Alice in Chains (informally referred to as the Dog Album, Dog Record, or Tripod) is the third studio album by the American rock band Alice in Chains. It was released in vinyl formats on October 31, 1995, through Columbia Records, and in other formats on November 7. It served as the follow-up to the group's commercial breakthrough Dirt (1992), and it was their last to feature their original lead vocalist Layne Staley before his death in 2002 and their first with bassist Mike Inez, who replaced Mike Starr in 1993.
Alice in Chains had not played live for a year and a half due to Staley's opiate addiction. During the hiatus, Staley joined Mad Season with Mike McCready of Pearl Jam and Barrett Martin of Screaming Trees to record the album Above (1995), leaving the future of Alice in Chains in question. Staley's growing heroin addiction led to rumors of his death. Shortly after the release of Above, the band began work on their third album, with the intention of putting an end to speculation on their break-up.
The album was recorded at Seattle's Bad Animals Studio with the producer Toby Wright from April to August 1995. The songs focus on emotional subject matter such as drug addiction, depression, spirituality, broken relationships and the internal tensions within the band fueled by Staley's substance abuse. The music relies less on heavy metal riffs and more on melody and texturally varied arrangements, some integrating the acoustic moods of their earlier EPs, while others introduced late 1960s and early 1970s rock influences.
Alice in Chains was released during the decline of the grunge era. The band was unable to tour due to Staley's addiction, and only performed for televised events and the opening for Kiss. Nevertheless, the album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart and stayed there for nearly a year. The tracks "Grind", "Heaven Beside You" and "Again" were released as singles. "Grind" and "Again" were nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance. The album was certified double platinum by the RIAA and sold over three million copies worldwide. It was the band's last for almost 14 years as Staley died from a drug overdose in 2002. They eventually emerged with Black Gives Way to Blue in 2009 with new co-vocalist William DuVall.
Background
thumb|alt=A man with long black hair wearing a leather jacket and playing a bass guitar.|Alice in Chains was the band's first full-length album to feature bassist [[Mike Inez (pictured 2019).]]
Alice in Chains released their second and breakthrough album, Dirt in September 1992. It entered the top ten of the Billboard 200 in its first week of release. During the supporting tour, bassist Mike Starr was fired due to addiction problems, and was replaced by Ozzy Osbourne's live bassist Mike Inez. Upon its release in January 1994, Jar of Flies bested Dirts peak on the charts, debuting at number one on the Billboard 200.
After the release of Jar of Flies, Staley entered rehab for heroin addiction, and drummer Sean Kinney struggled with alcoholism. The band had been scheduled to join Metallica's Shit Hits the Sheds Tour during mid-1994, including a stop at Woodstock '94, but while in rehearsal for the tour, Staley arrived to a practice session high. The band's manager, Susan Silver, released an official statement that the group's live appearances for the foreseeable future had been cancelled due to health issues. They were replaced by Candlebox on the tour. After the statement the musicians stopped communicating with the press. Multiple rumors sprang from the cancellation, including that they had broken up and that Staley had died from AIDS. Cantrell then decided to work on material intended for a solo album
Following the Bear Creek sessions, Wright was brought back as producer for what would become the new Alice in Chains album. The band's A&R manager, Nick Terzo, who had once offered Wright a job with Alice in Chains as a sound engineer, was not pleased with the musicians' decision. Terzo considered Wright more of a technician than a producer. He also believed that a producer was obliged to find a compromise between the band and the label, whereas Wright fully supported the band's creative independence; this led to his selection for the production job. The band also barred Silver from entering the studio. Wright was the only intermediary between the band and the management, and it was through him she learned of progress on the album. Although Wright emphasized that the idea of distancing from management belonged to the musicians, he did not oppose because he wanted to isolate the band from their personal problems in favor of focusing on the music.
Despite the commercial success of the group's earlier works, Cantrell considered making music that would make the band's fans happy to be the main goal. According to Staley, the band wanted to create something they themselves would enjoy, rather than appealing to commercial trends. The band was given full creative control, initially without a deadline or budget. When Wright met Columbia president Don Ienner in New York before the studio session began, Ienner was skeptical about the project and was sure that Wright would not be successful or productive; Wright recalled "sitting in Donnie Ienner's office in New York before we started the record and him telling me, 'Good luck,' because he didn't think I'd be able to get a record out of them."
Creative process
thumb|right|alt=A man in a t-shirt singing into a microphone.|Vocalist [[Layne Staley's drug addiction intensified during the making of Alice in Chains.]]
Work on Alice in Chains began at Bad Animals Studio about a month after the March 1995 release of Mad Season's Above. The band chose the studio because of its size and proximity to Staley's home. When work began, the musicians did not have any finished songs, though Cantrell had several ideas to work with from his home demo sessions. Hofstedt estimated that over 70 rolls of magnetic tape were used with this approach, remarking years later that the budget for the tape cost roughly an entire modern album production budget.
Instruments
Wright's first focus was on the drums. Sean Kinney made a point of not using a metronome during the recordings, which made the songs more "living and breathing"; the tempo could fluctuate slightly but noticeably in different parts of the songs, following changes in dynamics. Kinney wrote all the drum parts except for "Again", which was written by Scott in the demo sessions with Cantrell. Cantrell asked Kinney to replicate Scott's part, which forced Kinney to change his approach.
Cantrell's used three tracks for his guitars: left and right for rhythm guitar and one in the centre for the lead part. By contrast, Dirt typically used six to eight guitar tracks, but he deliberately reduced the number to achieve a more natural sound. The dark and depressive nature of the music remained. Jerry Cantrell admitted in an interview with Rolling Stone around the release of the album that "our music's kind of about taking something ugly and making it beautiful". hard rock, sludge metal Rolling Stone noted influences from Cream, Crosby, Stills and Nash, and the Allman Brothers Band on the record's calmer songs and ballads, suggesting the "hazier, more otherworldly aesthetic" may have been the result of "sleepless nights and controlled substances." Much of the music was co-written by Cantrell and one or both of Inez and Kinney during rehearsals in the studio. There were three exceptions: the two songs from Cantrell's home sessions, "Grind" and "Again", were written alone, Cantrell sang lead vocals on three songs: "Grind", "Heaven Beside You", and "Over Now", all of which he also wrote lyrics to. He originally did not wish to contribute lead vocals as much as he did, but Staley and the others insisted he sing on these tracks.
Lyrics
Staley's usual lyrical themes on previous material explored drug addiction, despair, social alienation, isolation, and loneliness. "Heaven Beside You" was written after the end of Cantrell's seven-year relationship with his girlfriend.
Staley was suffering from writer's block and wrote his lyrics while in the studio. other songs touch on themes of fame obsession and relationships.
Packaging
Work on the artwork for Alice in Chains began immediately after the recording of the album was completed. The concept was conceived by Kinney; the front cover features a three-legged dog, similar to one that chased him in his childhood when he was working as a paperboy. The back features a photograph of sideshow performer Frank Lentini, who had three legs, playing a lute. The shot of Lentini was taken from an exhibition of Ripley's Believe It or Not!. The number three was symbolic of multiple things to the band: it was the band's first full-length studio album in three years after Dirt and represented rumors of Staley's death, thereby being only three remaining band members. In the words of Ground Control, "signs that something is just not right appear everywhere both on and in Alice in Chains;" they go on to detail how the album's booklet demonstrates with "images of ghastly, contorted fairies with no flesh on their arms, sinister, personified bottles swimming through black oceans, cartoons of mutant animals standing on trial, [and] synthetic limbs" among other unsettling images. The photo of the dog shot by Schenck was finally used on the 1999 box set Music Bank. Another three-legged dog named Sunshine appeared in the music video for "Grind"; contrary to rumor, none of the dogs used for the photoshoot, music video, or album cover belonged to Cantrell.
Release
"Grind" was released as the first single from the album on October 6, 1995.
On October 31, Alice in Chains was formally released on vinyl; and the following day elsewhere. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, moving 189,000 copies in its first week; it stayed on the chart for 46 weeks. It has since been certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), signifying shipments of two million copies. When asked about the frustration of not touring to support the record, Cantrell provided some insight into how Staley's addictions led to repercussive tensions within the band: "We rode the good times together and we stuck together through the hard times. We never stabbed each other in the back and spilled our guts and do that kind of bullshit that you see happen a lot."
"Heaven Beside You" was released as the album's second single on January 29, 1996.<!--- Jewel case actually has the date printed on it ---> "Heaven Beside You" peaked at number 52 on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart, at that time becoming Alice in Chains' second-highest charting domestic single after "No Excuses". "Heaven Beside You" also peaked at number three on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and at number six on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. it peaked at number eight on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. Directed by Schenck, the project fictionalized how the band members spent their free time when they were not working. Cantrell portrayed two characters: as himself, he was shown shoveling manure at a horse stable, but for most of the project, he was disguised as a female journalist, Nona Weissbaum. Weissbaum's character takes a car ride around Seattle, interviewing the other three members of Alice in Chains. Kinney performed as Bozo the Clown and was later filmed drinking at a bar in-costume. Inez was portrayed as a member of the band against his will, and his family held at ransom by the rest of the band; however, when he supposedly read in a magazine that his band had split, he started running a hot dog stand in downtown Seattle. Staley was shown digging through a dumpster; his interview responses were overdubbed with different responses than were recorded. The editing was Staley's idea.
Schenck considered the work one of the best experiences of all those he had with the band. Creating The Nona Tapes also convinced Schenck that the musicians could have also been good actors had they wished to be and mentioned it to several directors he knew. The band had previously appeared in film scenes, including a cameo on Cameron Crowe's 1992 production Singles; Cantrell would go on to make a cameo appearance on Crowe's Jerry Maguire in 1996, but aside from that, the band members were never seriously interested.
Conversely, Columbia did not like The Nona Tapes at first and considered it a waste of money. However, Columbia decided to sell it after the project became a cult hit, despite the band's objection. The video was released on VHS in December 1995. Despite fervent press interest and persistent rumors, the musicians kept their patience in addressing their absence and the gossip that followed. The band wanted to sound sincere and honest while maintaining modesty and avoiding the pathos of rock stars.
Among the publications interested in the return of Alice in Chains was Rolling Stone. Jon Wiederhorn was commissioned to write a feature article about the band. In late 1995, Wiederhorn flew to Seattle, where he spent several days with the musicians, collecting material for the article. Wiederhorn talked to the entire band and to each of the members individually. In a conversation with Staley, he drew attention to the injection marks on his left arm; the vocalist admitted that he had never solved his drug problem. Work on the article continued during the Christmas holidays. In parallel, a representative of the magazine held a photo shoot with the musicians.
The article appeared in the February 1996 issue of Rolling Stone and, with the exception of mentioning the marks on Staley's arms, did not contain any controversial facts. However, the cover of the issue drew the band negative attention. The editing team had decided to put a photo of Staley on it, naming the cover story "The Needle & The Damage Done". The title was a reference to the song of the same name by Neil Young about heroin addiction. Staley was offended that the magazine did not keep its promise to publish an article about the whole band, rather than focusing on him and his personal issues. He was framed as the only drug addict in the group, although his bandmates had dealt with substance problems. Wiederhorn defended his part in the article's creation, explaining that the decision for the cover and the tabloid-style headline was made in another department without his participation. He also claimed that the article was heavily edited, where most of his coverage of Inez and Kinney were reduced to sparse mentions. He did, however, admit to bringing up Staley's drug use, stating that to ignore it would not be an honest depiction of the band: "I had an obligation to write about what the band was motivated by, what the band was dealing with, what some of the demons were."
Television performances
Although the band did not tour to support the album, they were offered several individual appearances, including for MTV Unplugged, which they declined several times before accepting. The program featured bands performing concerts open to the public with entirely acoustic setlists that were taped by MTV. The show took place on April 10, 1996, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Majestic Theater. Ienner, Anthony, and the members of Metallica were among those in attendance. The performance aired on MTV on May 28, and Wright was brought back to edit the live album associated with the concert.
Unplugged was released on July 17, 1996, and debuted at number three on the Billboard 200. It was the band's first live performance since they co-headlined the Lollapalooza tour in mid-1993, who had appeared in the band's music video for "No Excuses". On May 10, the band was the musical guest on the Late Show with David Letterman, where they performed a medley of "Again" and "We Die Young".
Opening for Kiss and aftermath
In what would be their final live performances during their original run, the band took an opening slot on a classic lineup reunion tour for Kiss. Titled the Alive/Worldwide Tour, Alice in Chains' opening slot was originally held by Stone Temple Pilots, but their vocalist, Scott Weiland, had drug issues of his own to address. The slot was instead awarded to Alice in Chains when Weiland entered rehabilitation. Alex Coletti, who had produced the band's Unplugged performance, and Billy Corgan, frontman of the Smashing Pumpkins, were both in attendance at the Detroit show and praised their performance. However, Kerrang! reported that Staley appeared physically unhealthy from the first show of the run.
The band played four shows in total for the tour, making stops in Louisville and St. Louis, before a final stop in Kansas City on July 3. When the band decided a few months later that they wished to tour again, the band brought in Comes With the Fall vocalist William DuVall as Staley's successor in 2006. DuVall had been in the audience at the Louisville show during their tour with Kiss nearly a decade prior, and it took nearly 14 years for the band to follow up Alice in Chains with Black Gives Way to Blue in 2009.
Reception
Alice in Chains was recognized by some for being a musical progression for the band, with certain critics specifically noting a breakaway from the grunge label that had been assigned to the group. Jon Wiederhorn of Rolling Stone highlighted heavy influence from Jar of Flies, and praised the lyrical honesty throughout the album. Noting that the songs "achieve a startling, staggering and palpable impact", he concluded that the album was a "musical rebirth" for the band. Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune opined that "acoustic guitars, buried spoken vocals, a mix that ranges from stripped-down clarity to white noise chaos, and the band's sneaky way with a melody mark Alice in Chains as its most accomplished record," noting that the callbacks to Jar of Flies enhanced the finished product. The Toronto Suns Peter Howell likewise praised the mix of styles, hailing the effort as "a most welcome recovery" from the band's personal turmoil. J.D. Considine remarked for The Baltimore Sun that the album used "some of the crunchiest guitar and heaviest riffs Alice in Chains has ever used but that it does so without really sounding like a metal album", while also praising Staley's distinctive performances on "God Am", "Sludge Factory", and "Again". John C. Wooten enthusiastically praised the album in The Charlotte Observer, stating that both the aggressive and calmer offerings on the album surpassed those of Dirt. The Boston Globes Paul Robicheau was the most appreciative of Cantrell's songwriting and performance, but was less impressed by some of Staley's contributions.
Other music critics found the record's sound dated or uninteresting. Entertainment Weeklys Nisid Hajari dismissed the album as "a sludgy stew of cookie-cutter riffs and self-indulgent, introspective noodling rock", but highlighted "Head Creeps" as a standout track. Writing for Select, Roy Wilkinson deemed the album a poor imitation of Black Sabbath and disparaged the lyrics as "the kind of banally pompous ire that makes a tabloid-hounded Michael Hutchence seem witheringly articulate."
Award nominations
{|class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Ceremony
! Award
! Result
!
|-
| rowspan="2"| 1996
| Grammy Awards
| Best Hard Rock Performance ("Grind")
| rowspan="3"
|
|-
| MTV Video Music Awards
| Best Hard Rock Video ("Again")
|
|-
| 1997
| Grammy Awards
| Best Hard Rock Performance ("Again")
|
|}
Track listing
Personnel
Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.
| 14
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! scope="row"| Greek Albums (IFPI)
| 16
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! scope="row"| Hungarian Physical Albums (MAHASZ)
| 4
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! scope="row"| Irish Albums (IRMA)
| 56
|-
|-
|}