Alice in Chains

In 1988 I saw Poison live. The opening band, in stark contrast to Poison, warmed the stage with a mix of tight harmony, dark rhythms, musicianship, dark songwriting, and projectile vomit.

The band was Alice in Chains.

I can't remember what their set list was, or even how many songs were played, but they closed with Man in the Box. Upon completing their set, frontman and founding member Layne Staley evicted the contents of his stomach on one of the ramps on the headliner's stage set.

Needless to say, I was hooked.

If I had to name three bands that have influenced rock and roll for the ages, one of the bands on that list (along with The Beatles and Pink Floyd) would be Alice.

Between Staley and guitarist Jerry Cantrell's stark view of the world around them and the soundscapes they created together lies one startling reality. The link between heroin and the grunge era will forever be the downfall of musicians everywhere.

I was lucky enough to see Alice in concert twice. Once in '88, and again at Lollapalooza in 1993. Little did I know that the Lollapalooza shows were going to be the last major tour that Alice in Chains did with Staley.

They all struggled with addiction, and in a lot of ways, they came together via heroin. It was always a theme in their music, and there was no album more driven by their struggle with drug addiction than their second LP, Dirt.

On that album, they honed their harmonies and songwriting to a perfect knife, one that stabbed at the heart of the loneliness and isolation of drug addiction, the loss created by death, and the bleak outlook of a generation.

But their three albums released in the 90s did not show where this band lived and breathed. It was only on their two acoustic EPs, Jar of Flies (1994) and Sap (1992), did they deliver their true nature to the masses.

Providing their fans with funky jams, and poignant lyrics, the songwriting of Staley and Cantrell shined against a toned down, almost monochrome orchestration and brilliant harmonies. No song brought out their real emotions more than Don't Follow, off of Jar of Flies. Their love of acoustic instruments spilled over to a landmark live performance for MTV's Unplugged series 1996.

After that, the band went on hiatus. Jerry Cantrell, and his bandmates Mike Inez (Bass) and Sean Kinney (Drums), had gotten clean for their demons, and Staley remained a captive of the dragon known as heroin addiction. He died an untimely, young death. He was found in his apartment on April 20th, 2002, 14 days after his apparent death from an overdose of cocaine and heroin.

Jerry Cantrell had already been entrenched in a solo career, and released his second solo offering only two months after the death of his friend and colleague, dedicating the release to Staley's memory.

But, just when Alice in Chains was to never be heard from again, they resurfaced in 2005 to perform at a benefit concert with a series of guest vocalists that included Ann Wilson (Heart) and Maynard James Keenan (Tool and A Perfect Circle). After performing at a VH1 Rock Honors concert, honoring Heart, with guest vocalist Phil Anselmo (Down and Pantera), they went back into the studio to record an album of new material at Foo Fighters' Studio 606 in Los Angeles.

That album, with new vocalist William DuVall, was released in September of last year. It's title, in fitting Alice in Chains form, was titled Black Gives Way To Blue.

Alice in Chains as a whole is a legacy for the ages. Their music echoes in bands such as Godsmack and Disturbed, among others.

For me personally, they have been a life changing band for me. When I was 16 I heard three bands that changed the way I thought about music. One of those bands was Alice. I still will always remember their ability to paint a technicolor landscape against the bleak and black landscapes of their own demons and their ability to reach the inner depths of the struggles of their generation of musicians.

They consistently put their pain on display, yet avoided the whiny tones of so many off their contemporaries. Lyrically, they were incredibly solid, never really letting you see the whole picture and never driving home their themes until the very last moment of precipice.

They were never afraid to take risks with other instruments in their orchestrations, using vocal landscapes and the richness of acoustic guitars at some times, and using the drones, bends, and slides of Cantrell's lead guitar to paint their aural compositions.

In the grand scheme of music, styles come and go, but Alice in Chains will continue to influence modern rock for ages.

Prologue: The view inside the mind of a music snob

At one point, I did college radio.

One may not think very much of this, but it had an incredible impact on my life as a person, and as a music snob. It led me to answer musically to a higher authority than just what I like and what I dislike.

Most people think that Matt Pinfield is the end all and be all of music knowledge and opinions, and for the most part people are correct. But, for years I have answered to a higher authority. That being is the legendary Lester Bangs.

I am aware that Creem Magazine is a shadow of it's former self, and that Lester Bangs was dead long before I got this critical eye when it came to music, but Lester was fearless. He would tell you how he saw it, and left no room for argument of his opinion.

I would love to hear what he had to say about things like pop music today, and the auto-tune "revolution", and his feelings that back in the late 70s that rock was already dead, and what he would say about that now.

Of course this really tell you nothing of what I'm writing in this blog.

I used to do a college radio show called The Psychedelic Toaster Show. That radio show died and became a relatively successful podcast for about three years. I say "relatively" because at the end of the day, much like The Police, the two of the three core members really ceased liking each other in the guise of artistic partners, and the show became less of a labor of love, and more of just a labor.

Behind all the comedy sketch, and snarky comments, the show was, at it's most basic, about good music. I had a reputation for playing enjoyable, high quality music, and being able to call up random facts of said artist or song or album. We came up with the idea of doing a 15 minute segment on the show that spawned the name of this blog. As it turns out, it never came to fruition, and The Toaster came to an untimely, yet quiet, demise in the spring of 2009.

Now, I sit at my keyboard, sans microphone, and think about music. Some people thought it would be a good idea if I went through my musical brain, and poured it out on paper. Well, that's called an encyclopedia.

Once a week, I will post a band that corresponds to a letter of the alphabet, starting with A.

The letter in question changes every month. So, so this month, otherwise known as March, is A, April is B, May is C, and so forth.

Each week, I will profile and critique an artist whose name starts with the letter of the month. For instance, next week I will be posting a blog about Alice in Chains.

I will take requests for artists, just like any good deejay. However, it doesn't mean that your request will be filled, but I will try my best.

I'm pretty sure, that Lester Bangs is in heaven, still in a valium-and-nyquil, laughing at me. He's laughing because, at the end of the day, I probably just stole his idea...