Alice In Chains will forever be linked with the other Seattle bands that clawed out of the Emerald City's womb around the same time. Right or wrong, fair or not, the average music fan instinctually thinks of Soundgarden, Pearl Jam and Nirvana at the mention of AIC. To borrow from that intrinsic union, Soundgarden had their "Superunknown", Pearl Jam gave us "Ten", Nirvana's masterpiece was "Nevermind", and AIC released "Dirt" today in 1992. (25 years ago. 25 mother flipping years! You're getting old, man. Not me, of course, just you.)
Despite being sludgier, darker and grimier than anything Seattle's Big 4 ever put out, "Dirt" was easily the band's most successful album, remaining on the Billboard Top 200 chart for over two straight years and selling over 5 million copies. Of the album's twelve true tracks (one song was a throw away number with Slayer's Tom Araya on vocals) five were offered as singles and they helped AIC to become one of the biggest bands of the 1990s.
Unlike the promise of Oz's Emerald City, AIC's version reflects a blackened and fractured mirror's opposite reflection. Instead of the pursuit of a brain, heart, courage and a safe path home, "Dirt" offers a twisted vision of a mind riddled with doubt and disease, a heart broken from within and without, a lack of courage in the face of personal demons, and the sickeningly leaden prospect of a road that leads anywhere but home.
The bleak hellscape contained in the album's music and lyrics is hinted at on the cover of the record, which depicts a woman half-buried in a cracked and barren desert. (The woman in the photo was also the model for Spinal Tap's "Bitch School" single.) The image is fitting for an album that largely focuses on the cracked and barren feelings and soul of an addict.
It isn't all pain and despair, however. "Dirt" also offers the bone chilling tale of guitarist Jerry Cantrell's father's Vietnam War experiences on the fantastic "Rooster", as well as a couple of love songs on "Down in a Hole" and "Rain When I Die". On second thought, considering the titles of those love songs, maybe it is all pain and despair.
Regardless, as my kindergarten teacher always told us, beauty is in the eye of the beer holder. So crack a coldy & find for yourself the deep, dark, buried beauty that is "Dirt".
Previous AIC installments:
The incomparable Whoa Nellie stretches his boundaries with "Jar of Flies": https://www.elevenwarriors.com/forum/anything-else/2016/01/66947/jar-of-...
Self-titled album released: https://www.elevenwarriors.com/forum/anything-else/2015/11/62769/alice-i...
