Disco de Alice in Chains: “Dirt”

I don't even want to know how many times I've listened to this album, all the way through, and then when it was over played it again. This was the first I ever heard Alice in Chains (thanks to my cousin playing "Rooster" for me) and I immediately put the album on my NEED TO BUY list back in early 1994. Being forbidden MTV by my parents and really having no previous interest in radio this album sparked my love of music into a virtual inferno! This was the first cd I ever bought, and for that alone I love it. But all the songs are a powerful offspring of potent lyrics and chillingly talented musicians. Jerry Cantrell's playing is surreal and Layne Staley's singing is startling enough to puncture the soul. The first song "Them Bones" is one of my favorites, highly introspective. The second, "Dam That River" is an excellent play on words. "Rain When I Die" is haunting enough to put on repeat itself. "Down In A Hole" is a sad, self-aware song that screams for the memorization of its lyrics and pertinence when just a little bit down. "Sickman" took me awhile to like, (maybe 3 seconds as opposed to the instantaneous reaction I had to the previous 4 songs) but is now a staple of my music listening experience. "Rooster" well, this is what started it all for me. I don't think I'll ever get sick of listening to this song and I've even been known to tell people to shut the hell up while it's playing on the radio. "Junk Head" is blatantly about drug use and about criticising things and people alike without bothering to find out both sides. "Dirt" the song for which the album is named has a really crazy sound to it and is like a mid-album spike into a harder tone. "God Smack" is another song that took me a while to get used to but which I now love. The untitled screams and shouts on the tenth track always seemed to me like a short eavesdropping on the denizens of hell. "Hate To Feel" is a great anti-depressant when you feel alone, because it's quite obvious that Layne Staley has felt the futility of depression. "Angry Chair" is another dark song, presumably dealing with apathy. Last, but not least, is "Would?" which has had fans of Alice in Chains asking themselves "what the hell is this about?" ever since it first got airtime on the radio, but not without them latching onto it as a fan favorite. Now of course no music album is worth anything if it doesn't entertain, and whether you receive any message from the lyrics or not Dirt will definitely do that. An essential album for any child of the 1990's from one of the best bands to come on the scene during that decade. One of, if not the best band out of Seattle. If you like this check out their other albums "Facelift" (their first album), "Sap" (really short), "Jar of Flies", "Alice in Chains" (three-legged dog on the album cover), and their "Unplugged" album.

No one really talks about it much, but the 90's alternative explosion was rooted in heavy metal. It was just covered up. Nirvana claimed a punk tradition, citing The Meat Puppets, Sonic Youth, and The Pixies as influences. Pearl Jam covered their dirty roots with big Who-ish guitars and poppy melodies. The Smashing Pumpkins spent their time in the 80's new wave and goth areas. But Alice in Chains was no-bones about their metal-ness, and in leiu of keeping up pretenses, they pummeled the music industry, their fans, and the radio with bottom-feeding guitars and an iron fist. And in 1992, they went about making their follow-up to "Facelift." "Dirt" remains today their masterpiece and THE definitive early 90's rock/depression experience.

Drugs, self-loathing, death, and war are the biggies here and they don't try to cover any of it up. There are no euphemisms, no suggestions in Layne Staley & Jerry Cantrell's lyrics. They lay it on the line in the same fashion as their heroes Metallica and Black Sabbath did before them. The band had a sort of fear, yet obsession with death-- Layne screaming at the beginning of the album "I believe them bones are me!!" in horror. Jerry pays tribute to his dead uncle, a war casualty in Vietnam, nicknamed "Rooster" by his squad. The fear follows the band into the deepest depths of drug addiction ("Down in a Hole," "Junkhead") through most of the album. And the guitar, bass, and drums are just as desperate and pleading as the subjects they encase (Layne's apocalyptic harmonies on tunes like "Sickman" and "Angry Chair" are especially intreging). The broading "Rain When I Die" has become all the more poignant with Staley gone (RIP Layne). And finally, Alice in Chains give us a last minute gift; perhaps the greatest album closer in all of rock music... "Would?"

So many bands made such a fuss about hiding what their music was; "Seattle sound," "Grunge," "alternative rock," etc etc. No one took the bull by the horns like AIC, and they are missed. We must never forget our metal heritage. Overall: 10 out of 10.

Nearly 10 years (god! Was it that long ago!) since the release of AIC's seminal and compulsive Dirt and the album still retains it's impact. Over the years I've heard many bands try to emulate this album - the harrowing lyrical content, the Sabbath-heavy guitars and jaw-dropping choruses. All so far have not matched the sheer enjoyment of this album, even though it's subject matter touches heroin drug addiction. Along with Superunknown, In Utero and Ten, Dirt defined the Grunge genre. These are still my favourite records in my extensive record collection for which I will always listen to, no matter the musical climate, simply timeless music. All the tracks are worth mentioning:

Them Bones? - What an opening track! Very short and immediately swamps the speakers. Perhaps the most rocking and head-banging friendly AIC song there is. 10/10

Dam That River - Creepy vocals and sludgy sound. The trick ending gets me every time. 8/10

Rain When I Die - I wonder where AIC got their miserable tag from? Well tracks like this are bleak with no light at the end of the tunnel. I love it! 9/10

Down in a Hole - An obvious highpoint, one of the few Dirt tracks to work really well on their MTV Unplugged session. You realize at this point that AIC have made the best album of their career in which they will never top. This album has put me off drugs for life after hearing Layne Stanley's bad experiences. 10/10

Sickman - Irritating on first listen, after repeated plays this gets better. Trust me. Repeat after me - `Sickman, Sickman, Sickman....' 8/10

Rooster - `We've come to snuff the rooster! Yeah!' Another key track along, with Down In A Hole the slow intro builds into an explosive chorus. The music video depicts the horrors of Vietnam to gruesome effect 9/10

Junkhead - One of my favourites, a classic track pure and simple. `What's my drug of choice, well what have you got?' And the unsurprising reply of `I do it a lot!' Really? 10/10

Dirt - The title track lowers the quality control a notch but beats anything off AIC's 1995 self-titled album. 7/10

God Smack - Named after that band? I don't think so, clearly Godsmack were basing their entire career on this album. The metal influences clearly shine through. 8/10

Hate to Feel - A quality track (7/10) but is nothing compared to.......

Angry Chair - This track is amazing! The guitar part compliments Layne's vocals well here. I can never get that stop-start singing in the bridge out of my head after hearing it just once. 10/10

Would? - If I had to name my all-time fav AIC track - this one would be it. Part of the Singles soundtrack and added to Dirt late on, this ends one of the 90s greatest rock albums in some style. 10/10

There you have it. Many references to drugs, AIC's best album (easily) to date and haunting vocal interplay between Cantrell and Stanley - what more do you want from Grunge?

C'mon people when Layne asks the question : What's my drug of choice in the song Junkhead were we really surprised to hear him answer: well what have you got? This is just a sample of the dark and tormented cries you'll be subjected to while hearing this recording, I think I'm right to say it was the darkest album of the decade, maybe ever. Dirt gives you everything a great rock or metal record should : amazing guitar work, powerful drum beats and that pounding bass. Layne's voice is unique (just like OZzy's heh heh) and listening to him sing about his heroin addiction song after song touches me deeply and it hurts. The album opener is Them Bones, a heavy track that will get you banging your head in no time, followed by Damn that River another great tune, hold on a sec this album is about to get awhole lot darker. Rain when I die, Sickman, Rooster, Junhead just by reading the titles you know these guys have hurt especially Layne. These guys cam write great songs, just listen to an extract from such songs as Down in a hole :"See my heart I decorate it like a grave", very haunting yet distrubingly beautiful and poetic. Listening to Dirt is even sadder nowadays, Layne's ongoing heroin abuse continued and later on destroyed the band, wich makes the irony of Would? (the album's closer) even greater. The final track asks a simple question, is response to Layne's :"Have I run too far to get home? "(during Would?) my answer is yes, and every AIC fan wishes you the best of luck.

Ok I might have nothing new to say that wasn't said before. You heard it all, the best album from one of the best bands of all time, perfection, masterpiece, briliance, ..., ..., what do you need more. Still not convinced? here's what are you going to do: open your kazaa (imesh, winmx, dc++, whatever) and download Down In A Hole, and listen to it. Now if you don't feel the need to listen to it again and again and again,..., and you don't think that thats one of the best songs ever, then theres no hope for you. But that's not going to happen. You'r gonna buy this CD immediatley, and once you do that, you'r gonna find out why does this album have 5 star average review here.

I'm not gonna say anything abut any song in particular, or any other detail, because it's been done before by other reviewers, and I don't think I can do it better.

And if you are still not convinced, there's still one thing to do - read the one star reviews. You'r gonna "find out" that Alice In Chains are nothing more than godsmack rip offs, puddle of mudd wannabies, and that limp bizkit is the best band in the hisory of mankind. Just another reason to buy this CD asap