Alice In Chains

Alice In Chains’ heavy, harrowing rock pushed grunge deep into the dark side, and it remains some of the bleakest and rawest music ever to come out of the ‘90s alt-rock boom.

Spawned in Seattle in 1987—after guitarist/songwriter Jerry Cantrell, bassist Mike Starr, and drummer Sean Kinney convinced singer Layne Staley to quit his funk band—the group began throwing down menacing, metal-infused tracks for their 1990 debut album Facelift.

Songs like “Man in the Box” came drenched in Cantrell’s sludgy riffs and Staley’s booming, tortured howls.