Although widely associated with grunge music, the band's sound incorporates heavy metal elements. Since its formation, Alice in Chains has released five studio albums, three EPs, three live albums, four compilations, two DVDs, 31 music videos and 29 singles. The band is known for its distinctive vocal style, which often included the harmonized vocals between Staley and Cantrell (and later between Cantrell and William DuVall). Cantrell started to sing lead vocals on the 1992 acoustic EP Sap, and his role continued to grow in the following albums, making Alice in Chains a two-vocal band.
Alice in Chains rose to international fame as part of the grunge movement of the early 1990s, along with other Seattle bands such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden. The band was one of the most successful music acts of the 1990s, selling over 20 million records worldwide, and over 14 million records in the US alone, with two No. 1 albums and six Top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 chart. The band has had 16 Top 10 songs on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, 5 No. 1 hits, and nine Grammy Award nominations. Their debut album, Facelift, featuring the hit single "Man In The Box", was released in 1990 and has been certified double-platinum by the RIAA, selling over two million copies. In 1992, the band's second album, Dirt, was released to critical acclaim and was certified quadruple platinum. Their second acoustic EP, Jar of Flies, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart in 1994, becoming the first ever EP and first Alice in Chains release to top the charts, and it has been certified triple platinum by the RIAA. The band's third album, Alice in Chains debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in 1995 and has been certified double platinum.
Although never officially disbanding, Alice in Chains was plagued by extended inactivity from 1996 onwards due to Staley's substance abuse, which resulted in his death in 2002. The band reunited in 2005 for a live benefit show, performing with a number of guest vocalists. They toured in 2006, with William DuVall taking over as lead vocalist full-time. The new line-up released the band's fourth studio album, Black Gives Way to Blue, in 2009, which received gold certification by the RIAA and two Grammy nominations. Their fifth studio album, The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here, was released in 2013 and debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. The band toured extensively and released several videos in support of these albums.
Their sixth studio album, Rainier Fog, would be released in 2018, through BMG records, making it their first big release on the new label. Rainier Fog would end up debuting at No. 12 on the Billboard 200, making it yet another powerful addition to the band's already impressive discography.
Although Alice in Chains has been labeled grunge by the mainstream media, Jerry Cantrell identifies the band as primarily heavy metal. He told Guitar World in 1996, "We're a lot of different things ... I don't quite know what the mixture is, but there's definitely metal, blues, rock and roll, maybe a touch of punk. The metal part will never leave, and I never want it to". The Edmonton Journal has stated, "Living and playing in Seattle might have got them the grunge tag, but they've always pretty much been a classic metal band to the core."
Over the course of their career, the band's sound has also been described as alternative metal, sludge metal, doom metal,drone rock, hard rock, and alternative rock. Regarding the band's constant categorization by the media, Cantrell stated "When we first came out we were metal. Then we started being called alternative metal. Then grunge came out and then we were hard rock. And now, since we've started doing this again I've seen us listed as: hard rock, alternative, alternative metal and just straight metal. I walked into an HMV the other day to check out the placement and see what's on and they've got us relegated back into the metal section. Right back where we started!". Drummer Sean Kinney rejects the grunge label, stating in a 2013 interview "I mean, before we first came out there was no grunge, they hadn’t invented that word. Before they invented the word grunge we were alternative rock and alternative metal and metal and rock, and we didn’t give a shit whatever, we were a rock and roll band!". According to Mike Inez, they were always the metal stepchildren of the Seattle scene.
Jerry Cantrell's guitar style combines "pummeling riffs and expansive guitar textures" to create "slow, brooding minor-key grinds". He is also recognized for his natural ability to blend acoustic and electric guitars. While down-tuned, distorted guitars mixed with Staley's distinctive "snarl-to-a-scream" vocals appealed to heavy metal fans, the band also had "a sense of melody that was undeniable", which introduced Alice in Chains to a much wider audience outside of the heavy metal underground.
According to Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic, Alice in Chains' sound has a "Black Sabbath-style riffing and an unconventional vocal style". The band has been described by Erlewine as "hard enough for metal fans, yet their dark subject matter and punky attack placed them among the front ranks of the Seattle-based grunge bands". Three of the band's releases feature acoustic music, and while the band initially kept these releases separate, Alice in Chains' self-titled album combined the styles to form "a bleak, nihilistic sound that balanced grinding hard rock with subtly textured acoustic numbers".
Alice in Chains is also noted for the unique vocal harmonies of Staley (or DuVall) and Cantrell, which included overlapping passages, dual lead vocals, and trademark harmonies typically separated by a major third. Cantrell said it was Staley who gave him the self-assurance to sing his own songs. Alyssa Burrows said the band's distinctive sound "came from Staley's vocal style and his lyrics dealing with personal struggles and addiction". Staley's songs were often considered "dark", with themes such as drug abuse, depression, and suicide, while Cantrell's lyrics often dealt with personal relationships.
Love Hate Love
Alice in Chains Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I tried to love you
I thought I could
I tried to own you
I thought I would
I want to peel the skin from your face
Before the real you lays to waste
You told me I'm the only one
Sweet little angel
You should have run
Lying, crying, dying to leave
Innocence creates my hell
Cheating myself
Still, you know more
It would be so easy
With a whore
Try to understand me, little girl
My twisted passion to be your world
Lost inside my sick head
I live for you but I'm not alive
Take my hand before I kill
I still love you, but, I still burn
Yeah
Love, hate, love
Yeah
Love, hate, love
Yeah
Love, hate, love
Oh
Love, hate, love
Yeah
Love, hate, love
The Alice in Chains song Love Hate Love is a dark and intense exploration of love and relationship dysfunction. The lyrics suggest a relationship that is both passionate and destructive. The opening lines - “I tried to love you, I thought I could” - introduce the idea that the singer has been struggling to find love and connection, and perhaps has finally found it with the subject of the song. However, as the song progresses, we see that this relationship is not healthy or sustainable. The line “I want to peel the skin from your face” is a shocking expression of violence that reveals the singer’s deep and twisted hatred for the person he claims to love.
The chorus - “Love, hate, love” - sums up the contradictions and complexities of this relationship. The singer is deeply in love with the subject, but also filled with an intense and destructive hatred for them. The lines “Cheating myself, still, you know more/It would be so easy with a whore” suggest that the singer is struggling with feelings of jealousy and perhaps infidelity. He seems to feel that the subject of the song knows more about him than he knows about them, and is struggling with insecurity and feelings of inadequacy.
Ultimately, Love Hate Love is a powerful and disturbing exploration of the darker side of love, and a reminder of how intense and complex human relationships can be.
Line by Line Meaning
I tried to love you
I attempted to give you all of my love
I thought I could
I had hoped that I would be able to love you fully
I tried to own you
I wanted you to belong exclusively to me
I thought I would
I believed that I could possess you
I want to peel the skin from your face
I have a compulsion to remove your mask and reveal your true self
Before the real you lays to waste
Before the person you truly are becomes ruined beyond repair
You told me I'm the only one
You assured me that I was the sole person in your life
Sweet little angel
You were kind and gentle, like an angel
You should have run
You should have escaped while you still could
Lying, crying, dying to leave
You deceived me, weeping, and desperate to depart
Innocence creates my hell
My pure-heartedness causes me torment
Cheating myself
I am deceiving myself
Still, you know more
However, you are enlightened on this matter
It would be so easy
It would be effortless to give into my lustful desires
With a whore
I could easily find someone with no moral standards
Try to understand me, little girl
Endeavor to interpret my perspective, girl
My twisted passion to be your world
My deviant desire to control your surroundings
Lost inside my sick head
Confused and unable to extricate myself from my distorted thoughts
I live for you but I'm not alive
You are my sole purpose, but I feel dead inside
Take my hand before I kill
Save me from myself before I destroy everything
I still love you, but, I still burn
I hold affection for you, but my inner demons still torment me
Love, hate, love
An emotional cycle of love then hate and back to love again
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Layne Staley, Sean Kinney, Jerry Cantrell, Michael Starr
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Josh
on Nutshell
Really would like some prayers guys.