by the band supported by a world tour with Staley behind the mic. And sadly, each Staley and Starr couldn’t overcome their demons — each dying from drug overdoses (in 2002 and 2011, respectively).

Whereas the band itself would unravel (solely to re-form a number of years after Staley’s demise with new singer William DuVall), Dust stays a particularly unflinching, hard-hitting, and gripping pay attention all these years later. “To many individuals, it’s a file unto itself,” reckoned Cantrell. “I don’t suppose there’s a file like that. Dust, from high to backside, is simply an assault, man. It’s stunning, it’s moody, and it’s no-f**king-holds-barred — no punches pulled in any respect. Stunning, darkish, and ugly on the identical time.”