Alice in chains lyrics and Alice in chains guitar tabs, Alice in chains pictures and biography

Formed in 1987 in Seattle, USA, by Layne Staley
(b. 22 August
1967, Kirkland, Washington, USA; vocals) and Jerry Cantrell

(b. 18 March 1966, Tacoma, Washington, USA; vocals, guitar)
with Mike Starr
(bass) and Sean Kinney
(b. 27 June 1966, Seattle,
Washington, USA; drums), Alice In Chains developed a sound that
mixed Black Sabbath -style riffing with Staley and Cantrell's
unconventional vocal arrangements and strong songwriting. Cantrell
had drifted from his home in Tacoma to Seattle, homing in on a
musician's collective entitled the Music Bank. He brought in the
rhythm section of Kinney and Starr, before Staley was recruited from
a local funk metal act. After dispensing with their early moniker,
'Fuck', the group became Alice In Chains, a name invented by Staley
for 'a parody heavy metal band that dressed in drag'. The group won a
major recording contract despite some record executives being scared
off by Staley's aggressive performance at an early showcase. Facelift
received excellent reviews, but took off slowly, boosted by US touring
with Van Halen, the difficult opening slot on the US Clash Of The Titans
tour, featuring Slayer, Anthrax and Megadeth, and European dates with
Megadeth and the Almighty. 'Man In The Box' became an MTV favourite,
and the album went gold in the autumn of 1991, just as Nirvana 's success
began to make Seattle headline news. The band released the gentler Sap,
featuring guests from Heart, Soundgarden and Mudhoney, before recording
their second full album. Dirt was a dark, cathartic work with many personal
lyrics, including 'Rooster', which described Cantrell's father's Vietnam War
experiences and became a live centrepiece. However, critical attention
focused on a sequence of songs referring to Staley's past heroin problems,
descending from the initial high of 'Junkhead'
('We are an elite race of our
own/The stoners, junkies and freaks'), through depths of addiction, to the
realization of the need to break away from dependency in 'Angry Chair'

('Little boy made a mistake/Pink cloud has now turned to gray'). Despite
the controversy, Dirt was deservedly acclaimed, and was the critics' album
of the year in many metal magazines, entering the US charts at number 6.
'Would?' became a hit, boosted by an appearance playing the song in the
movie Singles, and the band supported Ozzy Osbourne in the USA, with
Staley in a wheelchair for the early dates, having broken his foot, before
Starr's departure. Ex-Ozzy Osbourne bassist Michael Inez
(b. 14 May
1966, San Francisco, California, USA) stepped in, and the band embarked
on a sell-out tour of Europe and the USA. The cancellation of European
stadium shows supporting Metallica in mid-1993, owing to exhaustion, led to
speculation about a setback in Staley's recovery, but Alice In Chains returned
in fine style, contributing to the Last Action Hero soundtrack and playing
superbly on the third Lollapalooza tour. In early 1994 Jar Of Flies became the
first EP to top the US album charts, entering at number 1. Staley put together a
side-project, Mad Season, with Pearl Jam 's Mike McCready and Barrett
Martin from Screaming Trees, amid rumours that Alice In Chains had split.
These rumours were exacerbated by the return of Staley's misfortunes in August
1994 when gigs, including Woodstock II, were cancelled, as a result of further
'health problems'. Amid continuing rumours of drug abuse the band managed a
further album in 1995 that boasted some excellent moments. In 1996, the band
performed their first concert in over three years, performing for MTV on an
Unplugged special. Rumours about their future resurfaced when guitarist Cantrell
released a solo album in April 1998.