Unfortunately, in the thick of their success, Staley battled with a debilitating drug addiction, which he eventually succumbed to in 2002. This distinction became even clearer on the band’s second album, 1992’s multi-platinum-selling Dirt, a brooding mix mired in soul-crushing nihilism, hauntingly realized on the numbing ballad “Down In a Hole” and wailing dirges “Rooster” and “Them Bones.” Still, even when they stripped out the Sabbath-style sludge for their many acoustic forays-on 1992’s SAP EP, 1994’s Jar of Flies EP, and 1996’s MTV Unplugged performance-the band sounded just as intense. They were quickly thrust under the grunge umbrella alongside fellow Seattle bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam, but Alice In Chains’ morbid ruminations on depression, addiction, oppression, and death were far more entrenched in heavy metal than punk. Songs like “Man in the Box” came drenched in Cantrell’s sludgy riffs and Staley’s booming, tortured howls. Spawned in Seattle in 1987-after guitarist/songwriter Jerry Cantrell, bassist Mike Starr, and drummer Sean Kinney convinced singer Layne Staley to quit his funk band-the group began throwing down menacing, metal-infused tracks for their 1990 debut album Facelift. Alice In Chains’ heavy, harrowing rock pushed grunge deep into the dark side, and it remains some of the bleakest and rawest music ever to come out of the ‘90s alt-rock boom.
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