Rooster (song)

"Rooster"
Single by Alice in Chains
from the album Dirt
Released	February 22, 1993 (CD Single)[1]
Recorded	March–May 1992
Studio	Eldorado Recording Studios, Burbank, California One on One Studios, Los Angeles, California
Genre	Grunge[2]
Length	6:15
Label	Columbia
Songwriter(s)	Jerry Cantrell
Producer(s)	Alice In Chains Dave Jerden
Alice in Chains singles chronology
"Angry Chair" (1992) "Rooster" (1993) "What the Hell Have I" (1993)

"Rooster" is a song by the American rock band Alice in Chains, featured on their second studio album, Dirt (1992), and released as the fourth single from the album on February 22, 1993. It is the fifth song on the original pressing of the album and sixth on others. The song was written by guitarist/vocalist Jerry Cantrell for his father, Jerry Cantrell Sr., whose childhood nickname was "Rooster" and served with the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. Cantrell would later name his music publishing company Rooster's Son Publishing.^[3][4] "Rooster" spent 20 weeks on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and peaked at No. 7.^[5]

An acoustic version performed on Alice in Chains' MTV Unplugged concert was included on the live album Unplugged (1996). Both the studio and the demo version of the song were featured on the box set Music Bank (1999). The song was also included on the compilation albums Greatest Hits (2001), and The Essential Alice in Chains (2006). Metal Hammer ranked "Rooster" at No. 12 on its list of "The 100 Best Metal Songs of the 90s" in 2018, and at No. 2 on its list of "The Top 10 Best Alice in Chains Song" in 2020.