10 Greatest MTV Unplugged Rock Performances

In 1996, Alice In Chains were a band in disarray. They had exploded in 1990 when Man In The Box from their debut album Facelift had become a huge MTV hit, and by the time they released their second album - Dirt, in 1992 - they were one of the world’s biggest rock bands. However, they lived the lifestyle to the extreme, and the hard drug use of vocalist Layne Staley was starting to take its toll.

By the time they released their final self-titled studio record in 1994, they were unable to tour and went into hiatus. Staley spent time in and out of rehab trying to get clean to no avail, leaving guitarist/singer and heartbeat of the band Jerry Cantrell high and dry.

Then, after years of approaches from MTV, Alice in Chains finally reunited for this special one-off performance; a swansong for a band who only made a handful of appearances together after this. Their haunting material perfectly fitted the stripped-down nature of the Unplugged series, and the unique lyrical harmonies of Staley and Cantrell had never sounded so good.