Review Summary: If I would, could you?
I’ve never been able to pick out which of the grunge albums is the best. I can narrow it down to seven or eight of the bold efforts by Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains, or as they were later dubbed, “the big four”. Mudhoney and Screaming Trees along with other late 80’s early 90’s grunge acts also constructed a few noteworthy musical craftsmanship’s of their own. As a grunge zealot, I may never come up with an answer. I enjoy so many of them. But what about the darkest of the grunge albums? The most twisted of the grunge albums? Now there is a question I can in fact answer. The darkest most twisted of these albums is Alice in Chains’ Dirt. A murky record filled with distortion riddled guitar riffs, searing vocals and numerous chronicles of substance abuse, which each member of the band was struggling with at the time of its recording. You can’t help but allow the album to grab hold of you take you into the madness. It is a record that almost seemed to blur the lines between grunge and metal. If you are a metal fan beginning to explore grunge, this is the album to start with.
Alice in Chains had gained a lot of attention in 1990, a time when the music industry was going through some changes, with their praiseworthy but somewhat top-heavy debut, Facelift. The albums biggest hit, “Man in the Box,” got some serious recognition on MTV and on radio stations across the country. A year later Nirvana and Pearl Jam changed the game with Nevermind and Ten. Soon Soundgarden’s Badmotorfinger was starting to gain some attention of its own. Needless to say there was a lot of pressure on AIC to come through with their sophomore effort. The band more than answered the call in September of 1992 with Dirt.
Dirt begins with the quick and catchy Them Bones, a boisterous opener addressing the inevitable fate of death, as it appropriately picks up the listener for the angst-ridden ride. The sobering “Down in a Hole” slows the album down to a more somber and self-loathing note as Layne Staley belts, “Down in a hole/Losin’ my soul/I’d like to fly/But my wings have been so denied”. Layne never sounded better than he did on Dirt, it was the album where he began to come into his own as not only a vocalist, but as a songwriter and even as a rhythm guitar player. His searing vocals really give a face to these thirteen magnificent songs. The albums highlight comes on the sixth track with the gritty, almost uplifting “Rooster”, a song that pays homage to Vietnam Vets, particularly Jerry Cantrell’s father. Running over 6 minutes, this song has a spectacular buildup and very descriptive lyrics: “Walkin' tall machine gun man/They spit on me in my home land/Gloria sent me pictures of my boy/Got my pills 'gainst mosquito death/My buddy's breathin' his dyin' breath/Oh God, please won't you help me make it through?” It’s a true spine chiller for anyone who served in or even has a loved one who served in Vietnam.
The second half of Dirt becomes a concept album with a number of songs addressing drug abuse. “Junkhead”, “God Smack” and “Hate To Feel” all narrate tales of death defying lows of heroin. The concept of heroin is by no means an original topic in the world of Rock ‘n Roll, but AIC really spill their guts and are brutally honest about the tumultuousness of addiction and depression. Staley painfully groans, “I have never felt such frustration/Or lack of self control/I want you to kill me and dig me under/I wanna live no more,” on the album’s title track. Soon we are brought to the insanity embracer, “Angry Chair”, one of the true underrated gems of AIC’s catalog. “Lost my mind, yeah, but I don't mind/Can't find it anywhere, I don't mind.” The song is a distressing acceptance of of drug dependence. Would?, the albums closer, which has a strong bass riff, is a perfect way to end the album as it is a tribute to their late friend, Andrew Wood of Mother Love Bone, who died of a heroin overdose in 1990. It is as if the band is using the album to explain to him that against their will, they have begun walking a mile in his shoes.
Simply put, Dirt is Alice in Chains’ true masterpiece and one of the finest moments of the grunge era. It paints a little bit more of a picture than its fellow grunge classics as its lyrics are a bit more upfront and candid. It is the last time we would get the see the original lineup of Layne Staley, Jerry Cantrell, Sean Kinney and Mike Starr. Starr was kicked out of the band in 1993, and the remaining members slowly began to disband as the decade wore on. The album, sadly, was a bit prophetic in the case of Staley and Starr who both died of drug overdoses in 2002 and 2011. Dirt however, is a fantastic way for people to remember them by, not because of the album’s concept being synonymous with their deaths, but because it is the two musicians and their band mates all meshing perfectly in the prime of their musical careers. Dirt certainly was a cry for help, which maybe was never answered, but it was partially because the band distracted us with such astounding tunes on this one of a kind album.
