Dirt (Alice in Chains album)

Untitled

Dirt is a grunge album by Alice in Chains, released on September 29, 1992 (see 1992 in music).

The band's breakthrough album, Dirt is regarded by many as Alice in Chains' best album, and classic from the golden age of grunge. Recorded while lead singer Layne Staley was suffering through a heroin addiction, the album's gloomy, tortured music helped turn it into a hit, reaching #6 on Billboard's 200 albums chart, and over the years climbing up to 4x platinum.

The songs "Sickman", "Junkhead", "Dirt", "God Smack", "Hate to Feel" and "Angry Chair" are based on Staley's experiences with heroin. The song "Rooster" is based on the experiences of Jerry Cantrell's father, who fought in the Vietnam war. Cantrell's father was a member of the 101st Airborne, who wore patches on their arms featuring a bald eagle. There are no bald eagles in Vietnam, so the Vietnamese referred to them as roosters.

"Iron Gland", the untitled track before "Hate to Feel", is a parody of the Black Sabbath song "Iron Man" and features vocals by Tom Araya of Slayer, whom the band brought in so he could provide an Angel of Death-style scream.

Track listing

1. "Them Bones" (Cantrell) – 2:30
2. "Dam That River" (Cantrell) – 3:09
3. "Rain When I Die" (Cantrell, Staley, Kinney, Starr) – 6:01
4. "Down in a Hole" (Cantrell) – 5:38
5. "Sickman" (Cantrell, Staley) – 5:29
6. "Rooster" (Cantrell) – 6:15
7. "Junkhead" (Cantrell, Staley) – 5:09
8. "Dirt" (Cantrell, Staley) – 5:16
9. "God Smack" (Cantrell, Staley) – 3:50
10. "Iron Gland" (unlisted) (Cantrell) – 0:43
11. "Hate to Feel" (Staley) – 5:16
12. "Angry Chair" (Staley) – 4:47
13. "Would?" (Cantrell) – 3:28

Australian edition

1. "Them Bones" (Cantrell) – 2:30
2. "Dam That River" (Cantrell) – 3:09
3. "Rain When I Die" (Cantrell, Staley, Kinney, Starr) – 6:01
4. "Sickman" (Cantrell, Staley) – 5:29
5. "Rooster" (Cantrell) – 6:15
6. "Junkhead" (Cantrell, Staley) – 5:09
7. "Dirt" (Cantrell, Staley) – 5:16
8. "God Smack" (Cantrell, Staley) – 3:50
9. "Iron Gland" (unlisted) (Cantrell) – 0:43
10. "Hate to Feel" (Staley) – 5:16
11. "Angry Chair" (Staley) – 4:47
12. "Down in a Hole" (Cantrell) – 5:38
13. "Would?" (Cantrell) – 3:28

"Iron Gland" is a brief cover/parody of the classic "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath. It is not mentioned in the tracklisting printed on the album sleeve, but was later given its name in the Music Bank box set released in 1999. On the album, the track number is listed, but no song title is printed. There may also be some alternate (incorrect) titles to the song: the iTunes store lists the song as "Iron Man" while cdscan lists it as "Intro (Dream Sequence)".

Some early CD versions, including the Canadian and European releases, feature "Down in a Hole" as the penultimate track instead of the fourth one. This was due to an early error, where putting "Down in a Hole" as the second to last track disrupts the storyline of this semi-concept album about addiction. On this version, the track number of "Iron Gland" is not present anywhere on the album, making it appear that there are only 12 songs on the record. Oddly enough, the Australian CD version was never amended and even later pressings (although now include "Iron Gland" on the disc but not the track listing) have this track sequence, although the cassette version has the correct sequence. The UK versions were never amended either, and still bear the mistake.

Personnel

• Alice in Chains – producers
• Jerry Cantrell – guitar, vocals
• Bryan Carlstrom – engineer
• Annette Cisneros – assistant engineer, mixing assistant
• Kelly Curtis – management
• Doug Erb – design
• Peter Fletcher – product manager
• Steve Hall – mastering
• Dave Jerden – producer, mixing
• Sean Kinney – drums
• Mary Maurer – art direction/fx
• Rocky Schenck – photography
• Eddy Schreyer – mastering
• Susan Silver – management
• Layne Staley – guitar, vocals, sun logo/icons
• Mike Starr – bass
• Nick Terzo – A&R
• Ulrich Wild – assistant engineer
• Tom Araya – vocals on "Iron Gland"

Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1992	Billboard Top 200	6

Singles

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1992	"Would?"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	5
1992	"Would?"	Modern Rock Tracks	11
1992	"Them Bones"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	24
1992	"Them Bones"	Modern Rock Tracks	30
1993	"Rooster"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	7
1993	"Angry Chair"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	34
1993	"Angry Chair"	Modern Rock Tracks	27
1993	"Down in a Hole"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	10
1993	"Down in a Hole"	Modern Rock Tracks	10
1994	"Down in a Hole"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	11

External links

• Listen to the album fragments and read the lyrics