10 Legendary Songs That Almost Weren't Released
4. Man in the Box - Alice in Chains
A lot of people tend to forget how important Alice in Chains was to the Seattle grunge scene in the early '90s. Long before Kurt Cobain first sunk his teeth into the rock genre with Smells Like Teen Spirit, Facelift was actually the first grunge album to receive widespread acclaim, thanks to the massive bluesy single Man in the Box. That wasn't really how it was supposed to play out though.
After handing in the masters of Facelift in to the record label, the suits were hesitant to even give Man in the Box a chance, thinking it was much too slow for the rock world to really latch onto. It's not like they didn't have a point either, with a 5 minute song length and a plodding rhythm that would get boring in the wrong circumstances. As soon as fans got a whiff of the Alice energy though, Man in the Box became the defining sound of the darker side of the alternative sphere.
While initially being panned by the metal crowd that they were affiliated with, Alice turned into one of the biggest bands in the world once the grunge wave kicked in, with Man in the Box becoming their calling card. Then again, when you have a song this good, you don't really need to worry about how long it is.