The five greatest Alice in Chains songs, according to Jerry Cantrell
There was always grit and lightness in the mix for Alice in Chains. “Our music’s kind of about taking something ugly and making it beautiful,” Jerry Cantrell once said.
His guitar playing was central to that stirring beautification. There is no doubt that Cantrell became a titan of rock music shortly after Alice in Chains formed in 1987. Taking the baton from his idols such as Jimi Hendrix and Tony Iommi, the dark pulsating sound he crafts on his six-string is supported by a natural songwriting talent and a distinctive singing voice, with all three working together to establish a widely influential oeuvre in the Seattle band.
It reflects Cantrell’s talent that he has penned most of Alice in Chains’ material, from their first two records – the grunge staples Facelift and Dirt – to their most recent album, 2018’s Rainier Fog. Not only is he the composer of their most important work, but Cantrell also acted as their ballast during their heyday in the early-mid 1990s when drug abuse was taking its toll, and his friend and songwriting partner, frontman Layne Staley, was succumbing to heroin addiction.
It’s an overlooked point, but Cantrell’s significance to Alice in Chains, on a musical and personal level, is demonstrated during their iconic 1996 MTV Unplugged performance. As fans of the group remember well, during the performance of the indomitable ‘Sludge Factory’, the unwell Staley messes up. Yet, instead of unfolding into a PR disaster, Cantrell and the audience support him. After the long-haired guitarist chimed in with quick wit, they jumped back into the song as if nothing happened.
This was a display of Cantrell’s core value to Alice in Chains and confirmed why, after Staley tragically passed away in 2002, it would be he who became their frontman. After all, apart from not standing in the centre of the stage, he had always been their band leader. “Part of the healing process is sharing with people who care,” he said of the grieving process that he infused into his subsequent work.
Given his instrumental role in the force that is Alice in Chains, every so often, he’s been asked to comment on what he thinks are the best songs. When speaking on BBC Radio 1’s Rock Show with Daniel P Carter in 2019, Cantrell was asked to name one track from his past that he loves more than the rest. Treating his fans, the Alice in Chains leader chose four.
“I’m really proud of everything we’ve ever done,” he said. “‘Man in the Box’ means a lot, because it was our first big hit. ‘Rooster,’ seven minutes [long], I wrote that for my dad. ‘Check My Brain,’ that was a gigantic hit too and kind of heralded the coming back of this band.”
Following this trio of greats, Cantrell also picked the title track from the group’s latest album, Rainier Fog. “‘Rainier Fog’ is kind of this punky, metal kind of thing,” he explained. “That’s kind of the thread and the theme of the title of the record and where we started, where we recorded it, kind of coming full circle back to where we started.”
On another occasion, he heaped praise on ‘Love, Hate, Love’ from Dirt. According to Cantrell, this song is the “masterpiece” of the album, and it’s easy to see why. “A really powerful tune,” he wrote in the liner notes for Music Bank.
“That was the masterpiece of that record, and it really gave me chills. Layne’s vocals are amazing on that one, and it has one of my favourite solos I’ve ever done,” he added. While the solo carries some of the hallmarks of grunge in its grittiness, it also typifies what Cantrell exemplifies at the band at their best: truly beautiful moments thrown into the darkness.
His five picks all have that in common. Like his beloved Led Zeppelin before them, they channel more light and shade than the average spring day in the Seattle borough that spawned them.
Jerry Cantrell’s favourite songs:
- ‘Man in the Box’
- ‘Rooster’
- ‘Check My Brain’
- ‘Rainier Fog’
- ‘Love, Hate, Love’
