It has been 34 years to the day since one of grunge’s biggest bands released a breakout album that changed the genre forever. And, fascinatingly, they recorded it during the Los Angeles riots.
On Sept. 29, 1992, Alice in Chains unveiled Dirt, their sophomore album. Two singles heralded the record, “Would?” and “Them Bones”. Four more major tracks followed: “Angry Chair”, “Rooster”, and “Down in a Hole”. Each track carved out its own space in the legacy of grunge music. And that’s not even to mention other important tracks from the album, like “Rain When I Die” or “God Smack”.
What also really stands out, as noted, is that the album’s recording process came at such a tumultuous time for the United States. The band did much of the tracking at One on One Studios in L.A. between April and July 1992. This was during the time that the L.A. riots were sparked in the aftermath of the Rodney King verdict.
Alice in Chains released their second album, ‘Dirt’, on Sept. 29, 1992
Back in 2018, Alice in Chains guitarist/co-singer and songwriter Jerry Cantrell sat down with Vice/Noisey to discuss the band’s albums. Getting to Dirt, he reflected, “We decided we were going to do it all down in L.A. We worked out there for two or three weeks, got the songs together, finished writing some stuff, and then we moved into the studio.”
Cantrell then recalled the band learning of the riots during their sessions. “We started getting sounds, getting everything set up, everyone was jacked up and ready to get started,” he remembered, “and we were watching the TV when the verdict for the Rodney King incident was announced, and the riots started that day.”
“The first day of our record, L.A. tore itself apart protesting police brutality,” he shared. “We had to try to get out of the town without getting hurt.”
As for how they navigated the situation, Cantrell says they basically got the hell out of Dodge. “I think we took [Slayer vocalist/bassist] Tom Araya with us and went out to Joshua Tree for four or five days, and just kinda tripped out in the desert until things calmed down,” he said. “And then we moved back into the studio and started recording—that’s how Dirt started.”
Photo by Al Seib/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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