10 Rock Songs That Are A Nightmare To Sing
9. Man in the Box - Alice in Chains
Most uninitiated listeners probably think that the hardest vocal lines have to come from the Freddie Mercuries of the world. Compared to the lower register singing of someone like Leonard Cohen or Nick Cave, the act of using your voice to rattle the walls is the kind of thing that gets you all of the massive applause from those who don't know any better. Even in the lower register though, there are some dark horses in the mix.
Then again, most people wouldn't peg Alice in Chains as a band known for their intense vocal performances. Although Layne Staley was known to get into his screams back in the day, most people tend to remember the more lowkey moments that come from the harmony singing from him and Jerry Cantrell. When it comes to Man in the Box, this really is Layne's shining moment, going from a brooding atmosphere to absolutely exploding in the choruses.
The note that he's hitting isn't even all that high all things considered, and yet it sits just high enough in the tenor range to make it pretty challenging to pull off without going too far into falsetto. While by no means impossible, this is a track that you'll need to be warmed up with before taking the full plunge.