Normally I only talk about Thailand on here and I guess that is starting to be a bit of a broken record so instead, today, I bring to you an opinion that a lot of people are probably going to disagree with or ever get upset about at first. However, I believe it to be true.
Alice in Chains is one of my favorite bands from the 90's and I like them. They have a rather unique sound and appeal to me greatly. However, the other day I was talking to a friend about iconic bands and their legacy and he made the argument that Alice in Chains, although an awesome band in the early 90's quickly fell apart and have a lot of crap that they released to the world. The reason why this is difficult for a fan like me to agree with this at least initially is because of the fact that the bad albums they were released are so bad that nobody even heard them.
src
Sure we all love the album Dirt and "that acoustic live album that they released but honestly, what else is there?
As it turns out they have a lot of junk. People out there will attempt to defend Jar of Flies which was written and recorded in a week, but can people even name many songs from that album. In my mind the album is decent but the reason why it was so widespread was because it was so heavily promoted by the record company.
We have this idea that Alice in Chains was around and kicking for a long time but the reality of it is that they were repackaging the same stuff over and over such as the acoustic album from MTV unplugged. I'm not saying that this was a bad performance, it surely wasn't, but this was just old songs released in a new way. I don't think that this notion would be tolerated today.
Plus a lot of fans just kind of think that AIC was releasing music over a long period of time but that also is not true. Lead singer Layne Staley died in April of 2002 and even though they were a band as early as 92, the band had a difficult time getting along and Staley's drug addiction made touring almost impossible.
The various members of the band had other side projects but some people forget that almost all of the music and lyrics for Alice in Chains was written by Jerry Cantrell. I don't know how much animosity this spread though the group but I would imagine there was some and this likely lead to Staley running off to do side projects with Mad Season as well as others.
They were only the band that we know them as for 10 years or so, so when people suggest that they are one of the best bands of all time I don't think that is a very fair thing to say. Were they one of the best grunge bands during the very brief time that this was popular? Absolutely. But one of the best bands of all time, I don't think so.
In many ways I feel as though the limited time that they were making music is probably good for our memories of the band because I think that they probably would have headed down the same road as Guns N Roses if they hadn't had so many issues. GnR outstayed their welcome in the music scene and I believe that Alice in Chains likely would have done the same.
They are still a band today despite the fact that two of the members of the band have died and really, I was unaware that this was even the case until it was pointed out to me. They have a 7th album coming out at some point in the near future and seem to be dragging their feet.
If I hadn't had this conversation with a guy that dared suggest that Alice in Chains is not one of the best bands of all time I wouldn't even know that they released 3 albums that I, a self-described fan, has never even heard of. I went to go check out a few of the songs from those albums and sorry, they just aren't very good.
Alice in Chains should be remembered as one of the primary bands of the grunge invasion but one of the best bands of all time I now agree with my friend, they just aren't.
You've got a free upvote from witness fuli.
Peace & Love!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit