We're just about two weeks away from this summer's biggest show - #Qruption, Rockstar Energy Drinks' Uproar Tour. The line-up includes one of my all-time favorite bands, Alice In Chains, and in honor of their headlining performance on August 13th; here are my Top 5 favorite songs from the band that helped lead the grunge movement of the 90's.

  • 1

    Man In The Box

    Easily the most recognizable the band has to date. From their 1990 album Facelift and according to Jerry Cantrell, in the liner notes of 1999's Music Bank box set collection: "That whole beat and grind of that is when we started to find ourselves; it helped Alice become what it was."

  • 2

    I Stay Away

    This was the song that first introduced me to the band and made me fan. I Stay Away was released in 1994 on the Jar of Flies EP.

    According to Jerry Cantrell: "That was the first time we'd written with Mike Ines, which makes this another special song. The whole Jar of Flies EP proved to both us and the fans what a talented and valid part of the band Mike was. He plays the nastiest, darkest shit but he's got the sweetest heart in the world."

  • 3

    Nutshell

    A fan favorite through and through, Nutshell has been one of the many Chains songs that has stood the test of time and still sounds as good today as it did when originally released in 1994 on the Jar of Flies EP. The song was never released as an official single but became a fan favorite.

    The song has seen it's share of covers from Aaron Lewis of Staind, Adema, and even Corey Taylor.

  • 4

    Rooster

    Written about Jerry Cantrell's father who's nickname was Rooster while in the US Army during the Vietnam War.

    Jerry Cantrell notes: "It was the start of the healing process between my Dad and I from all that damage that Vietnam caused. This was all my perception of his experiences out there. The first time I ever heard him talk about it was when we made the video and he did a 45-minute interview with Mark Pellington and I was amazed he did it. He was totally cool, totally calm, accepted it all and had a good time doing it. It even brought him to the point of tears. It was beautiful. He said it was a weird experience, a sad experience and he hoped that nobody else had to go through it."

  • 5

    Down in a Hole

    From 1992's Dirt album, the song is considered in the Top 3 songs from the band for Jerry Cantrell. Originally Jerry didn't want to present the band with the song thinking it was "too soft" for them at the time. The band, however, loved the tune and went forward with recording it.

     

     

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