The grunge band James Hetfield called better the greatest: “They were so unique”
It was bound to be difficult for any hard rock band to adapt to what grunge did at the the beginning of the 1990s.
There was no sign that the titans of the genre were going anywhere, but the minute that Kurt Cobain cleared the way forward for alternative music, the biggest names in music were either bound to be leaving pretty soon or needed to switch things up to stay relevant. And considering how long Metallica had been working, they weren’t about to give up.
If nothing else, the band’s tour across the world during The Black Album cycle was made during the peak years of grunge. They could have easily waited out the whole thing, but considering how much Cobain despised the attitude that their touring mate Axl Rose had whenever he sang, it wasn’t like they were bound to stay in his corner for very long, especially after inciting a riot during one of their shows.
And maybe it was time for a bit of a change in their sound anyway. The Black Album was already a drastic swerve into more mainstream material, and while a lot of fans had a problem with hearing tunes like ‘Nothing Else Matters’, they were far from prepared for anything that would turn up only a few years later when they put on the Load albums with a more alternative flair.
But, really, are they really “alternative” albums? Load is certainly more downtempo than the speed metal they were known for at the time, but it’s not like they were going to be copying the homework of bands like Soundgarden. They were still a hard rock band at the end of the day, and while James Hetfield did end up taking a few cues from listening to heavy acts like Corrosion of Conformity, he did see a shining light in grunge when Alice in Chains first came out.
They may have had a decent introduction to the rock world by supporting Van Halen on their first major stadium tour, but Hetfield was more interested in the dark edge they had. They may not have gone over that well when they were first playing gigs like Clash of the Titans with Anthrax and Megadeth, but when Hetfield heard Layne Staley’s voice, he knew he had found the grunge band for him.
There might have been a few bands that would stand the test of time, but Hetfield knew that Alice had the potential to become legendary, saying, “I just love hearing those songs. Those songs are awesome and should be heard, you know? They were so unique. So ahead of their time. And out of all the Seattle stuff, that stuff is the most timeless. I wasn’t really close with Layne [Staley]. But I remember going to see Alice In Chains many times.”
While that legendary status was cemented before Staley’s untimely passing in 2002, Hetfield always found time to pay his respects. Outside of the fact that he sounded like a strange cross between Staley and Billy Corgan during the Load era, he did have the chops to pull off Alice’s stuff, even joining the band onstage a handful of times to perform songs like ‘Would’ in place of Staley.
The band might be on much firmer ground with William DuVall harmonising with Jerry Cantrell these days, but given the body of work that they have now, Alice almost seems to be completely divorced from grunge at this point. They have all the credentials to be a grunge band, but when looking at how far they took their sound, they are much closer to alternative metal than an average relic from the grunge revolution.
