50 Fun Facts About Alice in Chains

Which pop legend plays piano on the title track of Alice in Chains' 2009 comeback album, a tribute to Layne Staley?

Elton John was the first act Layne Staley ever saw in concert. Jerry Cantrell invited him to play on the song, which closes the album Black Gives Way to Blue.

What appears on the cover of Alice in Chains' 1995 self-titled album, an idea from drummer Sean Kinney's childhood?

A three-legged dog like the one on the cover used to chase Sean Kinney on his rounds as a paperboy. Fans nicknamed the record Tripod, the title Kinney had wanted.

Which Alice in Chains song about Jerry Cantrell's father in Vietnam is titled after his childhood nickname?

Rooster was what the family called Jerry Cantrell Sr. as a boy, because his hair stuck up like a cockerel's comb. He appears in the song's video, talking about the war.

Who was the last straw among the terrible singers Alice in Chains auditioned to push Layne Staley into joining?

A male stripper turned up to audition, and Layne Staley finally took the hint and joined. His future bandmates had been trying out hopeless singers in front of him on purpose.

Layne Staley of Alice in Chains died on April 5, eight years to the day after which other Seattle singer?

Kurt Cobain died on April 5, 1994, and Layne Staley on the same date in 2002. Staley had been dead for two weeks before he was found in his Seattle condominium.

Which act's hit on a car radio inspired the talk box effect on Alice in Chains' 'Man in the Box'?

Bon Jovi's 'Livin' on a Prayer' came on while the album's producer was driving to the studio, so he suggested the gadget. Jerry Cantrell plays it on the finished track.

Alice in Chains launched their 2018 album with an acoustic set 500 feet up inside which Seattle landmark?

Space Needle visitors had only just gained the Loupe, a revolving glass floor, and Alice in Chains were the first band to play on it. They debuted the song 'Fly' there.

Which Massachusetts hard rock band shares its name with a song on Alice in Chains' 1992 album Dirt?

Godsmack share their name with 'God Smack', a track on Dirt. Singer Sully Erna credits Layne Staley with getting him to sing, though he has traced the band name to a taunt about a cold sore.

The title of Alice in Chains' Jar of Flies recalls what from Jerry Cantrell's third-grade year?

A science experiment had young Jerry Cantrell keep two jars of flies, one overfed and one underfed. The overfed flies bred fast, then died of overcrowding, while the hungry ones lasted the year.

Layne Staley's final concerts with Alice in Chains came in 1996 as the opening act for which reunited band?

Kiss were touring with their original line-up again, and Alice in Chains opened four of the shows. Staley's last was in Kansas City, Missouri, on July 3, 1996.

In which Cameron Crowe film about Seattle twentysomethings do Alice in Chains appear as a bar band?

Singles shows the band playing 'It Ain't Like That' in a club, and its soundtrack introduced 'Would?'. That song's video won an MTV award for Best Video from a Film.

Alice in Chains' 'Got Me Wrong' became a belated radio hit after featuring in which 1994 comedy?

Clerks plays the song as the character Randal makes his entrance. It had first appeared on the EP Sap, and the film sent it to number seven on rock radio.

Which supergroup did Layne Staley front in 1995 alongside Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready?

Mad Season made just one album, Above, and Layne Staley created its artwork as well as singing on it. Its 'River of Deceit' reached number two on rock radio.

Bassist Mike Inez joined Alice in Chains in 1993 after four years in which heavy metal singer's band?

Ozzy Osbourne took Alice in Chains out as support on his No More Tours trek in 1992, which is how Mike Inez met his future bandmates. He played his first show with them in London.

Which singer and guitarist joined Alice in Chains in 2006 to share lead vocals with Jerry Cantrell?

William DuVall had backed Jerry Cantrell on a solo tour with his own band, Comes with the Fall. Cantrell says a single audition was enough to settle it.

Which travelling festival did Alice in Chains join in summer 1993, their last major tour with Layne Staley?

Lollapalooza ended with the band coming home to Seattle to find they had been evicted for unpaid rent. They moved into a recording studio and made Jar of Flies there.

Alice in Chains recorded their 2009 comeback album at Studio 606, the private studio of which rock band?

Foo Fighters own the room, and Alice in Chains had no label at the time, so Jerry Cantrell and Sean Kinney paid for the sessions themselves. Recording wrapped on Cantrell's 43rd birthday.

Alice in Chains' surviving members first reunited on stage at a Seattle benefit for victims of which disaster?

Indian Ocean tsunami relief was Sean Kinney's idea, and the response surprised him. It was the first time he, Jerry Cantrell and Mike Inez had performed together in nine years.

Alice in Chains named their 2018 album, recorded partly back home in Seattle, after which Washington volcano?

Mount Rainier gave the record its name, and Jerry Cantrell called the title track a homage to the scene the band came from. Sessions began in the room where they made their 1995 album.

Which band's singer says he invited Alice in Chains on tour after seeing the 'Man in the Box' video on MTV?

Van Halen frontman Sammy Hagar tells the story, and Alice in Chains did open for his band in 1991. Daytime airplay of the same clip turned their slow-selling debut into a hit.

Jerry Cantrell wrote a 1992 Alice in Chains hit in memory of Andrew Wood, the late singer of which Seattle band?

Mother Love Bone lost Andrew Wood to a heroin overdose in 1990. Jerry Cantrell had been thinking about his friend a great deal, and the result was the song 'Would?'.

Which Jar of Flies track gave Alice in Chains a first number one on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart in 1994?

No Excuses opens with a syncopated rhythm that Sean Kinney stumbled on while improvising with the sides of his sticks. The EP it comes from was written and recorded in about a week.

Which sombre ballad opened Alice in Chains' MTV Unplugged set in 1996, the band's first concert in over two years?

Nutshell began a show that Jerry Cantrell played through food poisoning. He said adrenaline carried him while the cameras rolled, and he felt ill again the moment it ended.

Which Dirt power ballad did Jerry Cantrell nearly keep from Alice in Chains, fearing it was too soft?

Down in a Hole was written for his girlfriend at the time, Courtney Clarke. His bandmates liked it, and as the album's fifth single it reached the rock radio top ten.

Which major label signed Alice in Chains in 1989 on the strength of a demo called The Treehouse Tapes?

Columbia made the newcomers a top priority and released their records for the next 15 years, until its parent company ended the contract in 2004.

Alice in Chains' 2009 hit 'Check My Brain' pokes fun at Jerry Cantrell's move from Seattle to which city?

Los Angeles became Jerry Cantrell's home in 2003, and he saw the joke in a former addict from rainy Seattle settling there. The song was the band's first to reach the Billboard Hot 100.

Which technique brings a doomed circus to life in the music video for Alice in Chains' 'I Stay Away'?

Stop-motion animation turned the band into puppets, and the figures later went on display at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In the clip, a boy looses a jar of flies on the big top.

Jerry Cantrell first saw Layne Staley sing at a little theatre in which Washington city, the guitarist's birthplace?

Tacoma is where Jerry Cantrell was born in 1966, and a few months after that gig he met Layne Staley at a party. Cantrell had nowhere to live, so Staley took him in.

Lifelong fan Jerry Cantrell led Alice in Chains through a 2015 playoff halftime show for which Seattle team?

Seahawks supporters saw the band at halftime of the NFC Championship Game against Green Bay. Alice in Chains had also played a halftime set for the team in 2008, backed by a symphony orchestra.

Which instrument did Alice in Chains singer Layne Staley play in teenage glam bands before he turned to singing?

Drums were Layne Staley's start at the age of 12. He was so keen on Mötley Crüe's Tommy Lee that he legally changed his middle name to Thomas.

Which rock singer, a fellow Seattle star since the 1970s, adds guest vocals to two songs on Alice in Chains' EP Sap?

Ann Wilson of Heart joins the choruses of 'Brother' and 'Am I Inside'. She sang with the band again in 2005, at their first show in nine years.

Which singer joins Mudhoney's Mark Arm on 'Right Turn', an Alice in Chains track credited to 'Alice Mudgarden'?

Chris Cornell of Soundgarden shares the vocals, and the joke credit blends the names of the bands involved. Alice in Chains covered two Soundgarden songs in his memory in 2018.

Which 1991 tour put Alice in Chains in front of thrash crowds as openers for Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax?

Clash of the Titans crowds gave the Seattle newcomers a mostly poor reception. Even so, a Grammy nomination for Best Hard Rock Performance followed within a year.

Alice in Chains recorded two new songs with bassist Mike Inez for the soundtrack of which 1993 summer movie?

Last Action Hero, the Arnold Schwarzenegger film, used 'What the Hell Have I' and 'A Little Bitter'. Both were taped in April 1993, a few months after Inez joined.

For which 1998 teen horror film did Layne Staley record a Pink Floyd cover with the supergroup Class of '99?

The Faculty featured the group's take on 'Another Brick in the Wall', made with members of Rage Against the Machine and Jane's Addiction. It was among the last things Staley recorded.

Drummer Sean Kinney says he recorded Alice in Chains' 1990 debut album while nursing which injury?

A broken hand nearly cost Sean Kinney his place on the record. He cut off his cast in the studio and played with a bucket of ice beside his kit.

Which Alice in Chains album, a slow seller until MTV aired its video, was the first Seattle grunge album to go gold?

Facelift sold under 40,000 copies in six months, then 400,000 in six weeks once 'Man in the Box' reached daytime MTV. Its gold disc arrived in September 1991.

What put Layne Staley on crutches for Alice in Chains' 1992 arena tour in support of the album Dirt?

An ATV accident broke Layne Staley's foot only days before the first date. He went ahead with the shows anyway.

How did drummer Sean Kinney come up with Sap, the title of Alice in Chains' 1992 acoustic EP?

In a dream, Sean Kinney saw the band making an EP called Sap, and they decided not to tempt fate. They slipped it into shops with no adverts, to see whether fans would find it.

What kept Jerry Cantrell from playing guitar for eight months as Alice in Chains wrote The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here?

Shoulder surgery fixed spurs and cartilage damage caused by years of playing. Stuck at home in a sling, he sang a riff into his phone, and it became the song 'Stone'.

Which rehearsal studio, once home to Layne Staley and Jerry Cantrell, shares its name with an Alice in Chains box set?

Music Bank was a 24-hour rehearsal complex, and police shut it down in a huge cannabis raid the day before the band was due to record a demo there.

Which name, borrowed from Jerry Cantrell's previous band, did Alice in Chains use at some of their earliest club gigs?

Diamond Lie was one of several names the band tried before settling on one that Layne Staley's old glam group had toyed with. Staley asked his ex-bandmates for permission first.

Jerry Cantrell named his 1998 solo debut, Boggy Depot, after a ghost town in which state, his father's childhood home?

Oklahoma is where Jerry Cantrell Sr. grew up, and his son made several trips there while writing. Sean Kinney and Mike Inez both play on the album.

On which VH1 reality series did original Alice in Chains bassist Mike Starr appear in 2010, a year before his death?

Celebrity Rehab was where Mike Starr said he had been the last person to see Layne Staley alive. He also disputed the band's account of his exit, saying he was fired over drugs.

Which Led Zeppelin epic did Alice in Chains perform with a symphony orchestra at a Seattle stadium in 2008?

Kashmir got the full treatment from the Northwest Symphony Orchestra in a 12-minute set for a crowd of 67,000. The band had first tried the pairing at a children's hospital benefit in 2007.

In what form did Alice in Chains first post the title of The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here on Facebook in 2013?

An anagram of jumbled letters went up one day before the real title was announced. The album went on to debut at number two in the United States.

Which comedy website teamed up with Alice in Chains in 2013 for AIC 23, a mockumentary starring the band in disguise?

Funny or Die hosted the 11-minute spoof, in which a professor tries to make a documentary about the band without their help. Jerry Cantrell appears as a country singer called Skeeter.

Which thrash metal frontman lends his voice to 'Iron Gland', a brief interlude on Alice in Chains' Dirt?

Tom Araya of Slayer was close to the band. When riots broke out on the first day of recording, he went with them to the Joshua Tree desert until things calmed down.

Which producer of Alice in Chains' first two albums won the job by likening their riffs to slowed-down Tony Iommi?

Dave Jerden told Jerry Cantrell that where another famous band had sped the Black Sabbath guitarist up, his had slowed him back down. Cantrell replied that he had got it, and Jerden was hired.

Which manager took on Alice in Chains after hearing their 1988 demo and also looked after Seattle band Soundgarden?

Susan Silver was one of the people Sean Kinney phoned in 2005 about staging the benefit show that reunited the band. She then co-managed their comeback.