The Story Behind The Song: Alice in Chains’ bonding Vietnam war examination ‘Rooster’
It would be hard to argue that Alice in Chains‘ second studio album, Dirt, is not their greatest full-length release. The 1992 record contained some of the band’s best-ever songs, from the metal glory of ‘Them Bones’ to that iconic bassline in ‘Would?’, the group combined tracks that explore the depravity of heavy drug addiction with other serious issues.
However, one song that has always stood out on Dirt is ‘Rooster’, a track which was released as the album’s fourth single. It’s something of a slower pace compared to the rest of the album, but ‘Rooster’ contains some of the band’s best clean guitar tones and, certainly, some of Layne Staley’s best-ever vocal takes.
The emotional song was written by Alice in Chains’ guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell about his father, who had served in the Vietnam war, and Cantrell once explained that ‘Rooster’ was his father’s nickname. The name had been given to Jerry Cantrell Sr. by his own father as a reference to his strong attitude and spiky hair.
Cantrell Jr. had written the song when he was staying at Chris Cornell’s house in Seattle at the beginning of 1991 along with Cornell’s then-wife, Alice in Chains’ manager Susan Silver. When alone at night, Cantrell couldn’t help but think of his father and the brutal psychological damage that had been dealt to him in the war.
He opened up on the song’s origins and its healing effect in the liner notes to the Music Bank box set. “It was the start of the healing process between my Dad and I from all that damage that Vietnam caused,” he said. “This was all my perception of his experiences out there.”
Like many servicemen in the Vietnam war, Cantrell’s father had been reluctant to discuss his own experience. Therefore, Cantrell was surprised when he eventually took part in a 45-minute interview to open up about his time in the famous conflict. “I was amazed he did it. He was totally cool, totally calm, accepted it all and had a good time doing it,” Cantrell told Louder Sound. “It even brought him to the point of tears. It was beautiful.”
Naturally, the younger Cantrell wanted his father to understand what the song meant to him, and he was fortunate enough to play it to him live just one time when Alice in Chains were opening for Iggy Pop. Cantrell remembers his father standing at the back of the room, “a total Oklahoma man [with his big grey Stetson and his cowboy boots.”
“I’ll never forget it,” Cantrell remembered in 1992, “He heard all the words and stuff. “I remember when we played it, he was back by the soundboard, and I could see him, and at the end, he took his hat off and just held it in the air. And he was crying the whole time. This song means a lot to me. A lot.”
Then in 2006, Cantell further explained ‘Rooster’ allowed him to heal without ever actively seeking to do so, which highlighted for him the power that music could play in one’s life. He told Team Rock: “On ‘Rooster’, I was trying to think about his side of it – what he might have gone through. I didn’t really sit down intending to do any of that; it just kinda came out. But that’s the great thing about music – sometimes it can reach deeper than you ever would in a conversation with anybody. It’s more of a forum to dig deeper.”
