16. Alice In Chains - Dirt
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs02sQxNnV0 Check out that intro above, just go on, have a little click. Insane, right? Just one big wall of distortion brought about by one of the best riff-writers in the business; Jerry Cantrell. It doesn't stop (or start) with Dam That River either, as it was a toss-up between that and the phenomenally pummelling Them Bones as to which should be the song of choice to place above. Pioneering the wayward-frontman sitting atop incredibly-game-changing musicianship mould with Layne Staley doing vocal duties, Chains' sophomore effort would be the album that kept them riding high in the Big Four of grunge alongside Nirvana, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam. As the latter would take influence from some of rock's greatest staples, kicking out spotlight-shining guitar solos on the likes of Pearl Jam's Alive or Soundgarden's overall more dirty approach to tonality, Alice in Chains remained a perfect blend of the two, with Layne's lyrics providing enough depth to devote a mass following, and Cantrell's riffs easily whipping up stadium-sized crowds whenever he felt like it. It's impossible to get sick of: Rain When I Die/Would? The choruses for both are just so huge, with Staley straining his vocal chords in that iconic way only the earliest grunge bands managed to pull off with total conviction before copycats would dilute the movement into obscurity.