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Album Details
- Artist: Alice In Chains
- Album: Dirt
- Label: Columbia
- Year of Release: 1992
- ME Rating: Indie Classic
- Reviewed by: solitaryman on 2007-09-03
RecommendWe all know what makes a classic album. It's not just the immediate impact, the initial sales and the early opinions. How long into the future before it becomes irrelevant? Does it have longevity as well as ingenuity? There's plenty to ask of a classic album to truly deserve that status. It takes a fan to tell you; Alice in Chains had themselves a classic. Dirt had classic written on it long before anyone knew it would still sound fresh 15 years after it's release.
Grunge had a name before them, but rarely was grunge as impressive, aggressive and depressive as Staley, Cantrell and co. formed it. Focused on coupling ballsy hard rock with lyrical themes based on honest-to-god depravity and self-depreciation, Dirt contains a range of classic Alice In Chains songs. 'Them Bones', 'Down In A Hole', 'Rooster', 'Angry Chair' and 'Would?' all had strong success as singles. 'Rooster' in particular draws on the emotions of the listener, especially with the song's inspiration known (it all ties in to Cantrell's father's experience in 'Nam). Mixed between these, as any owner of Dirt knows, are nothing but solid tracks. Staley's issues with addiction come up quite often, but never as rousing as on 'Junkhead', his unofficial ode to his own failure. These early glimpses at what would eventually turn into one of rock's most painful (however expected) tragedies create a whole new level of impact today, perhaps aiding the album along the road of relevance. I like to think it's just great music with a message.
And that's really what Alice In Chains were always about. The music never suffered for the lyrical themes, and the same was true in reverse. While the magic contained on Dirt seems bittersweet today, there's no denying it's place as a classic. Some fans will argue future releases would feature a more well-formed and experience Alice. If you ask me, they had two definitive moments; the beginning and the end.
User Reviews and Comments
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Log In or Register to Rate Albumson 2012-03-10 claingr Said:
I so want to thank CharlesMartel for reviewing one of the best rock albums ever. He helps make good rock music what it should be. An infamous form of Art and a privilege for the few.
Rating: 10/10
on 2012-02-17 SolitaryMan Said:
There's a context between many of the songs on Dirt and memories of my childhood that bring me back to it, and many other records of the time, over and over again. Parallels that I could draw that wouldn't matter to anyone else, but hold profound meaning to me and probably always will. The whole grunge movement is basically a backdrop to some of the best and worst times of my young life. AIC, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, STP, Soundgarden, etc will always have a special place in my musical heart for being there with me.
Not Rated
on 2012-02-17 CharlesMartel Said:
Good to see differing views expressed. Music is always a personal experience. For me, this album conjures up things I cannot expect of anyone else, but it colours my view of it.
Rating: 1/10
on 2012-02-17 dscanland Said:
I am of the opposing view of Mr. Martel as well. I still reach for Dirt to this day. I think it's even on my iPhone at the moment, if not, on my regular computer. Alice In Chains had a strong debut and were able to follow it up with this even tighter Sophomore album. I think Dirt has stood the test of time in my mind. I think it sums up grunge more than a band like Pearl Jam.
Rating: 10/10
on 2012-02-17 SolitaryMan Said:
Yeah, kind of a facepalm moment reading Charles' views on the album, but hey, different walks of life, different experiences, all result in different opinions. Gotta have two sides to every coin and all that jazz.
Not Rated
on 2012-02-17 tosnob Said:
LOVED this record when I was 17. It's faded a bit with time, but there are still some great songs. "Would?" is among my all-time top 20 to this day.
Rating: 8/10
on 2012-02-17 hstisgod Said:
wow, I officially regret our musical indifference@CharlesMartel..
This album helped mold an entire generation of music listeners. Dark and in the face of the MTV pop culture, AIC's Dirt was a phenomenal release... but, as always around here, to each their own.
Not Rated
Review:
on 2012-02-17 CharlesMartel Said:
Heroin isn't chic and it isn't cool. Junkies do not sit around in their homes with their fashionably tattered clothes and their plaited hair strumming guitars and trying to make grunge music. Junkies stink of acetone, steal stuff from their mates and think and do fuck all until their addiction requires them to go out and spend what they've stolen on a fresh fix. Alice in Chains therefore, are not cool. They are not hip and they were not avant-garde. They were a bunch of drug addicts who railed against anything and everything, blaming and everyone and everything for the fact that they are mugs and wrecks.
The trouble is, as is so often the case (witness the Brian Jonestown Massacre for one), that when you let addicts loose on music they tend to disappear up their own arses. There are exceptions - Failure's " Fantastic Planet" for one - but Alice in Chains are not Failure. The lyrics to this are awful; Layne Staley's vocals are barely decipherable; the riffs are mediocre. All in all, this sounds like Billy Ray Cyrus doing covers of Pantera, or worse. If I didn't know better I would say this was a parody, but it isn't. This really is junkies playing sloppy music bemoaning their miserable existence and it bores the hell out of me.
Layne Staley would do some good things - Mad Season for example - but on this album he was responsible for some awful rubbish and "Rooster" is probably one of the worst. That is my present opinion. Tomorrow I may think that "Would?" or " Angry Chair" is the worst. Whatever, there isn't a song on this album which is worth playing again. Listening to this is one of the most oppressive experiences I have ever undertaken which did not involve physical exertion. It is so claustrophobic is almost sucks the breath out of you.
Now I realise that for some this is the defining moment of grunge culture. Whether that is true or not I don't know, but if this really is the apogee, then I for one am glad that grunge is dead. Because, frankly, I couldn't take much more of this. The album is not in the least bit enjoyable and that is the most condemnatory thing I can say of any album. This is one step away from Nu-Metal; two steps away from Hair Metal and in all honesty not enough steps away from me to make me feel any pleasant sensations. My owning of this just goes to show that there have been occasions when I have listened to people's advice and suffered for it.
Rating: 1/10
on 2008-09-04 Sinist3r Punk Said:
Great review Solitary
I really think this helped grunge kind of break out of the generic 90's rock theme and take on some kind of heavy rock influences.
Rating: 10/10
