When the MTV Unplugged series is discussed, there are a few performances that are talked about much more than others. That list, of course, begins with Nirvana. Other groups like R.E.M. and Pearl Jam get a lot of the shine, too. But below, we wanted to highlight another grunge band whose appearance on the series was transcendent.
Alice in Chains offered perhaps the Platonic Ideal of what the MTV Unplugged show was supposed to be. With passion and honesty, the band led by Layne Staley and Jerry Cantrell proved why they were one of the greatest rock groups of the 1990s, even if they aren’t always discussed in that way.
Here, we wanted to draw attention to three songs from the 1996 Alice in Chains MTV Unplugged performance that live in our heads rent free.
“Down in a Hole”
Grunge music was emotive, impassioned and often, if we’re being honest, depressing. Either it highlighted dark aspects of life or shared stories about how someone is trying to extricate themselves from those dark aspects. Perhaps more than any other band from the time, Alice in Chains knew the darkness, understood depravity. So when they sing about being down in a hole, you know they mean it. They are like ghosts singing about their own graves.
“Rooster”
The song Jerry Cantrell wrote about his father, a military veteran who came back home with PTSD, this track is perhaps the best known offering from the band. Sung by Layne Staley, the intimate song becomes explosive. But what the MTV Unplugged series does so well is take the audience behind the curtain. We can see the band summon up the energy and ethos of this track and see the raw emotions flood their faces. It’s like being a fly on the wall.
“Would?”
This song was originally written in tribute to the fallen grunge artist Andrew Wood, who died of a drug overdose just weeks before the debut album of his band Mother Love Bone was set to release. His loss was felt deeply in the Seattle community around 1990 and so Alice in Chains wrote this song to honor their late friend (hence the title). In the MTV Unplugged performance, the band and Staley in particular are impressive, almost Zen-like in their muscular grunge rock performance.
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