Alice in Chains: Dirt

Ever wondered how a band's darkest themes could captivate millions and change rock music forever? Alice in Chains' "Dirt" did just that, and in this episode, we peel back the layers of this iconic album. We'll take you through the band's gritty origins, highlighting the magnetic synergy between Jerry Cantrell and Layne Staley. Relive the early days of the Seattle music scene and get a glimpse into Layne's high school performances that hinted at the greatness to come. 

Journey through the complexities of "Dirt" as we dissect tracks like "Them Bones" and "Damn That River." We'll discuss Jerry Cantrell's vision, the band's interconnected relationships, and the raw, intense lyrics that define the album. From the haunting reflections on mortality to the visceral imagery of anger and pain, this chapter is a deep dive into the powerful themes that make "Dirt" stand out. And don't worry, we keep things light with shout-outs to Beavis and Butt-Head and some classic '90s pop culture.

Ready for some critical takes and candid reviews? We're not holding back on the songs we dislike, but we'll also highlight the musical prowess behind them. Expect a heartfelt discussion on "Rooster," shedding light on Jerry Cantrell's father's Vietnam experiences, and a humorous critique of chaotic tracks like "God Smack." We'll wrap up with a nod to the album's relentless sound and its place in Alice in Chains' legacy. Tune in for an episode packed with humor, personal reflections, and a true appreciation for one of rock's greatest albums.

Chapters

• 0:00 Album Review
• 9:20 Band Formation and Album Discussion
• 31:39 Song Analysis
• 43:28 Critical Analysis of Album Tracks
• 1:12:34 Album Track Discussion

Transcript

Album Review

Speaker 1 0:00

If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense.

Speaker 2 0:04

Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't and, contrary-wise, what it is it wouldn't be and what it wouldn't be it would you see, ow?

Speaker 4 0:25

All right, thank you for listening to the Greatest Non-Hits. I'm Chris, and sitting next to me, without a guitar, is my co-host, tim, and today's Doing well, doing well, all right, man, hey, all right. And today we're going to be listening to Dirt, which is the second studio album by the band Alice in Chains, headed by Lane Staley and Jerry Cantrell. Lane Staley on vocals, jerry Cantrell on guitar Got a couple other guys here as well Mike Starr is the bass player, who leaves the band after this album, and, uh, mr kenny. Well, anyway, they formed in 1987. They've got a cool backstory. They've got a bunch of great songs on this album. The five singles that are going to be considered the hits but there are 13 songs total and the the. The other songs that aren't the hits are the ones that we're going to be ranking today, as we do on every episode. So stick around, we're going to have a ton of laughs, we've got a bunch of hilarious sound clips.

Speaker 4 1:39

Tim and I are going to drop some knowledge on you about the band. We're going to create some ruckus, can you describe the ruckus, sir. So with that, I'm going to turn it over to my buddy Tim. How are you doing, buddy?

Speaker 5 1:53

Oh man, you mess with the bull, you get the horns. Am I right? This is just.

Speaker 4 1:58

Yeah, it's the principal. I forgot his last name.

Speaker 5 2:00

There's a lot of loud noises, name. There's a lot of loud, loud noises, yeah, but it's a great album. They conquer a lot of very dark issues and I think the band describes themselves as seeing those dark issues and being triumphant over them and maybe having a little uh chip on your shoulder, a little sarcasm, yeah, to sort of you know, edge, edge, the hardship yeah.

Speaker 4 2:31

So like a majority of the songs, uh, like the, the, the music and the lyrics is written by jerry cantrell but lane staley, on a couple of the songs he contributes a lot. Um, so we'll, I mean we'll get into that as we go along. But yeah to to tim's point. Yeah, there is a lot of drug themes in this. Um, you know there's death, you know there's in them bones, it's, it's dark, and so we're gonna go to a dark place and it's not always fun. But and I think the band is even saying so this album got a little bit of criticism, I think, when she say for maybe glamorizing drugs. And even though that wasn't their intent at all, it was just really more of like a warning, I think is it was a warning.

Speaker 4 3:19

Yeah.

Speaker 5 3:19

It wasn't supposed to be glorifying, glorifying, uh, heroin usage by any means, but that's what was going on with them.

Speaker 4 3:31

And I'm not going to shout out to oh, whatever. I mean, yeah, this isn't the. You don't want, you don't listen to this podcast you know to like. Okay, let's go ahead and shoot up and listen to Chris and Tim.

Speaker 5 3:41

Yeah, please don't shoot up and listen to us.

Speaker 4 3:44

No, no, no.

Speaker 5 3:46

Do the opposite.

Speaker 4 3:47

You know we're not judging no, the thing is like I've been on this wellness kick and, yeah, eating like healthy, I'm feeling great, you know running and all this stuff, and but that doesn't detract from the quality of this. I mean this is, yeah, like it's good for me just to hear this again from a mature point of view, because when this came out I was probably 22 or 23 at the time, I think Tim was a lad and so you grow up with this and now you see it, you listen to it decades later and it's like I would have skipped over this one, but we're bringing it back for me.

Speaker 5 4:26

I never got on allison chain's uh wagon, but they do have great songs and the rooster is such a masterpiece. I know we're the greatest on hits, but it's such a masterpiece uh, the whole, the whole album with them bones. It's a, it's a roller coaster, wouldn't you say? Give a ride on the old bone roller coaster. All right, hamilton.

Speaker 4 4:53

All right, Hamilton.

Speaker 5 4:54

What else can we say Okay?

Speaker 4 4:55

go ahead.

Speaker 5 4:57

Yeah, lane passed away from a deadly speedball heroin combo and that's horrible, a deadly speedball heroin combo and that's horrible. And he was really. They really, you know, pounded the pavement and had this sort of incestuous band thing where everybody would guest with everybody else. I think lane at one point dressed up as a male stripper to try to get cantrell in his band or something, some weird thing like that.

Speaker 3 5:22

Um, oh wow I didn't know about that.

Speaker 4 5:24

Yeah, read about that I was like thinking more like around this time. Like the song wood was on the singles, like the cameron crowe came out with a movie called singles and it was about love, uh, triangles, relationships in seattle, and it was really all about the music scene at that time. The the song Wood from this album is featured on the soundtrack. So that's one thing of note. You want to go into Sleaze?

Speaker 5 5:52

Yeah, so Sleaze. We have a palette distorter of Sleaze here. It's Lane Staley's group. They're playing in a high school gymnasium.

Speaker 4 6:05

It's uh, it's 1985 it's a couple years before lakeside high in seattle.

Speaker 5 6:12

Uh, and they're, they're wearing like the guitarist has a pink leopard frill and nothing else like a skirt the the drums match the guitar. And uh, lane's outfit is like a really monochromatic gray scale with a V-cut that he's ripped with thick hiking socks above his boots. It's quite a crazy. Look up Sleaze on YouTube. It is the screaming yeah, here we go, this is it's sort of a Viewer discretion Discretion advised Listener discretion. This is sort of a Viewer discretion, discretion, advised Listener, discretion, this is crazy. Okay, yes.

Speaker 4 6:55

That was like a guitar solo. They're like rocking it out.

Speaker 5 6:58

That was Lane screaming. Right that is high pitch and he also is like going over by the drums and trying to bang on stuff because he's a drummer at the time as well. But you know, and he was in a funk band and that didn't work out, Then they were in the hard side. What did he have? Monikers of the band were Diamonds. Lie and Fuck was a band. Okay.

Speaker 4 7:23

Well, even like his suit that he was wearing that night matched the drum kit.

Speaker 5 7:26

Yes, that monochrome gray black thing does the suit match the drum kit? I know that's uh, I think that that black and white stripes was like uh is sort of an oscar, uh, what is it um the wild? The guitarist for ozzy osbourne zach wild yeah, and, and then the uh, one of the promo backstage passes said welcome to wonderland on it. That's why we have the alice in wonderland.

Speaker 5 7:54

Uh, oh, yeah, so that's how they got the name, they started talking about alice in wonderland and alice and, and why don't, oh, why don't we put alice, don't we put Alice in chains, and stuff like that. Now, stuff like that was what was maybe said and it wasn't maybe as fleshed out, as it were. But I think what they're really getting at too is the Alice in the Wonderland and the perception of reality, and there only is perception of reality and we're born in these bodies and we sort of witness life and the perception of reality, and there only is perception of reality and we're born in these bodies and we sort of witness life and the death cycle. Otherwise, our soul is somehow not experiencing this more ethereal, nondescript, generic, maybe spatial, abstract, scattered existence.

Speaker 5 8:39

that is not as exciting as maybe the human existence that we're all in right now, suffering, is part of you know. So I think that's what it is. It's the bondage and maybe picking loose one of the chains, one of the links to sort of wrap your head around your own perceived reality. There we go, yeah.

Speaker 4 9:03

I mean, if I had known that you were going to go that deep, we would have done the deeper and deeper way down. Sign uh, sound thing, but uh oh I got you, though.

Speaker 5 9:10

That was cool is your brain wrapping your head around that I'm gonna take your brain out of your head and wash it, and scrub it, make it clean.

Band Formation and Album Discussion

Speaker 4 9:16

All right, thank you. Yeah, no one thing. Okay, so we got to get to the album for time. But I one last thing I want to mention is like when they first formed in 1987, they came up with that album name. Camtrell wanted to form a band with staley. Uh well, I guess he wanted to form new benny and staley gave him the phone number of melinda star, s-t-a-r-r. Yeah, the girlfriend of the drummer, who's sean kenney they asked to talk to him.

Speaker 5 9:42

That's good. They asked to talk to him.

Speaker 4 9:44

But the other guy, mike Starr, is the bass player. The guy gets, when we find out, is like kicked out of the band after this album. But Mike Starr, I wonder if Mike Starr and Melinda Starr are related. It'd be like weird if, like you're Mike Starr and the drummer is like that is weird, is the?

Speaker 5 10:00

girlfriend of your sister. We can speculate. I'm sure that might be I'll speculate. Yeah, that might be the reality here.

Speaker 4 10:08

Or maybe even a cousin or something. Even that might be. Anyway, yeah, let's get into the album. I mean, the album's weird enough, I don't have to get into it.

Speaker 5 10:18

Shout out to the tea drinkers out there and you are the knot in the pity of stomach. Oh shout drinkers out there and you are the not in the pity of stomach. Oh, I've been that icy. I've been watching lots of law and order with my broken elbow here no guitar here, falling off the old bicycle um oh, that's right.

Speaker 4 10:33

Yeah, that's why you're in the. We didn't.

Speaker 5 10:35

We didn't talk about that no, no and no guitar for a couple pot. Yeah, wiped into sidewalk after yeah messing on after.

Speaker 4 10:43

Yeah, no, being out for a while. Yeah, and I had just started.

Speaker 5 10:48

You know, most accidents are within five, five minutes from home.

Speaker 4 10:52

This was like five seconds from yeah, it was like right in between here and there. Yeah, it was like right out front it was right around the corner, but yeah okay well hey, man, but get well soon, you, hey. Well, we're all G&H Nation is thoughts and prayers. Oh yeah, for your elbow.

Speaker 5 11:10

I'm very excited for it to heal.

Speaker 4 11:12

It's very exciting. Oh, we can hardly contain ourselves. All right, okay, so this is track one. This is them Bones. This is a hit Ready Ready. This is a hit Ready.

Speaker 5 11:29

Ooh, okay, we're off. I'm scared.

Speaker 4 11:39

I'm a little scared too.

Speaker 5 11:43

This song is about you know Mortality. This song is about you know mortality.

Speaker 4 11:49

Yeah, it's like a big bag of bones.

Speaker 5 11:51

Born into our bodies.

Speaker 4 12:02

They do harmonize such a grotesque image. Dust lies right on over my tongue, sorry.

Speaker 5 12:15

It's almost like a buildup with the guitar is like they're, you know, speeding towards a cliff of doom or something, something, like that yeah.

Speaker 4 12:26

It's an ominous build-up right. It's like a.

Speaker 5 12:32

Yeah, that was one of your favorites.

Speaker 4 12:35

Oh, Antifossil from the scene.

Speaker 3 12:41

Oh, oh.

Speaker 4 12:44

These guys rock oh.

Speaker 5 12:49

Yeah, this was endorsed by Beavis and Bud in 93, and the youth took this song up like wildfire.

Speaker 4 13:01

Yeah, yeah, I think Sean Kinney, mike Starr and Lane I think they were the ones that were really battling with the dishes. They're all rocking it.

Speaker 3 13:16

Yeah.

Speaker 4 13:17

I think Sean Kinney's a good drummer. I mean, not he's no Matt Cameron, but the thought that all the beautiful things and knowledge I mean not.

Speaker 5 13:26

There's no Matt Cameron. The thought that all the beautiful things and knowledge and experiences you've been through just end and when you end, it scares me the thought that when you close your eyes for good, it's gone forever. That's Jerry Cantrell about this song All right, Oops, oh wow. Short and sweet.

Speaker 4 13:56

Yeah, all right, we're off to a great start. This next one's a non-hit, okay, so Damn that river.

Speaker 5 14:01

These lyrics really stuck out for me. I pushed you and stumbled and kicked you in the face. You stared at me. So, hollow, gotta keep that killing pace. Ooh.

Speaker 4 14:18

Yeah, there's another one. You piss upon my candle, so pray, so pray. You're a fake. Yeah, I'm riddled. So yeah, I'm riddled so strong you can't break me. Well, let's listen to it, are you ready?

Speaker 1 14:37

What was that ruckus?

Speaker 5 14:39

What ruckus.

Speaker 2 14:40

I was just in my office and I heard a ruckus.

Speaker 4 14:43

All right, Thank you.

Speaker 5 15:06

Good bend of the string with the distortion sounds good.

Speaker 3 15:09

Sure.

Speaker 6 15:45

Sure.

Speaker 5 15:46

Shout out to the Beavers out there. Shout out to Chris Farley.

Speaker 4 15:54

And down by the river Classic.

Speaker 5 16:02

Yeah, just get your little fishing rod out. Yeah, just get your little fishing rod out. Yeah, and you're pulled a sack down by the river with your van. The neighbors are like loud noises. Damn that river. And maybe I don't give a damn anyway. Damn that river.

Speaker 6 16:28

Well, what the freaking hell. You couldn't damn that river and it washed me so far away. I love Leo.

Speaker 4 16:54

It's very exciting. Are we going to hardly contain ourselves? Oh, it's tolerable. Shout out to Kramer. Kramer likes it.

Speaker 1 17:19

Yes.

Speaker 5 17:21

Don't be pissing on people's candles.

Speaker 4 17:25

You piss upon my candle? Is candle a metaphor for something? Maybe it's getting kind of weird, I don't know. I mean, I feel uncomfortable, just you know.

Speaker 7 17:46

What the fuck is he talking about? Yeah?

Speaker 4 17:47

exactly there you go.

Speaker 5 17:52

Oh, let's give it a pause here. Let's take a little break and see what the Channel 2 News thinks about that one.

Speaker 2 18:02

Okay, Whoa, whoa, hey guys, whoa, oh my God, wow channel two news thinks about that one.

Speaker 5 18:08

Okay, whoa, whoa, hey guys, whoa. Oh, my god, wow. Okay, the weather guy said hope it rains when I die. Here we go coming up next exactly.

Speaker 4 18:15

Well, damn that river. You know the rain and whatnot the rain and whatnot so there's more rain. Rain when I die is this one, so we got the first four seconds of it. You want to go back? All right, there's more rain, rain when.

Speaker 2 18:26

I Die is this one.

Speaker 4 18:26

So we got the first four seconds of it. You want to go back? All right, there's Mike Starr. I'm not feeling the bass on this one. Maybe it's better, I don't know.

Speaker 5 18:38

When she is ready to know my frustration. What is this slow castration? She's slipping inside. What's she slipping? Yeah, you'll hear it, yeah.

Speaker 6 18:59

You want it. No, I don't you on it, no on it.

Speaker 1 19:13

Well, it's one louder, isn't?

Speaker 4 19:14

it. Yeah, they're doing some freeform jazz kind of thing With a little bit of distortion there.

Speaker 5 19:27

They're hitting the strings above the fret divider.

Speaker 4 19:34

What do you call that? All right?

Speaker 7 19:40

now we've gone almost like Slayer Satan.

Speaker 4 19:43

Or that too, We've gone full-blown.

Speaker 5 19:45

Satan. Boo, that too. We got a full-blown Satan.

Speaker 6 19:53

Boo Boo Satan.

Speaker 4 20:02

Ouch.

Speaker 5 20:04

Oh, slow castration. Shout out to those who have switched from polyester underwear Cotton.

Speaker 7 20:14

What the fuck is he talking about? Fuck it, I think it's gonna rain, get the door.

Speaker 2 20:31

I'm praying, goddammit, I'm praying.

Speaker 5 20:41

When you die on your deathbed, you will see receive eternal consciousness.

Speaker 4 20:50

So I figured I had that going for me, which is nice.

Speaker 5 21:07

I can help her, but won't.

Speaker 4 21:12

You should have called his name. I mean, maybe he would have helped you out.

Speaker 5 21:15

Maybe she forgot his name and it just sent him into a spiral. She forgot his name. She's like hey road, hey roadway. No, it's lane.

Speaker 3 21:32

Lane.

Speaker 5 21:35

I can't draw a line of road in this one.

Speaker 4 21:42

Let's go to the Wikipedia and take a look at here. There you go. Ah, this is the yeah. This is written by Cantrell. No Rain when I Die. I'm sorry. Cantrell Lane, staley, sean Keating. Oh, this is a collaboration of a whole band. This is one that they all did together.

Speaker 5 22:11

I like this one. This is not a hit. No.

Speaker 4 22:15

This is not a hit.

Speaker 5 22:17

Oh man, I'm already.

Speaker 3 22:20

Yeah.

Speaker 5 22:25

I think, she won't let me hide, she don't want me to cry.

Speaker 6 22:35

I'm not crying, you're crying.

Speaker 4 22:40

Shout out to Dave Jordan, producer Mixer.

Speaker 6 22:45

Shout out to Dave Jordan producer mixer.

Speaker 5 23:01

I always wanted to be at my remains Put around a tree. You know a tree seed, so I'll be a grow up to be a tree after death.

Speaker 4 23:14

Do you want me to press?

Speaker 7 23:14

it or I'll press it. You press it. What the?

Speaker 4 23:16

fuck, is he talking about.

Speaker 5 23:17

There you go, it's happening. I'm a tree.

Speaker 1 23:22

I've fallen and I can't get up.

Speaker 4 23:26

I thought you were going to say something like I always wanted to be on an album cover.

Speaker 5 23:32

Oh no, I want to be a tree when I'm dead, oh okay. Yeah, I'll put it in my will for you.

Speaker 4 23:40

Oh, you're going to put me in charge of setting that up yeah.

Speaker 5 23:48

I need a rooster. I need a rooster by the tree to protect the tree. It needs to be by that damn river. All right, get some good dirt.

Speaker 4 23:58

I have to live a lot longer in order for me to do all that. I think that that's Get some good dirt. You're a healthy guy too.

Speaker 5 24:06

Shout out to the gardeners out there. Gardeners know the best dirt, oh yeah.

Speaker 4 24:11

Well, Tim knows. Anyway yeah, don't put that burden on me. I'll be super old. I've got to settle this guy's estate. This guy lived across the street from me. Oh, that's weird oh I like that okay, I'm not afraid anymore oh, that's good, there you go. Well, good, I'm glad, billy. What are the?

Speaker 5 24:35

kids shout out to the uh, the donnie darko uh promotional tape, kid, oh, that's right here in love the fear and love child that's right, that's right.

Speaker 4 24:45

Uh, yep, okay. Now we the fear and love child. That's right. Okay, now we're going to down in a hole.

Speaker 5 24:49

Should we read some lyrics? I've eaten the sun, so my tongue has been burned of the taste Whoa.

Speaker 4 24:56

Okay, is it? Um, I'd like to, but my wings can't be denied, yeah.

Speaker 5 25:10

All right, hamilton Wings are not going to be denied here. Well.

Speaker 4 25:13

I'd like to, yeah, I'd like to fly, but my wings can't be so denied. Oh, yes, those wings All right, Ready oh yes, those wings All right ready. He's on his final hole.

Speaker 5 25:39

He's down in a hole. It's gassy. It's gassy down there.

Speaker 1 25:42

My gassy hole hanging out.

Speaker 6 25:47

Thank you, Kate.

Speaker 1 25:48

McKinnon.

Speaker 4 25:52

It's in the hole.

Speaker 6 26:09

Alright, let's enjoy.

Speaker 5 26:10

Sand rains down, and here I sit Holding red flowers in my hand Shout out to the rare flower gardeners.

Speaker 4 26:19

We're going to try to make this as positive as possible, folks.

Speaker 5 26:23

Yeah, we have a word from our sponsor after this song.

Speaker 4 26:29

Well, yeah, I mean now, granted, yeah, maybe about ten years later Plain City's dead. Okay, nobody feels worse about that. But I mean Jerry Cantrell's still alive. I think the other guys are too. Unless I'm mistaken, Did Mike Starr die.

Speaker 5 26:50

Well, we are all Stardust and we return to the stars once we are dead.

Speaker 4 26:56

Yeah, mike Starr, march 8th 2011. He's no longer with us. Yeah, heroin, opioids, prescription overdose God damn it. And he's no longer with us. Yeah, heroin, opioids, prescription overdose Ah, god damn it. What are you going to do?

Speaker 5 27:13

Well, they flew for a little bit.

Speaker 4 27:16

Hey man, he got to live the dream. Sean Kinney's still alive, that's good.

Speaker 7 27:27

Good little.

Speaker 5 27:29

Sean Kinney's still alive. That's good. A little Round the bend On the drums there.

Speaker 4 27:36

Yeah, kinney, yeah. Kinney joined singer Johnny Cash, kim Thiel of Soundgarden and bassist Chris Masella Nirvana for a cover of Willie Nelson's title, the Preacher Featured on the tribute album Twist Willie. How cool.

Speaker 6 27:54

Nice.

Speaker 4 28:00

So the band has that going for them, which is nice, and they have a lineup right now that currently is in over 5 million followers. I think the album sounds great though. I think the album sounds great though. I think the music is great.

Speaker 5 28:26

Yeah, it just seems the effects on the guitar are the same every song. Okay, fair, I mean.

Speaker 4 28:38

It's a little repetitive. Where does this go? From beginning to end.

Speaker 5 28:42

Well, they're a grunge rock band so they're going to put distortion on, but it just seems like you don't have to on all of these Broadening your horizons. Maybe a little bit would be my criticism. With the effects there's a little more flange. I hear the acoustic too, so maybe I'm being yeah, okay, Maybe it's not justified, but hey, it is a little closed off, isn't it?

Speaker 4 29:13

Yeah, you know what? That's true, but for that time period they were trying to make a statement.

Speaker 5 29:19

They were trying to be themselves find their own songs.

Speaker 4 29:22

Their own sounds. Individuality, thinking for yourself, I think it's what. And not being so goddamn superficial and fake and plastic, and all that shit is being rejected with this.

Speaker 5 29:39

That's so fetch.

Speaker 4 29:43

You can't say that without a clip coming back.

Speaker 3 29:46

But anyway.

Speaker 4 29:49

I'm a deep down on the mean girl Chris.

Speaker 2 29:51

Don't mess with the bull young man.

Speaker 1 30:18

You'll get the horns. It's in the hole, it's in the hole.

Speaker 5 30:23

Hey, it's in his final hole.

Speaker 4 30:34

I like how they go a little bit extra high in that last one.

Speaker 3 30:41

Extra high.

Speaker 6 30:43

So high.

Speaker 3 30:43

Yeah, oh.

Speaker 4 30:47

Jack, I pass on grass.

Speaker 5 30:51

Good ending Nice that was good, Great ending Well should we hear? From our sponsor.

Speaker 2 30:57

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Speaker 6 31:00

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Speaker 5 31:07

All right, get that fun ball down in the hole guys shout out to happy fun ball. It's a ball in a cup ball in the cup.

Speaker 4 31:17

There'll be another sponsor one of these days. Hopefully we can get them all right. Moving on. Okay. What's the next one here? Sick man, get them All right. Moving on. Okay, what's the next? One here Sick, man Sick man, you got anything on that.

Speaker 5 31:33

Purity over rot, pure rot.

Speaker 4 31:39

Yeah, this is a horrible song.

Speaker 5 31:41

This is one of our least favorites, but we'll nice little jazz drumming to start off.

Speaker 4 31:55

They have a cool line. I can feel the wheel, but I can, can't steer.

Speaker 5 32:00

My thoughts become my biggest fear it's good, uh, headbanging mosh pit song. Yeah, if you're trying to get your ankle rolled.

Speaker 4 32:23

Yeah, the mosh pit, I can see it.

Speaker 5 32:25

Shout out to the chamomile drinkers out there Wake the hell up.

Speaker 4 32:31

Shout out to the runners out there Look both ways.

Speaker 5 32:34

Yeah, watch out for those behind the wheel. All right, some crazy bikers out there, yeah.

Speaker 4 32:43

Keep that rhythm, even though there's a time signature change yeah.

Speaker 3 32:47

Yeah.

Speaker 4 33:05

Yeah, is the world sick, or is it the sick world of his? It was just a sick music world. It was like this is Axl Rose kind of stuff.

Speaker 5 33:10

Plus it never had any sun in. Seattle.

Speaker 6 33:18

They go like up and down. It's kind of like chanting.

Speaker 4 33:24

What the fuck is he talking about?

Speaker 1 33:27

I don't know I don't know what this is.

Speaker 4 33:35

Anyway, do you mind Shouts to Richard Lewis? Can we give this one the hook?

Speaker 5 33:48

There's just some choking yeah. Walk through the valley of rape and despair. Ah yeah, let's just go to the outro, or isn't there a solo? There's a solo here Is there, right here.

Speaker 4 34:04

Oh, purity over rot. I'll start there. All right, there's going to be an abrupt movement. There we go Right now.

Speaker 5 34:14

Is this what you're talking about? Yeah, purity over rot.

Speaker 2 34:28

I only came here to do two things, man Kick some ass and drink some beer.

Speaker 5 34:33

Looks like we're almost out of beer. Thank, you. Meathead from Days of Confused.

Speaker 7 34:50

I mean what the?

Speaker 3 34:52

fuck is he talking about?

Speaker 4 34:59

No, I'm speechless. I don't know what to add to this.

Speaker 5 35:16

There's nothing more to be added.

Speaker 4 35:21

This is almost like the sleaze days here. Yeah, Layne Staley's all over this. Who wrote this one?

Speaker 6 35:26

Let's see Loud noises. Loud noises.

Speaker 5 35:36

Could you describe the ruckus sir?

Speaker 1 35:42

God's name is going on in here.

Speaker 4 36:02

This is brutal and still a five-time platinum. Six million copies total, highest selling album to date. All right, I'm happy that's done. That ending was kind of cool.

Speaker 2 36:23

You must take this fine cassava melon over to him.

Speaker 1 36:27

Show him what you got, but don't let him have it. You gotta tease him a little.

Speaker 4 36:34

All right, that was a great intro A little tease. Shout out to the Foghorn Leghorn fans out there. I love that, like all of the harmonies on this song, yeah.

Speaker 5 37:10

What line do you like in this one? Wife and kids and household pet Army green no safe bet yes.

Speaker 4 37:23

So random yes, so random Got my pills against mosquito death, my buddy's breathing, his dying breath Maybe this is about a let's see.

Speaker 5 38:03

I like how the bass and the guitar played together. Army Green no Safe Bet. This is about Jerry Cantrell's father, whose nickname was Rooster, in Vietnam, I gotcha. It's about resilience as a soldier getting sent off to war, leaving your wife and kids behind, watching your friends die. Does your best to stay alive. They come to kill the rooster. Does his best to stay alive. They come to kill the rooster, but he won't die.

Speaker 2 38:48

Wow.

Speaker 1 38:50

Yeah, they come to snuff the rooster. No, no, no.

Speaker 3 38:58

No, he ain't gonna die.

Speaker 2 39:19

I see a Bible rooster, I hope, praying goddammit.

Speaker 6 39:47

They come to snuff the rooster.

Speaker 4 39:50

They come to snuff the rooster. I like that they're snuffing some rooster.

Speaker 5 39:54

Yeah, this wouldn't be the same song if they didn't change, if they didn't have the snuff in there, they used to call me the rooster Good drummer buildup that voice is awesome.

Speaker 4 40:18

No, no, no, dad, his voice is awesome.

Speaker 5 40:24

They actually use Cantrell's father's statements about war in the music video.

Speaker 6 40:38

That's the intro, oh okay, huh, wait.

Speaker 4 40:41

What was that about his dad? Like in the intro, it's in the music video.

Speaker 6 40:46

Oh, oh, okay, got it, got my pills against mosquito death.

Speaker 4 41:04

Got my pills against mosquito death. My buddy's breathing. He's dying.

Speaker 6 41:08

Getting into the poetry business.

Speaker 4 41:16

Won't you help me make it through?

Speaker 6 41:19

Getting into the poetry Poetry, yeah, here come the rooster. Yeah, you know he ain't gonna die.

Speaker 4 41:53

I kind of miss these days a little bit. I mean it was just completely different. I mean it was just completely different. It was weird in its own way. That part was cool, kind of a nice bass line at the end there too.

Speaker 1 42:38

Ah, that feels better there you go alright, okay.

Speaker 4 42:44

So what do we got? What do we got coming up next here?

Speaker 5 42:48

got some junk oh yeah, this is junk fuck yeah junk head. I'm a, I'm a thrifter, fuck, fuck fuck, fuck, yeah, that's your favorite line junk Junkhead. I'm a thrifter Junk.

Speaker 4 43:02

Fuck yeah, that's your favorite line Junk.

Speaker 5 43:06

Fuck yeah, that's what I say every time I walk into Goodwill.

Critical Analysis of Album Tracks

Speaker 4 43:15

Junk fuck yeah. Junk fuck yeah. Drunk fuck yeah, hardcore thrifter. I mean, here's the thing. It's that lack of variation in the songs makes it kind of difficult to listen to from beginning to end agreed they were going for hits on this album yeah, like let's see what sticks, kind of thing, because yeah, all of the sound kind of the same and it's just sort of like, yeah, let's tweak it here and there and there's a lot of sticks. Yeah, I like this part though. Like this part though. I like this harmony.

Speaker 5 44:14

Advil.

Speaker 6 44:22

Yeah.

Speaker 4 44:33

But yeah, it's pretty depressing. Yeah, I don't know, I don't feel like this at all. An elite race of our own.

Speaker 5 44:40

Yeah, I don't know. I don't feel like this at all.

Speaker 4 44:43

An elite race of our own, but we are an elite race, ah, what?

Speaker 5 44:46

was that Elite race of stoners, junkies and freaks?

Speaker 4 44:50

Yeah, I didn't know that they were supremacists too.

Speaker 5 44:54

Elite.

Speaker 4 45:10

It's tolerable.

Speaker 5 45:10

It's tolerable Basically. I'm sorry Overlap, Some vocal overlays.

Speaker 4 45:24

Yeah, let's be good at that strip club song.

Speaker 5 45:30

Put your hands together for the lovely Jasmine, empty and bare.

Speaker 6 45:41

Yeah, I don't go broke and I do it a lot, I do it a lot, it's happening, it's happening.

Speaker 4 45:54

It's like the guitar, the fuzz guitar.

Speaker 6 45:58

So I say this is a miracle lips, Let her rip.

Speaker 5 46:03

Let her rip there.

Speaker 4 46:04

Let her rip.

Speaker 5 46:11

A melodic solo instead of a shredder solo. Yeah, okay, maybe some self-awarety.

Speaker 4 46:20

Self-awarety. All right, yeah, okay, maybe some self-awarety.

Speaker 5 46:22

Self-awarety all right. Yeah, I talk real good. Got my books and my degrees. This is my favorite line.

Speaker 4 47:04

This is my favorite line. No, not the doing it like me. Okay, right.

Speaker 5 47:07

A hard stop after books and degrees. Okay, gotcha I think I bet you'd be doing like me and it ain't so bad and it ain't so bad.

Speaker 4 47:26

So maybe this one does kind of incite drug use to an impressionable, impressionable youth. Um, yeah, it's like you don't go broke and you can do it a lot. There's a lot of selling of it here. It's like like I didn't realize that I do kind of like the music.

Speaker 7 47:39

Satan.

Speaker 4 47:43

Well, not that.

Speaker 5 47:45

Thank you, church lady.

Speaker 3 47:46

Yeah.

Speaker 5 47:47

Let's call this what it is. Yeah, this is Satan.

Speaker 4 47:51

Yeah, they're smoking the devil's lettuce Next. Okay, yeah, we were almost done with it. Maybe we should have done that earlier, yeah, okay, yeah, we were almost done with it. Maybe we should have done that earlier. Yeah, okay. This is like a really bad part of the hour.

Speaker 5 48:43

Judas Priest Barber is one of those flaming bags again, and now it's frustration. He does like a weird Vocal twitch At the end of words. Oh god, at the end of words.

Speaker 4 49:07

Oh God.

Speaker 6 49:12

This is getting dark. Call the fire department. There is one who shouldn't be A threat to hide myself from what is wrong for me.

Speaker 1 49:27

For me Ah, that feels, that feels better.

Speaker 4 49:39

Shout out to Carrie's mom.

Speaker 1 49:44

I'm down by the river.

Speaker 6 49:52

You gotta.

Speaker 5 49:57

You gotta Smooth it out. Okay, it's jerking Jer. Smooth it out, jerk it out Smoothly and softly. Smoothly and softly. Oh, it takes a little crazy to know crazy, doesn't it?

Speaker 4 50:28

I think that's right. That's fair Since 2006, it's been Cantrell, William Duvall, Mike Inez and Sean Kinney, so they're two of the four. That's right, two living guys are still in the band. I think Mike Inez was's bass is half of the sound. This is kind of cool. I like this part. Good solo. It's really Yass, it's really Fenn in that. They must have gone through a lot of strings. Oh my gosh.

Speaker 5 52:06

They probably tune it down now. I'm really digging the music on this one. Dirt's not a hit right.

Speaker 6 52:40

I don't think it is. No, I try to hide myself from what is wrong for me.

Speaker 5 52:58

This is about Demery Parrott, Staley's fiancée.

Speaker 3 53:06

Okay, oh okay, okay.

Speaker 4 53:14

So the next one's god smack. This is a non-hit and, of course, this is famous because the the group god smack got their name from this song, so god's name is going on in here all right well played it's just a lot of ruckus. It's just a lot yeah, you can't describe the ruckus I cannot, for the men who wonder who's singing this Star that broke your back yonder, is this Wayne Staley? Yeah.

Speaker 5 54:13

She's got such big eyes. Oh wow, it's like going crazy. What in God's name have you done?

Speaker 4 54:27

Oh, wow, it's like going crazy.

Speaker 6 54:42

Stick around for some real fun For the horse you've grown much fonder, then for me that I don't wonder what is happening.

Speaker 4 55:06

Yeah, I'm not into this. It's going on. It's going too many different places.

Speaker 5 55:15

We're like in the bottom of the well with Jack Hammer, kind of like I'm going to fast forward. Are you fast forward, smiling by your Like in the bottom of the well?

Speaker 4 55:19

With Jack.

Speaker 5 55:19

Hammer Kind of like.

Speaker 4 55:20

I'm a fast forward. Are you a fast forward? Yeah, if you're a Fast forward. Here's the.

Speaker 3 55:33

Alright, a little vignette All right.

Speaker 5 55:44

A little vignette. He doesn't try to play fast always, which is kind of cool, right, he just plays poignantly.

Speaker 6 55:51

Yeah, that's good, that's good I don't like the voice. I don't like that. Now you know the reasons why. Can't get high or you will die. Oh, you'll die. What in God's name have you done? Sticked your arm for some revenge? What the fuck is he talking about?

Speaker 4 56:34

Saw your sickness, wasted time.

Speaker 7 56:37

What the fuck is he talking about? Fuck it.

Speaker 3 56:40

Drug, drug Okay.

Speaker 6 56:41

Peace, okay.

Speaker 4 56:54

All right, this one is untitled and it's an annoying thing and let's just go. It's 43 seconds, I'm going next. All right, yeah, this is heat to feel, okay.

Speaker 2 57:11

Okay, whoa, whoa.

Speaker 6 57:27

I'm not afraid anymore. I've fallen.

Speaker 5 57:38

I have too.

Speaker 2 57:45

Okay, whoa, okay, whoa, whoa Harry, hey guys, whoa Wow.

Speaker 5 57:57

Another shaggy DA, now a dog, shake my leg. I think this is the ballad. This is their lick my love. This is the ballad. This is their lick my love. I don't know that they understand the perception of what a ballad is, but I think this might be it. Oh, is this supposed to be the ballad? No, I know, down in the hole it is.

Speaker 4 58:27

Yeah you're right. Yeah, there's another one too, I think. The rooster maybe, but that even sets the kick in. It's halfway through.

Speaker 5 58:43

I love Steely Dan's song Love to Touch as opposed to Hate to Feel. Yeah, there you go Again. This is about heroin Formant regret.

Speaker 4 58:54

All right, smack New Orleans. Gotta get Pincushion medicine. Bend my blood now, okay, and I crawl back to bed now, ugh, and I crawl back to bed now, ugh. Do they have like heroin?

Speaker 6 59:27

ponchos, isn't that like a?

Speaker 4 59:28

Seinfeld, oh yeah.

Speaker 6 59:37

Use your bucket.

Speaker 5 59:40

Well, he's suffered from youth. You know divorced parents gotten into music to become a rock star.

Speaker 4 59:52

That's Cantrell right.

Speaker 5 59:54

Oh, Staley.

Speaker 4 59:56

Oh, a rough childhood.

Speaker 5 59:59

He tried to actually track down his father. He wanted to be a rock star so his father would come back into his life. But he did get some information about his father but decided to stay away.

Speaker 4 1:00:12

The dad decided to stay away, lane.

Speaker 5 1:00:14

Interesting. So he's tormented, you know. Yeah, oh, he did find him actually and his father was recovering addicts. Wow, that's crazy. And they did heroin together apparently.

Speaker 4 1:00:46

It says song facts. Oh wow, that's sad.

Speaker 5 1:00:54

This is crazy. Oh my gosh Taking pain, my back's so dark.

Speaker 4 1:01:00

Let's have a father-son heroine offer Jeez.

Speaker 5 1:01:10

I guess it runs in the family Fingershell Medicine. I kind of feel bad Curious. Now the ship's such a mess I kind of feel bad. You don't want to feel your emotions. So you get drugged. Yeah, you get all drugged up on the substance.

Speaker 6 1:01:30

Yeah.

Speaker 5 1:01:40

Well anyway, good voice. Harmonization.

Speaker 4 1:01:46

Yeah, right, yeah. Now the voice harmonization is starting to seem kind of fucked up because it's like on every single song, but it's still good, so with that, what do we have next here?

Speaker 5 1:01:56

Angry chair Ah.

Speaker 6 1:02:06

But you are Blanche, you are in that chair.

Speaker 4 1:02:11

Shout out to Blanche.

Speaker 5 1:02:16

Whatever happened, baby game, whatever happened to Baby Jane.

Speaker 4 1:02:24

Baby Jane, it's a classic.

Speaker 5 1:02:29

Joan Crawford. Oh yeah, danny Davis, shout out to the clay molders out there, the pottery yeah.

Speaker 4 1:02:41

Aficionados. Shout out to all the kiln operators.

Speaker 5 1:02:45

And the face guajars. You know, face guajing is in now. Guaja, how you say the rolling of your face with a little rock?

Speaker 6 1:03:01

What do you do with your hands, too?

Speaker 4 1:03:03

Shout out to the cloudy apple juice drinkers.

Speaker 2 1:03:09

And the prayers Get in the door. I'm praying, goddammit oh.

Speaker 4 1:03:20

Shout out to Foghorn Leghorn. Kind of got the sound wrong a little bit on that one.

Speaker 5 1:03:29

I don't mind, yeah, I don't mind, yeah, aye, aye, aye.

Speaker 6 1:03:34

Aye, aye, aye, I don't mind, I don't mind, I don't mind, I don't mind.

Speaker 4 1:03:54

I can't find it anywhere, I don't mind. This is it Okay?

Speaker 6 1:04:03

Yeah, bang Bang.

Speaker 5 1:04:10

Out of here, boy. You're falling over yourself, boy.

Speaker 2 1:04:14

Boy, I said boy. Boy I said boy, listen to me.

Speaker 5 1:04:17

Real good, now You're going to drop that habit of heroin. I said boy Boy. I said boy, listen to me. Real good, now You're going to drop that habit of heroin. Now, boy.

Speaker 4 1:04:23

You're going to take this heroin needle. And then he's like you take this here, cassava leather. And then we got to put together a plan. Now you're going to be Little Red Riding Hood, You're going to be skipping on down the old mill road and then they're going to. That boy is dull as a doornail. They had that little rooster nephew that was like a chicken hawk. He had that Napoleon complex.

Speaker 3 1:05:36

Ah, ah, ah.

Speaker 4 1:05:44

That's her. How could we have missed that?

Speaker 5 1:05:47

No, I don't mind.

Speaker 2 1:06:11

All that I want is to play I don't mind Get the door, I'm praying.

Speaker 5 1:06:21

God damn it. I like that Guitar ruckus there. Whatever they did, I can't describe it, but.

Speaker 1 1:06:26

Anyway, do you mind?

Speaker 3 1:06:27

No, You're going to sit in that angry chair until you're happy again yeah but that was a good one.

Speaker 5 1:06:36

Playing with dirt actually releases the happy serotonin in your brain. So all you gardeners out there- alright, this is wood chew on it so chew on it.

Speaker 4 1:06:58

This is a hit. Yeah, this is from the singles soundtrack. 1992 movie. Grammy winner.

Speaker 6 1:07:11

No me broken by my master. Teach me Goodbye, my master. Teach me a child Love. Thereafter Into the flood again, send him on trip to walk the land. So I made a big mistake.

Speaker 4 1:07:46

Wow. It's like all the other stuff, like, aside from these hits, all the other stuff is about like heroin and addiction. That's sort of like the Right. I mean this is too, but it's not as uh obvious.

Speaker 5 1:07:59

It's like sorry, that's okay yeah, I was saying yeah to that. Songs about war, songs about relationships, seem to do better maybe.

Speaker 4 1:08:16

Yeah, Like the dad was in War and All right yeah.

Speaker 5 1:08:22

Or Cantrell's father, right, right.

Speaker 4 1:08:33

Into the Flood again.

Speaker 5 1:08:50

Yeah, this guitar thing is awesome. I think this is my favorite hit on the album. Yeah, I like it better than it's better than the rooster I think no, I like the rooster first, this second maybe okay, either both but this one's a close second and it's hidden on the last track, which is kind of rare this one.

Speaker 4 1:09:14

it gets more listens than any of them. Oh, wow, wow. The rooster's next and then down in a hole. Oh, I'm sorry, then bones then down in a hole. That makes sense. Untitled has the least Hate to feel it, but God's not. I like the end of this too. It's kind of short and sweet too. A lot of these other songs seem too long.

Speaker 5 1:10:05

All right, yeah, that was a strong ending right, I'll say All right, it snapped you back too here.

Speaker 4 1:10:12

Well, we got to go. So we got to look at our top three. So what are you looking at for number three bud?

Speaker 5 1:10:20

I'm going dirt.

Speaker 4 1:10:22

Okay, I can see that.

Speaker 5 1:10:23

Yeah.

Speaker 4 1:10:24

All right, yeah, okay, no explanation, that's fine.

Speaker 5 1:10:28

It is yeah, still not my favorite, but yeah.

Speaker 4 1:10:32

Well, my number three, and this is something I had to reach for. This is Junkhead. Okay, because I hate the message and it is kind of like selling it, but I like the well, it's my drug of choice. I like the harmony. It's the way it kind of goes up and it has that weird guitar thing. So that's my number three.

Speaker 5 1:10:53

You know, dali said I don't do drugs, I am drugs. That was cool you know, I guess you know, if you listen to all of our podcasts in a row, you could be an addict of the greatest non-hits, yeah, so maybe you should get some help if you do that.

Speaker 4 1:11:09

Yeah, if we're coursing through your veins. Yeah, man, yeah.

Speaker 5 1:11:13

I feel for you, so do I Okay. I feel for you, so do I Okay. So number two what was it? Let me see the list again.

Speaker 4 1:11:24

We got those right there.

Speaker 5 1:11:26

Oh yeah, damn that river's not a hit, or is it? No? All right, damn that river. Number two yeah.

Speaker 4 1:11:35

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 1 1:11:35

Okay.

Speaker 5 1:11:37

It flowed, had some flow. Okay, it flowed it had some flow Okay. It was angry. It was angsty. It had some repression that you just see a therapist about, and I liked it.

Speaker 4 1:11:48

Yeah, I felt the same way of that I'm going to go with. Night number two is Rain when I Die.

Speaker 3 1:11:54

Oh.

Speaker 4 1:11:55

That was the one that I think all of them collaborated on it yeah, I mean so it it felt like a deeper song a deeper, more unique song that bucked the trend, yeah of the other song.

Speaker 5 1:12:06

So that's way down number two yeah, that's my number one. I will listen to rain when I die again, but, um, you know, exercise mode, or? Or maybe I'm angsty, maybe you wake up in the morning and you just want to, like you know, pop some firecrackers off and listen to Rain when I Die. Okay, and the police might be knocking on your door shortly, but it's a good song.

Album Track Discussion

Speaker 4 1:12:33

It is. It was good too. Yeah, I went Damn that River. Of course those are really the three big songs for me, yeah, but obviously Damn that River, it was just really hooky and it followed up them Bones really good and it was like super.

Speaker 5 1:12:51

What the fuck is he talking?

Speaker 4 1:12:52

about. I think it was a good follow-up.

Speaker 5 1:12:55

No, it is.

Speaker 4 1:12:55

I like how it flows in from them Bones to that. It's like.

Speaker 5 1:12:59

The first six songs are very powerful together.

Speaker 3 1:13:02

Yeah.

Speaker 5 1:13:03

They need a ballad in between Rooster and Junk or no, they need a ballad somewhere near 9 through 12, a little bit. I mean Down in a Hole kind of sounds like one, but then it builds up and then gets like super loud yeah, so even their ballads like kind of turn into and I'm size into a heavy song and, untitled, had a chance to be a ballad of 43 seconds or like some kind of like.

Speaker 4 1:13:29

I don't know a little breath catcher.

Speaker 5 1:13:30

But no, no, they just yeah, ran your entire ballad yeah, they rammed their, their, their sound waves down your.

Speaker 4 1:13:37

Well, they're going to go let yeah, they're going for the slayer demo. And I don't know, they rammed their sound waves down your gullet. Yeah, they're going for the Slayer demo.

Speaker 3 1:13:41

Slayer demo.

Speaker 4 1:13:42

There's some overlapping there.

Speaker 5 1:13:44

Double kill Slayer. Shout out to the Halo players out there, Yep shout out to them.

Speaker 4 1:13:51

But yeah, thanks for listening guys, we're no angels. All right, take care, bye.