The Definitive 1000 Songs Of All Time 1955 to 2005: Number 473

Number 473

Alice In Chains

"Man In The Box"

(1990)
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Genre:Grunge

Blogspot is notorious for music fiends, so it was a nice surprise to come across "The Good, The Bad and The Unknown" which is well written,[yes, not like mine ~meh] the site also has a page 4 ranking [I'm suffering from rank envy] and full of really usefull information, for example: Alice In Chains, here the writer J Paul lists the "11 Best Songs by Alice In Chains" Drum roll please and pass me the envelope .....

1. Would? - Dirt

2. Rooster - Dirt

3. Nutshell - Jar of Flies

4. A Little Better - Last Action Hero OST

5. Man In The Box - Facelift

6. Sea Of Sorrow - Facelift

7. Right Turn - Sad ep

8. Heaven Beside You - Alice In Chains

9. Sickman - Dirt

10. Damn That River - Dirt

11. Brother - Sad ep

Thanks to www.goodbadunknown.blogspot.com [yes, I did RSS them]

art by stabstabstab

When Alice in Chains' debut album, Facelift, was released in 1990, about a year before Nirvana's Nevermind, the thriving Seattle scene barely registered on the national musical radar outside of underground circles (although Soundgarden's major-label debut, Louder Than Love, was also released that year and brought them a Grammy nomination). That started to change when MTV jumped all over the video for "Man in the Box," giving the group a crucial boost and helping to pave the way for grunge's popular explosion toward the end of 1991. Although their dominant influences -- Black Sabbath, the Stooges -- were hardly unique on the Seattle scene, Alice in Chains were arguably the most metallic of grunge bands, which gave them a definite appeal outside the underground; all the same, the group's sinister, brooding, suffocating sound resembled little else gaining wide exposure on the 1990 hard rock scene.

need moose!

Neither hedonistic nor especially technically accomplished, Alice in Chains' songs were mostly slow, oppressive dirges with a sense of melody that was undeniable, yet which crept along over the murky sludge of the band's instrumental attack in a way that hardly fit accepted notions of what made hard rock catchy and accessible. Although some parts of Facelift sink into turgid, ponderous bombast (particularly over the erratic second half), and the lyrics are sometimes immature, the overall effect is fresh, exciting, and powerful. While Alice in Chains would go on to do better and more consistent work, Facelift was one of the most important records in establishing an audience for grunge and alternative rock among hard rock and heavy metal listeners, and with its platinum sales certification, it also made Alice in Chains the first Seattle band to break through to a wider, less exclusively underground audience. ~ [Steve Huey, All Music Guide]

For Nirvana see Number 480

For Black Sabbath see Number 826 & #979

For The Stooges see Number 980

What does Rolling Stone think of Alice?

A metal band with an alternative-rock edge, Alice in Chains was among the biggest to emerge from the grunge scene that spawned Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden. The group's dark, bitter songs, laden with references to drug addiction and death, occupy a musical landscape somewhere between Metallica's dense head bangers and Pearl Jam's grinding anthems. Layne Staley formed Alice in Chains with an earlier lineup while still in high school. In 1987 he met Jerry Cantrell at the Music Bank, a notorious Seattle warehouse rehearsal space, and the two put together the newly christened Alice in Chains along with Cantrell cohorts Kinney and Starr. By 1989 the group had signed to Columbia Records, where it became the beneficiary of an aggressive promotion campaign that saw the release of a five-song promotional EP, We Die Young, and had the group opening for a range of disparate acts, including Iggy Pop and Poison. As a result, by September 1991, Face Lift (#42) had sold a half-million copies and featured the Grammy-nominated “Man in the Box.” A low-key and mostly acoustic EP, Sap, and a track in the Seattle youth culture movie Singles kept the band in the public eye between albums. ~ [Source:Rolling Stone - from The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll Simon & Schuster, 2001]

For Pearl Jam see Number 505

For more Pearl Jam visit MM Vol 1 #116

For Metallica see Number 484

For more Metallica visit MM Vol 1 #033 & MM Vol 2 #136

Rolling Stone magazine deemed their '473rd Song of all Time' was "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" by Aretha Franklin. Aretha Franklin has appeared in The Definitive 1000 @ #563

Other songs with reference to Alice In Chains #505, #765, #975, #981

Rolling Stone Top 500 Songs ranked this song at Number (No way) and the Album ranked at (One grunge band too many)

This song has a crowbarred rating of 76.3 out of 108