10 Darkest Rock Albums Of The 90s
3. Dirt - Alice in Chains
Not everything that was coming out of Seattle was really meant to be the most optimistic thing in the world. Even though something like Pearl Jam might have been a breath of fresh air for people coming off of the hair metal movement, hearing a song like Jeremy was a lot for your average high school fan to take in all at once when it played on MTV. No, there was a lot of darkness in those sludgy riffs, and Layne Staley had that darkness in the depths of his soul on Alice in Chains' second album.
After falling prey to heroin addiction early on in his career, Layne decided to pour a lot of his emotions regarding his issues into his songs, almost using them as a way to help him clean up his act. Even without the context of the drugs taking their toll on him, the sound of Dirt is absolutely filthy from the riffs alone, from the smack of Them Bones dwelling on Layne's own mortality to the title track, who's opening riff from Jerry Cantrell gives you the feeling like you're walking through the mud in the middle of a swamp.
As much as people like to dwell on what this album means in the context of Layne's death almost a decade later, you also have to remember that this was never meant to be a happy ending on the proper album either, as the ending track Would? asks the fans to understand the kind of pain that a junkie goes through. We may try our best to understand what that loneliness is like, but it's also tough to see some of your idols surrender themselves to their own vices.