Alice In Chains - Man in the Box

You can call Alice In Chains whatever you want, just don’t call them grunge. That’s according to Jerry Cantrell, anyway, founder and lead guitarist who is of the persuasion that the band are a more subtle blend of heavy metal, blues and punk. All I’m saying is that, if you’re a band from the late 80s out of Seattle, Washington, there’s no chance you’re any more than six feet from someone writing a song about social isolation.

Still, even with the band not flying the dingy grunge flag proudly, it’s impossible to say that they didn’t send ripples through the genre that others tried their hardest to surf on. Until the late 90s they were in the liner notes of every album that featured a distorted guitar and with good reason – at their best, they were pretty much poetry between their sometimes meaningful, sometimes more flowery than a 24-hour florist lyrics and their talent in every position to back it up. Take them or leave them, there’s no denying Alice In Chains their influence.

While the voicebox style guitar sections are never going to not make us think of Bon Jovi, Man in the Box is one of those unique classics in the rock and metal Parthenon. While all and sundry in the grunge scene (sorry, heavy metal) were copying each other with or without realising it, Alice in Chains always seemed to maintain a healthy and interesting distance from their peers. It set the benchmark for fistfuls of acts that followed and now it is our gift to you on this fine(?) Friday, wherever you may be. Apologies for putting “Livin’ On A Prayer” in your head earlier, by the way.