Revisiting: Alice In Chains – Unplugged (1996)

With their now legendary MTV Unplugged performance, Alice In Chains created pure lightning in a bottle … and subsequently released one of the greatest live Alternative Rock albums of all time. The band came together after a frustrating hiatus caused by addiction and relationships strained on the road, to record their epic performance in April 1996; before Columbia Records released the live album on July 30th of the same year. It was their first public live show together in over two years, and their first since the release of their self-titled third studio album in 1995.

It had been a dark and tumultuous journey for the band who rose out of the Seattle scene with the success of their debut album Facelift (1990), and its hit single ‘Man In The Box.’ Labelled ‘Grunge’ alongside Seattle contemporaries including Soundgarden, Nirvana and Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains were soon forging their own path; as the Alternative Hard Rock edge of Facelift gave way to something far darker and entirely unique on its follow up Dirt (1992).

In the two years of success and touring between the releases of Facelift and Dirt, Alice In Chains had spiralled into writing music that was thoroughly bleak and melancholic … but my God was it good! They created something extraordinarily special on Dirt, with songs that lyrically explored drug addiction in a way no other record had quite done so before; while also tackling the plight of a war veteran and paying tribute to a lost friend. Dirt catapulted the band’s success even further, but the relentless touring which followed brought Alice In Chains to the brink.

It’s well documented that lead singer Layne Staley was on a downward spiral of Heroin addiction, while guitarist / singer Jerry Cantrell, bassist Mike Starr, and drummer Sean Kinney were almost certainly battling their own demons too. During the tour Starr would leave Alice In Chains, unable to carry on functioning with life on the road. And he would be replaced with Mike Inez, who the band had met and struck up a friendship with while he was playing in Ozzy Osbourne’s band, and Alice In Chains were supporting the Rock legend. In 1993 they would enter the studio with Inez to record a couple of tracks for The Last Action Hero soundtrack, before recording a selection of mellower songs which would make up the Jar Of Flies EP (1994).

For the most part, Jar Of Flies sounded much like their earlier EP Sap (1992) – which was recorded just prior to the release of Dirt. The two EPs showcased a stripped back and acoustic version of Alice In Chains; with the two records between them providing four of the songs they would play on Unplugged. However, following the release of the critically acclaimed Jar Of Flies, the band were forced to cancel a tour with Metallica, as well as a slot at Woodstock 1994; when Layne Staley would enter rehab … sending the band into their unplanned hiatus.

During this period of inactivity while Staley was in recovery, he would record the album Above with the Seattle ‘supergroup’ Mad Season; featuring guitarist Mike McCready (Pearl Jam), bassist John Baker Saunders (The Walkabouts, drummer Barrett Martin (Screaming Trees), and vocalist Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees). Alice In Chains could only look from afar as Mad Season would play a handful of live shows and achieve worldwide acclaim around the release of their excellent record. But they would finally pull Staley back into the fold a short time later in order to record a new album, with songs that Cantrell had been crafting during their break.

Their self-titled record released in the autumn of 1995, noticeably with Cantrell taking a far larger share of the lead vocals. It was slow, sludgy, and melancholic … but like Dirt, it was another masterpiece. However, despite the album doing well, and the band releasing a number of charting singles, Alice In Chains would remain dormant as a live entity … until MTV Unplugged came calling. Alice In Chains would enter the MTV stage on April 10th 1996, and for the first and only time as a five-piece band. With rhythm guitarist Scott Olson (Heart) joining to allow Jerry Cantrell to focus on playing the songs leads.

Following in the foot steps of artists including Eric Clapton and Nirvana, who had seen extraordinary success off the back of their Unplugged performances and subsequent record releases, Alice In Chains would create something incredibly special. Absolutely slaying their performance against all odds, creating one of the most beautiful acoustic Alternative Rock performances of all time. Their sound suited the Unplugged vibe perfectly, as the songs from Sap and Jar Of Flies – including opener ‘Nutshell,’ ‘Brother,’ and ‘No Excuses’ – showed. But it was the rest of their set made up from the songs of both Dirt and the self-titled record, where their performance really came alive.

Some of the Dirt songs have been immortalised in acoustic form thanks to their show that day. ‘Down In A Hole,’ ‘Angry Chair,’ ‘Rooster,’ and ‘Would?’ are four of the finest on the 1992 record, and they are four of the finest on this record too. Unplugged closes out with a new song; ‘Killer Is Me,’ which typically for this era of Alice In Chains featured Jerry Cantrell on lead vocals. While the rest of the set featured now legendary renditions of songs from the self-titled record; including ‘Sludge Factory,’ ‘Heaven Beside You,’ ‘Frogs,’ and ‘Over Now.’

And well … the performance would unfortunately show that it truly was over now for this definitive version of the band. It would be the last headline performance Layne Staley would ever perform with Alice In Chains. He was hospitalised from a drug overdose just weeks before the live album released, before his final four live shows with the band would occur in the summer of 1996; as Alice In Chains were invited to support Kiss. But another overdose for Staley would put a premature end to this tour. Staley would record two new songs with the band in 1998, but any attempts to get Alice In Chains going again as a fully fleged outfit would end in 2002; when Staley would sadly pass away aged 34. But despite all of their troubles at the time, we can be thankful that his powerhouse vocal performance on Unplugged … has forever been immortalised. KZ

Words by – Abstrakt_Soul

Re:Visiting: Metallica – Master Of Puppets (1986)