Alice in Chains began when a man named Jerry Cantrell walked into a party in 1987. It was there that he first met Layne Staley. Cantrell, who would later become the guitarist for Alice, describes this experience, “I thought he was the coolest guy I’d ever met. He looked cool, chicks liked him and he was just very magnetic. Everyone liked Layne. As soon as I heard his voice I knew I wanted him writing tunes with me in a band. He heard my story and invited me to the Music Bank. The dude took care of me, gave me a place to stay and treated me right, despite the fact I was a total stranger. You don’t forget that.” Cantrell soon found a bassist named Mike Starr. Starr had a sister who was dating a drummer. This drummer, Sean Kinney, agreed to join. Thus, Alice in Chains was born. (Music Bank)

The newly formed band began their renowned career by playing local clubs and recording their music wherever they could. Their first demos (titled The Treehouse Tapes because they were recorded in an 8 track studio in a tree) included songs such as “Social Parasite,” “I Can’t Have You Blues,” and their first Seattle radio hit, “Queen of the Rodeo.” (Music Bank) Eventually, Alice got a deal with Columbia Records and released the We Die Young EP in June 1990. The title track, We Die Young, was written about the Seattle drug scene. Cantrell says, “So I was riding the bus to rehearsal and I saw all these 9, 10, 11 year old kids with beepers dealing drugs. The sight of a 10 year old kid with a beeper and a cell phone dealing drugs equaled We Die Young to me.” (Music Bank)

A month later, their full-length debut Facelift was released. This sent We Die Young to the top of the metal charts. Their next release, Man in the Box, was spawned from a dinner date between Alice in Chains and a few Columbia Records executives. Staley describes the experience, “We went out for dinner with some Columbia Records people who were vegetarians. They told me how veal was made from calves raised in these small boxes, and the image stuck in my head. So I went home and wrote Man in the Box about government censorship and eating meat as seen through the eyes of a doomed calf.” Facelift later went on to be certified Platinum. (Music Bank; Alice in Chains Timeline; Alice in Chains – The History)

The success of Facelift was quickly followed by a tour. It was on this tour that the material for their next release, the Sap EP, was written. It was titled Sap because the music turned away from the heaviness of Facelift and headed towards a softer, “sappier” sound. It included songs such as Right Turn, which was taken from a demo Alice did for the movie Singles and Got Me Wrong, which was about “the different ways men and women see each other,” according to Cantrell. (Music Bank)

Dirt was Alice’s next release and by far their most successful. It was certified Triple Platinum and included their two biggest hits, Would? and Rooster. However, with good times came bad times. The Dirt Era was also the height of the band’s substance abuse, which was clearly documented in several songs such as God Smack and Sickman. Wiederhorn, in his article To Hell and Back as featured in the February 1996 issue of Rolling Stone, calls Dirt, “a diary of the pain and animosity caused by addiction, betrayal, and hypocrisy.” (Alice in Chains – The History)

Although some of Alice’s demons could be dealt with in their music, other couldn’t. Bassist Mike Starr chose to leave the group in 1993. But former Ozzy Osbourne bassist Mike Inez soon replaced him in time for Alice to headline the 1993 Lollapalooza tour. (Wiederhorn, To Hell and Back, Rolling Stone)

Another EP, this one entitled Jar of Flies, soon followed Lollapalooza. It soon went Double Platinum and was the first EP to ever debut in the #1 spot on the Billboard Charts. This one included songs such as No Excuses and Nutshell. (MTV News; Music Bank; Alice in Chains Timeline)

Jar of Flies was followed up by Alice’s last independent tour and two tracks on the Last Action Hero Soundtrack. After these, Alice in Chains took a six-month break from each other. Cantrell explains why, “We’d been going full force, just running at top speed with our eyes closed. We had been way too close for too long, and we were suffocating. We were like four plants trying to grow in the same pot.” It was also during this recess that the members of Alice went on to do a few solo projects. Staley recorded with a side band called Mad Season, Inez worked with the Guns n’ Roses guitarist on an album called It’s Five O’clock Somewhere, Kinney worked on a song for a Willie Nelson tribute album called Twisted Willie, and Cantrell worked on a solo album. (Wiederhorn, To Hell and Back, Rolling Stone)

However, Alice couldn’t stay apart for long. They got back together and recorded a self-titled album nicknamed Tripod because of the three-legged dog on the album cover. Wiederhorn also describes Alice in Chains in To Hell and Back, “Alice in Chains chronicles the bitter aftereffects of conflict, seeking to reassemble the shattered pieces.” This album featured works such as Grind, which is about how the media was focusing on their addictions rather than their talents. Staley comments, “People have a right to ask questions and dig deep when you’re hurting people and things around you. But when I haven’t talked to anybody in years, and every article I see is dope this, junkie that, whiskey this – that ain’t my title. Like ‘Hi, I’m Layne, nail biter,’ you know? My bad habits aren’t my title. My strengths and my talent are my title.” Tripod also went Double Platinum. (Wiederhorn, To Hell and Back, Rolling Stone; Alice in Chains – The History)

In 1996, MTV convinced Alice in Chains to do a show for their Unplugged series. Cantrell comments on this show, “The whole Unplugged show was great. I think my favorite part was that all of Metallica were there. We have a lot of respect for those guys, and it meant a lot to all of us that they were able to show up and see that performance.” During the one-hour show, Alice performed such hits as Rooster and Down in a Hole as well as including some new material such as Killer Is Me. The show was recorded and made into an album, which went Double Platinum and is currently one of only six Unplugged albums to have sold over one million copies. (MTV News; Music Bank)

After Unplugged, Alice in Chains went into retirement. A Greatest Hits album was released as well as a Live album and a boxed set entitled The Music Bank. A reunion was discussed up to about a month before Staley’s death. However, now that is not possible. (Alice in Chains Timeline)

Alice’s influence on today’s music can be heard by simply turning on your local rock radio station. Innumerable bands have copied Alice’s dark style accompanied with their own twist. Sully Erna, the lead singer of Godsmack, talks about how Alice in Chains has influenced him, “He was single-handedly the guy who got me to start singing. To this day, I’ve never heard a cooler singer. Just the way they addressed their melodies and harmonies, and his vocal style in general was so different from anything that anyone was writing that it was so appealing and attractive that you couldn’t help but be influenced by it.” (MTV News)

Barrett Martin, who worked with Staley in Mad Season says, “If we look at his strengths and talents, his gift to us becomes clear: His life was expressed in his words and in his music. Listen to them! He said a lot in a very short period of time. When he was at his peak of greatness, he was awesome to behold. His command of his voice and natural charisma was a very rare combination indeed, and those of us who toured with him and saw him on stage remember the power he held. His unique vocal style has been frequently imitated since the heyday of the Seattle music scene, but none will ever really come close to his mastery. He was most certainly ‘a natural,’ and one couldn’t have imagined a more perfect embodiment of a rock singer.” (MTV News)

Newcomers to the popular music scene, Adema have also felt Alice’s influence. Guitarist Mike Ransom said, “Everybody in the band got teary-eyed when we heard. Layne was what got me started in rock music. He’s one of the greatest singers ever. It’s so sad to hear about someone with such a beautiful voice suffer such a horrible tragedy.” (MTV News)

Alice in Chains definitely deserves their spot in rock ‘n’ roll superstardom. Even though Staley is gone, his music and Alice’s legacy and influence will always live on.