Dirt (Alice in Chains album)

Dirt
Studio album by
Alice in Chains
ReleasedSeptember 29, 1992 (1992-09-29)[1]
RecordedApril–July 1992[2]
Studio
Genre
Length57:37
LabelColumbia
Producer
Alice in Chains chronology
Sap
(1992) 		Dirt
(1992) 		Jar of Flies
(1994)
Singles from Dirt
  1. "Would?"
    Released: June 7, 1992
  2. "Them Bones"
    Released: September 8, 1992
  3. "Angry Chair"
    Released: December 6, 1992
  4. "Rooster"
    Released: March 15, 1993
  5. "Down in a Hole"
    Released: August 30, 1993

Dirt is the second studio album by American rock band Alice in Chains, released on September 29, 1992 by Columbia Records. Peaking at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 chart, the album received critical acclaim. It has since been certified quintuple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), making Dirt the band's highest selling album to date.[8] It was the band's last album recorded with all four original members, as bassist Mike Starr was fired in January 1993 during the tour to support the album.[9][10] The album spawned five singles: "Would?", "Them Bones", "Angry Chair", "Rooster", and "Down in a Hole", all with accompanying music videos. Dirt was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance. The music video for "Would?" was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award for Best Video from a Film, as the song was featured on the soundtrack to Cameron Crowe's 1992 film Singles.

The album's lyrics feature dark subject matter, focusing primarily on depression, pain, anger, anti-social behavior, relationships, drug addiction (primarily heroin), war, death, and other emotionally charged topics. The track "Iron Gland" features Tom Araya from Slayer on vocals. Most of the music from the album was written by guitarist Jerry Cantrell, but for the first time vocalist Layne Staley wrote two songs by himself ("Hate to Feel" and "Angry Chair"), both also featuring Staley on guitar.

Retrospectively, the album has continued to receive acclaim, with Rolling Stone placing the album at No. 26 on its list of the "100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time".[11] Dirt was included in the 2005 book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. It was voted "Kerrang! Critic's Choice Album of the Year". Guitar World named Dirt as the best guitar album of 1992. Loudwire named it as one of the best metal albums of the 1990s, and Rolling Stone ranked it at No. 6 on its list of the "50 Greatest Grunge Albums" in 2019.

  1. ^ "Dirt CD". Warner Music. Archived from the original on July 22, 2018. Retrieved July 22, 2018.
  2. ^ a b de Sola, David (August 4, 2015). Alice in Chains: The Untold Story. Thomas Dunne Books. pp. 168–180. ISBN 978-1250048073.
  3. ^ Childers, Chad (September 28, 2012). "10 Best Grunge Bands of All Time". Loudwire. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  4. ^ Goodman, William (September 29, 2017). "Alice In Chains' 'Dirt,' the Era's Most Nihilistic Album, Turns 25". Billboard. Retrieved October 17, 2018.
  5. ^ "Alice In Chains - Dirt". Metal Reviews. June 23, 2008. Retrieved January 20, 2024.
  6. ^ "The 25 Best Alternative Metal Albums — Metal Descent". metaldescent.com. Archived from the original on February 4, 2017. Retrieved October 11, 2023.
  7. ^ Prato, Greg. "Layne Staley Biography, Songs, & Albums". AllMusic. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
  8. ^ Pattillo, Alice (September 29, 2019). "Dirt at 27: Why Alice in Chains' second album remains their magnum opus". Metal Hammer.
  9. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "Alice in Chains' Mike Starr's Last Interview – Loveline (February 16, 2010)". YouTube. February 8, 2018.
  10. ^ Music Bank (album notes). Alice in Chains. Columbia Records. 1999. 69580.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  11. ^ "The 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. June 21, 2017. Retrieved January 11, 2019.