10 Perfect Rock Albums Of The '90s

For being a Seattle band and rising with the alternative scene happening at the same time, a lot of rock fans still don't know how to classify Alice in Chains. They weren't nearly heavy enough to be metal or thrash, but the songs were far too dark and brooding to be called truly alternative either. Despite everyone's hangups, there's one thing that was pretty much universally accepted: Dirt absolutely kicked ass.

Which is really saying something seeing how blunt this record is. Completed while Layne Staley was in the throes of heroin addiction, this entire record is basically a mass exodus of emotion from front to back. Although each song has its own separate theme, it's easy to tie it back to Staley's inner pain, almost as if he knows that he's not going to win this battle against his demons.

Even when turning away from the drug subjects, songs like Rooster feel you're seeing a war movie play out in real time. While there are songs like Iron Gland that break up the flow from time to time, it always feels earned, as if you're being pulled that much further into hell with every listen. This album can't be considered an upper by any stretch of the imagination, but it's one of those few depressing records that time has never forgotten about.