Alice in Chains

I couldn't listen to this band for about the last fifteen years. I still skip some songs and rarely listen to them. I actually prefer Jerry Cantrell's solo catalogue. His solo work without the AIC brand is different, maybe a little more down to Earth and hopeful, a little less sinister, still some dark clouds but glimmers of sunshine. 

Part of the Alice resistance is knowing Layne's dark ending. I saw that one coming a long time ago. His lyrics were some of the gloomiest ever written; songs like "We Die Young", "Down in a Hole" and "Frogs" the latter which he sings about slipping away from his addiction. Even if Layne was always the lyric writer, I can't help thinking that Jerry was writing about him! And Layne was still the one singing these troubling songs. We were watching his demise right in front of us. His death was our art to enjoy. It made me a little sick.

The other part of my resistance is I dabbled in a dark world, not one that dark, but scary enough that I was running from that kind of energy. There are friends I know who ended up just like Layne. Although I know this kind of music actually helps some people through their tough times, I realized that negative music makes me feel bad. I'd listen to AIC and feel rotten. Even the first song "Man in the Box" frightened me when I first saw it as a kid on Headbanger's Ball late one Saturday night. 

Between the reality of the singer's demise and my seeking out more uplifting music, Alice in Chains was just about dead to me. The new singer William Duvall couldn't pull me back, though I'm warming up to him. I still felt compelled to compile this playlist because the band still touched my life for a short time. If anything it was there to warn me and wake me up. 

I'll come back to Jerry soon though for playlists. I finally got to see him last summer and it was fantastic to hear those AIC songs along with his solo material. The guy rocks and makes great art. He's the songwriting genius behind AIC; I just like his other side better.