Facelift | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | August 28, 1990 [1] | |||
Recorded | December 1989 – April 1990 | |||
Studio |
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Genre | ||||
Length | 54:02 | |||
Label | Columbia | |||
Producer | Dave Jerden | |||
Alice in Chains chronology | ||||
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Singles from Facelift | ||||
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Facelift is the debut studio album by the American rock band Alice in Chains, released by Columbia Records on August 28, 1990. [1] The tracks "We Die Young", and "Man in the Box" were released as singles. "Man in the Box" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance with Vocal in 1992. [5] Facelift became the first grunge album to be certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), achieving this feat on September 11, 1991. [6] [7] The album peaked at No. 42 on the Billboard 200 chart, [8] and has been certified triple-platinum by the RIAA for shipments of three million copies in the United States. [6]
Local promoter Randy Hauser became aware of Alice in Chains at a concert, and offered to pay for demo recordings. However, one day before the band was due to record at the Music Bank studio in Washington, police shut down the studio during the biggest marijuana raid in the state's history. [9] The final demo – dubbed The Treehouse Tapes – found its way to managers Kelly Curtis and Susan Silver, who also managed the Seattle-based Soundgarden. Curtis and Silver passed the demo to Columbia Records' A&R representative Nick Terzo, who set up an appointment with label president Don Ienner. Based on The Treehouse Tapes (sold by the band at shows), Ienner signed Alice in Chains to Columbia in 1989. [9]
Alice in Chains became a top priority for the label, who released the band's first official recording in July 1990: the promotional EP We Die Young . Its lead single and title song became a hit on metal radio. After its success, the label rushed Alice in Chains' debut album into production with producer Dave Jerden. [10] "I told Jerry Cantrell, ‘Metallica took Tony Iommi and sped him up. What you've done is you've slowed him down again,’" Jerden recalled. "He looked at me and said, ‘You got it.’ That's how I got the gig." [11]
Drummer Sean Kinney claims to have played this album with a broken hand:
I almost didn't play on the record - they started rehearsing with the drummer from Mother Love Bone, Greg Gilmore. I was sitting there playing with one hand, guiding him through it. Dave Jerden came in and they started to try to do it. He was like, 'Screw it - pull the plug. This is not going to be the same.' Luckily, we took a tiny bit of time off. I had that cast on for a while, and was like, 'I can't miss this.' I cut my cast off in the studio and kept a bucket of ice by the drum set. Kept my hand iced down and played with a broken hand. I tried not to do that again - your first big break, and you fuck it up. [12]
Facelift was recorded at London Bridge Studio in Seattle and at Capitol Studios in Hollywood from December 1989 to April 1990. [13] Footage from the Facelift sessions can be found on Alice in Chains' Music Bank: The Videos DVD. [14]
Guitarist Jerry Cantrell stated the album was intended to have a "moody aura" that was a "direct result of the brooding atmosphere and feel of Seattle." [15] Regarding the music for "Man in the Box", Cantrell said in the 1999 Music Bank box set, "That whole beat and grind of that is when we started to find ourselves; it helped Alice become what it was." [14] The idea of using a voice box in the song came from producer Dave Jerden, who was driving to the studio one day when Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer" started playing on the radio. [16]
Cantrell also credited "I Can't Remember" for helping the band find its sound. [14] "It Ain't Like That" came out of a riff that Cantrell cited as a mistake, however he called it "a cool mistake." [14]
Cantrell called "Love, Hate, Love" the "masterpiece of that record," adding about the song that Staley's vocals are "amazing" and that it features one of his favorite guitar solos he ever performed. [14]
Regarding the lyrical content, Cantrell said he wrote "We Die Young" after "riding the bus to rehearsal and [seeing] all these 9, 10, 11 year old kids with beepers dealing drugs. The sight of a 10 year old kid with a beeper and a cell phone dealing drugs equaled "We Die Young" to me." [14] In a recorded interview with MuchMusic USA, vocalist Layne Staley stated that the lyrics for "Man in the Box" are about censorship in the mass media, and "I was really stoned when I wrote it." [17]
Discussing "Bleed the Freak", Cantrell stated that the lyrics represent "us against the world, those people who put you down." [14]
Cantrell wrote "Sunshine" about his mother's death. [18] Facelift was dedicated to her memory. [19]
Staley's "Sexual chocolate, baby!" scream at the end of "Real Thing" was a reference to the film Coming to America starring Eddie Murphy, whose character was the singer of a band called Sexual Chocolate. [20]
In an interview with Video Metal Sheet in 1991, Jerry Cantrell said that the original idea for the album cover was "an embryonic-type thing" representing the birth of the band. But it ended up taking more of a scary overtone and fitting quite well with the music. [21]
The band discussed several ideas for the album art with photographer Rocky Schenck. One of those ideas was making it appear as if they were emerging from an eyeball. Columbia Records did not give the band a large budget for the photoshoot, but Schenck liked them so much that he was willing to make it work. The budget was barely enough for a one-day shoot, but Schenck stretched it out for over three days. The first day of shoot took place on May 2, 1990, at the swimming pool of the Oakwood Apartments in Burbank, California. The pool was covered with a thin piece of plastic to give the idea that the band was emerging from an eyeball. They had to swim under the plastic, rise to the surface and breathe in as they emerged, so the plastic distorted their faces. One of the photos from that session included a shot of Layne Staley wrapped in plastic with the other members holding him, which was used as the cover for the "We Die Young" single. [22]
Schenck was experimenting with in-camera multiple exposures, where he would create a distorted image by exposing different parts of a single frame of film one exposure at a time, a technique that he had been using for years in his videos and art photography. The band had seen Schenck's portfolio of black and white portraits of haunted, distorted faces, and asked him to duplicate the technique. Schenck did not want to duplicate the original black and white photo, so he tried the same technique in color using photos of each band member's face. A photo of bassist Mike Starr was chosen as the album cover. After seeing the photo, the band decided to name the album Facelift. [22] The original concept for the cover was to have all four members' faces superimposed into one startling expression, which appeared years later in the Music Bank box set. [22]
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [2] |
Classic Rock | [23] |
Kerrang! | Favorable [24] |
Q | [25] |
Rolling Stone Album Guide | [26] |
Facelift was released on August 28, 1990, peaking at number 42 in the summer of 1991 on the Billboard 200 chart. [27] It was the first album from the grunge movement to reach the top 50 in America on the Billboard 200, and the first to be certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America on September 11, 1991, [6] [7] followed by Nirvana's Nevermind on November 27, 1991. [28]
Facelift included the singles "We Die Young", "Man in the Box", and "Sea of Sorrow", all of which had accompanying music videos. The album was a critical success, with "Hollywood" Steve Huey of AllMusic citing Facelift as "one of the most important records in establishing an audience for grunge and alternative rock among hard rock and heavy metal listeners." [2]
Facelift was not an instant success, selling under 40,000 copies in the first six months of release, until MTV added "Man in the Box" to regular daytime rotation. [29]
"Man in the Box" hit number 18 on the Mainstream Rock charts, with the album's follow up single, "Sea of Sorrow", reaching number 27, [30] and in six weeks Facelift sold 400,000 copies in the United States. [29]
Alice in Chains was nominated for a Best Hard Rock Performance with Vocal Grammy Award in 1992 for "Man in the Box", but lost to Van Halen for their 1991 album For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge . [5] The music video for "Man in the Box" was nominated for Best Heavy Metal/Hard Rock Video at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards. [31] The album won Best Debut Album at the 1991 Foundations Forum. [32] [33]
In June 2017, Ozzy Osbourne listed Facelift as one of his "10 Favorite Metal Albums". [34]
In April 2019, the album was ranked No. 14 on Rolling Stone's "50 Greatest Grunge Albums" list. [35] Soundgarden lead guitarist Kim Thayil also picked Facelift as one of his favorite Grunge albums. [36]
The band continued to hone its audience, opening for such artists as Iggy Pop, [37] Van Halen, Poison, [15] and Extreme. [29] In early 1991, Alice in Chains landed the opening slot for the Clash of the Titans with Anthrax, Megadeth, and Slayer, exposing the band to a wide metal audience. [38] During the tour the band found themselves subject to some hostile audiences; however, Anthrax bassist Frank Bello recalls them earning the respect of others by standing up for themselves: "If there was a guy starting shit, Layne would jump into the audience and beat the FUCK outta that guy!" [39] Michael Christopher of PopMatters observed "With 1990's Facelift, before Nirvana blew the scene wide open, Seattle’s Alice in Chains were getting a metal push, thrown on tour with the likes of Slayer and Megadeth, repeatedly booed off stage in a genre where they didn’t belong." [40] The band later released the video compilation Live Facelift , which was filmed at the Moore Theatre in 1990.
All music and lyrics written by Jerry Cantrell, except where noted.
No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "We Die Young" | 2:32 | ||
2. | "Man in the Box" | Layne Staley | 4:46 | |
3. | "Sea of Sorrow" | 5:49 | ||
4. | "Bleed the Freak" | 4:01 | ||
5. | "I Can't Remember" | Staley, Cantrell | 3:42 | |
6. | "Love, Hate, Love" | Staley | 6:26 | |
7. | "It Ain't Like That" | Cantrell, Mike Starr, Sean Kinney | 4:37 | |
8. | "Sunshine" | 4:44 | ||
9. | "Put You Down" | 3:16 | ||
10. | "Confusion" | Staley | Cantrell, Starr | 5:44 |
11. | "I Know Somethin (Bout You)" | 4:22 | ||
12. | "Real Thing" | Staley | 4:03 | |
Total length: | 54:02 |
"Killing Yourself", recorded during the Facelift sessions, was featured as the B-side to the 1990 "We Die Young" vinyl single. It has never been issued on CD.
Demos for the songs "I Can't Have You Blues", "Whatcha Gonna Do", "Social Parasite", "Bleed the Freak", "Sea of Sorrow", and "Killing Yourself" were featured on Alice in Chains' 1988 demo tape. [14] Remixes of these recordings were later included on the band's 1999 box set, Music Bank . A demo of "We Die Young" from the same sessions was released exclusively on the 1999 Nothing Safe: Best of the Box compilation.
Further 1988 demos of the songs "Chemical Addiction", "Fairytale Love Story", "Queen of the Rodeo", "Bite the Bullet", "King of the Kats", "I Can't Remember", "Sunshine", "The Real Thing", and a cover of David Bowie's "Suffragette City" circulate on various bootlegs in poor quality. A live version of "Queen of the Rodeo" features on the 2000 live album Live as well as the Music Bank box set. Regarding the songs featured on the 1988 demo tape, Cantrell said, "I guess with all those songs we were 'discovering' ourselves." [14]
Personnel adapted from Facelift liner notes [41]
|
|
Chart (1991) | Peak position |
---|---|
US Billboard 200 [42] | 42 |
Chart (2021) | Peak position |
---|---|
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [43] | 41 |
Italian Albums (FIMI) [44] | 88 |
Italian Vinyl Records (FIMI) [45] | 2 |
US Top Album Sales (Billboard) [46] | 27 |
US Top Alternative Albums (Billboard) [47] | 11 |
US Top Hard Rock Albums (Billboard) [48] | 9 |
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard) [49] | 24 |
Year | Single | Chart | Peak position |
---|---|---|---|
1991 | "Man in the Box" [50] | US Main Rock | 18 |
1992 | "Sea of Sorrow" [50] | 27 |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
United Kingdom (BPI) [51] | Silver | 60,000‡ |
United States (RIAA) [52] | 3× Platinum | 3,000,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |
Alice in Chains is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1987. Since 2006, the band's lineup has comprised vocalist/guitarists Jerry Cantrell and William DuVall, bassist Mike Inez and drummer Sean Kinney. Vocalist Layne Staley and bassist Mike Starr are former members of the band, having died in 2002 and 2011, respectively. The band took its name from Staley's previous group, Alice N' Chains. Often associated with grunge music, Alice in Chains' sound and style is deeply rooted in heavy metal music. The band is known for its distinctive vocal style, which often included the harmonized vocals between Staley and Cantrell, making Alice in Chains a two-vocal band.
Dirt is the second studio album by American rock band Alice in Chains, released on September 29, 1992 by Columbia Records. Peaking at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 chart, the album received critical acclaim. It has since been certified quintuple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), making Dirt the band's highest selling album to date. It was the band's last album recorded with all four original members, as bassist Mike Starr was fired in January 1993 during the tour to support the album. The album spawned five singles: "Would?", "Them Bones", "Angry Chair", "Rooster", and "Down in a Hole", all with accompanying music videos. Dirt was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance. The music video for "Would?" was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award for Best Video from a Film, as the song was featured on the soundtrack to Cameron Crowe's 1992 film Singles.
Layne Thomas Staley was an American singer and songwriter who was the original lead vocalist of Alice in Chains, which rose to international fame in the early 1990s as part of Seattle's grunge movement. He was known for his distinctive vocal style as well as his harmonizing with bandmate Jerry Cantrell. Prior to his success with Alice in Chains, Staley was also a member of the glam metal bands Sleze and Alice N' Chains. He was also a part of the supergroups Mad Season and Class of '99.
Sap is the second studio EP by the American rock band Alice in Chains, released on February 4, 1992, through Columbia Records. Sap is mostly acoustic and marks the first time that guitarist Jerry Cantrell sings lead vocals in an Alice in Chains release, with the song "Brother". The EP was produced by Alice in Chains and Rick Parashar and features guest vocals by Ann Wilson of the band Heart, Chris Cornell of Soundgarden and Mark Arm of Mudhoney. The track "Got Me Wrong" became a hit two years later after being featured on the soundtrack to the 1994 film Clerks. On January 14, 1994, Sap was certified gold by the RIAA for the sale of more than 500,000 copies.
Jerry Fulton Cantrell Jr. is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the founder, lead guitarist, co-lead vocalist, and main songwriter of the rock band Alice in Chains. The band rose to international fame in the early 1990s during Seattle's grunge movement and is known for its distinctive vocal style and the harmonized vocals between Cantrell and Layne Staley. Cantrell started to sing lead vocals on Alice in Chains' 1992 EP Sap. After Staley's death in 2002, Cantrell took the role of Alice in Chains' lead singer on most of the songs from the band's post-Staley albums, Black Gives Way to Blue (2009), The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here (2013), and Rainier Fog (2018), with DuVall harmonizing with him in the new songs and singing Staley's vocals in the old songs in live concerts.
Jar of Flies is the third studio EP by American rock band Alice in Chains. It was released on January 25, 1994, by Columbia Records. The band's second acoustic EP, after 1992's Sap, it was the first acoustic EP in music history to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, with the first week sales exceeding 141,000 copies in the United States. The self-produced record was written and recorded over the course of just one week at the London Bridge Studio in Seattle. The tracks "No Excuses", "I Stay Away" and "Don't Follow" were released as singles to promote the EP. Jar of Flies was nominated for two Grammy Awards in 1995: Best Recording Package and Best Hard Rock Performance for "I Stay Away".
Alice in Chains is the eponymous third studio album by American rock band Alice in Chains. It was released on November 7, 1995, by Columbia Records, and was the follow-up to the highly successful Dirt (1992). This is the band's first full-length studio album to feature bassist Mike Inez, their last studio album to feature original lead vocalist Layne Staley, and their final studio album to be released through Columbia.
"Man in the Box" is a song by the American rock band Alice in Chains. It was released as a single in January 1991 after being featured on the group's debut studio album, Facelift (1990). It peaked at No. 18 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance in 1992. The song was included on the compilation albums Nothing Safe: Best of the Box (1999), Music Bank (1999), Greatest Hits (2001), and The Essential Alice in Chains (2006). "Man in the Box" was the second most-played song of the decade on mainstream rock radio between 2010 and 2019.
We Die Young is a song and single EP by the American rock band Alice in Chains, engineered and co-produced by Dave Jerden. It was released in July 1990 and is their first studio EP. This was a promo-only EP released on vinyl and cassette, and is thus a sought-after collector's item amongst Alice in Chains fans.
Sean Howard Kinney is an American musician, best known as the drummer and co-founder of the rock band Alice in Chains. Kinney also founded the short-lived supergroup Spys4Darwin, and has collaborated with other artists such as Johnny Cash and Metallica. He played drums for his Alice in Chains bandmate, Jerry Cantrell's first solo album, Boggy Depot (1998). Since 2009, Kinney has been co-owner of The Crocodile club in Seattle. He was a guest drummer on NBC's Late Night with Seth Meyers in September 2018. Kinney has earned nine Grammy Award nominations as a member of Alice in Chains.
"Them Bones" is a song by American rock band Alice in Chains. It was released as the second single from their second studio album, Dirt (1992). "Them Bones" peaked at No. 24 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart and at No. 30 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. The song was included on the band's compilation albums Nothing Safe: Best of the Box (1999), Greatest Hits (2001) and The Essential Alice in Chains (2006). It was also included on the box set Music Bank (1999). A live performance of the song was included on their second live album, Live (2000).
Michael Christopher Starr was an American musician best known as the original bassist for the rock band Alice in Chains, with which he played from the band's formation in 1987 until January 1993. He was also a member of Sato, Gypsy Rose, Sun Red Sun, and Days of the New.
"Would?" is a song by Alice in Chains, written by guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell as a tribute to his friend Andrew Wood, lead vocalist of Mother Love Bone, who died in 1990. Cantrell sings the verses of the song, while Layne Staley sings the chorus.
"Grind" is a song by American rock band Alice in Chains. It is the opening track and the lead single from their third studio album, Alice in Chains (1995). The song was written by Jerry Cantrell, who also sings lead vocals with Layne Staley harmonizing with him. "Grind" spent 16 weeks on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart, peaking at number seven. The song was included on the compilation albums Nothing Safe: Best of the Box (1999), Music Bank (1999), Greatest Hits (2001), and The Essential Alice in Chains (2006). It was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance in 1996.
"Sea of Sorrow" is a song by the American rock band Alice in Chains, featured on their debut full-length album Facelift (1990). The song was included on the compilation album The Essential Alice in Chains (2006). A demo version of the song was included on the box set Music Bank (1999).
"Get Born Again" is a song by the American rock band Alice in Chains and, along with "Died", one of the last two songs recorded with vocalist Layne Staley before his death in 2002. The song was released as the lead single from the compilation Nothing Safe: Best of the Box (1999) on June 1, 1999. It peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, and at No. 12 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. "Get Born Again" was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance in 2000. The song was also included on the compilation albums Music Bank (1999) and The Essential Alice in Chains (2006).
The Nona Tapes is a 1995 mockumentary by the American rock band Alice in Chains directed by Rocky Schenck to promote the band's self-titled album. Released on VHS on December 12, 1995, it features journalist Nona Weisbaum interviewing the band in Seattle and also includes the music video for the album's lead single, "Grind", and outtake footage overdubbed with the second single, "Heaven Beside You". The Nona Tapes peaked at No. 23 on Billboard's Top Video Sales and at No. 25 on the Top Music Videos chart. Because it is no longer for sale, original copies of the VHS are considered a rarity. However, in 2006, Best Buy offered a DVD version for free for a limited time with purchases of the compilation The Essential Alice in Chains. On June 19, 2017, Alice in Chains' official Vevo channel uploaded the video on YouTube.
"Don't Follow" is a song by American rock band Alice in Chains. It is the third single from the band's 1994 EP Jar of Flies. The song was written by guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell, who sings lead vocals in the first part of the song, followed by Layne Staley in the second part. The single spent seven weeks on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and peaked at No. 25.
Alice N' Chains was an American glam metal band from Seattle, Washington, formed in 1986 by former members of Sleze. Toward the end of their run as Sleze, discussions arose about changing their name to Alice in Chains. However, due to concerns over the reference to female bondage, the group ultimately chose to spell it as Alice N' Chains. They performed under this moniker over about a 12-month period and recorded two demos before breaking up on friendly terms in 1987. One of its members, Layne Staley, ultimately took the name that he and his former bandmates had initially flirted with when he joined a different group a few months later that became known as Alice in Chains.
"Sunshine" is a song by the American rock band Alice in Chains and the eighth track on their debut album, Facelift (1990). The song was written by guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell as a tribute to his mother Gloria, who died in 1987.
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