Alice in Chains

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风格: #另类金属　#硬摇滚　#重金属　#垃圾摇滚
地区: United States of America 美国

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来自西雅图的Alice In Chains是一支老牌Grunge乐队，由主唱Layne Staley、鼓手Sean Kinney、贝司手Mike Inez和吉他手Jerry Cantrell组成，经纪人Susan Silver同时担任Soundgarden的经纪人，而Mike Ines是Ozzy Osboume的贝司手，因此该乐队不可避免地略带重金属风格。不像西雅图其它的Grunge乐队，Alice In Chains善于在日常生活中收集搞笑题材并表达他们，他们常在深夜接到年轻女歌迷和流浪汉们打来的电话。吉他手Cantrell还曾和Metallica的Lars Ulrich同台演出，造成了长时间的轰动。

从很多方面来看，alice in chains乐队都是90年代一个重要的重金属乐队。它汲取了后“van halen”式重金属的吉他套路和后朋克的阴郁气质，从中发展了一种荒凉、虚无之声，将硬摇滚和原声音乐结构进行了平衡。该乐队风格对金属乐迷而言已足够有力，而黑暗的主题和朋克式的攻击又将其推向了西雅图grunge摇滚乐队的前列。

在80年代中期，layne staley在高中组建了该乐队的最初原型，alice n chains。staley于1987年在西雅图的仓库排练场the music bank与jerry cantrell相遇并开始合作。cantrell的朋友mike starr（贝司手）和sean kinney（鼓手）也加入其中，乐队更名为alice in chains并开始在西雅图的俱乐部演出。columbia唱片公司在1989年与乐队签约，并使之迎合重金属乐迷的喜好。1990年初，该公司推出了宣传用EP《we die young》，颇受重金属电台欢迎。乐队藉此于当年夏天推出了首张专辑《facelift》。该专辑充满了black sabbath式的降调（将琴弦调得低于标准音高的手法）音响，它也是乐队定型的第一步。《facelift》在最初8个月未能进入《公告牌》专辑榜，但随着alice in chains为van halen、poison和iggy pop的演出担任开场，它开始受欢迎，《facelift》在年底成了金唱片。其中单曲《man in the box》获得了格莱美奖提名。这时，乐队准备下一张专辑，并于1991年推出了包含4首歌曲的EP《sap》。

面对成功，staley更进入了异化、毒品和压抑的世界。在第2张专辑发行前，西雅图由于nirvana乐队的惊世成功而成了媒体热点，而alice in chains也成了一支另类摇滚乐队，而非重金属乐队。乐队推出了一首单曲《would?》，于1992年夏天收入了《singles》电影原声带。该单曲预示了荒芜的第2张专辑《dirt》。该专辑发行后，staley因不适应巡演而离队，其空缺于1993年1月由乐队1年前为ozzy osbourne开场时认识的osbourne的贝司手mike inez填补。《dirt》于1992年底达到白金销量，但其阴郁的歌词，特别是《junkhead》和《angry chair》招致了许多关于staley染毒的谣言。alice in chains当然地否认了这一点，并成功地参加了1993年第3届lollapalooza 巡演，虽然他们排名于primus之后，但实际上是最受欢迎的——这也使《dirt》销量达到300万张。

在1994年早些时候，乐队推出了低调EP《jar of flies》。它刚一推出便打上榜首，创造了EP占领榜首的纪录。该EP证明了乐队对安静之声的喜好，而cantrell也成了西雅图的吉他英雄。尽管乐队十分走红，但他们没有巡演，而这使得staley染毒之说更甚嚣尘上。同年晚些时候，staley作为gacy bunch——一支包括pearl jam乐队的mike mccready和screaming tree乐队的barrett martin和john baker saunders的西雅图超级乐队的成员，参加了几场演出。该乐队后来更名为mad season并于1995年初推出了专辑《above》，在流行榜上升至第24位。同年，alice in chains推出了一张同名专辑，打上了美国榜首。乐队又一次拒绝巡演，关于毒品与乐队解散的猜测再度弥漫。1996年，乐队进行了3年中的首次演出，为MTV“不插电”节目表演，并在夏天发行了该演出的现场专辑《unplugged》。6月，乐队还为kiss乐队的重组巡演头4场演出担任了开场嘉宾。这些举动和cantrell于1997年推出个人专辑一样，并不能消释关于alice in chains之未来的种种猜疑。

In many ways, Alice in Chains was the definitive heavy metal band of the early '90s. Drawing equally from the heavy riffing of post-Van Halen metal and the gloomy strains of post-punk, the band developed a bleak, nihilistic sound that balanced grinding hard rock with subtly textured acoustic numbers. They were hard enough for metal fans, yet their dark subject matter and punky attack placed them among the front ranks of the Seattle-based grunge bands. While this dichotomy helped the group soar to multi-platinum status with their second album, 1992's Dirt, it also divided them. Guitarist Jerry Cantrell always leaned toward the mainstream, while vocalist Layne Staley was fascinated with the seamy underground. Such tension drove the band toward stardom in their early years, but following Dirt, Alice in Chains suffered from near-crippling internal tensions that kept the band off the road for the remainder of the '90s and, consequently, the group never quite fulfilled their potential.

Staley formed the initial incarnation of the band while in high school in the mid-'80s, naming the group Alice N Chains. Staley met Cantrell in 1987 at the Seattle rehearsal warehouse the Music Bank and the two began working together, changing the group's name to Alice in Chains. Cantrell's friends Mike Starr (bass) and Sean Kinney (drums) rounded out the lineup,and the band began playing local Seattle clubs. Columbia Records signed the group in 1989 and the label quickly made the band a priority, targeting heavy metal audiences. Early in 1990, the label released the We Die Young EP as a promotional device and the song became a hit on metal radio, setting the stage for the summer release of the group's debut, Facelift. Alice in Chains supported the album by opening for Van Halen, Poison, and Iggy Pop, and it became a hit, going gold by the end of the year. As the band prepared their second album, they released the largely acoustic EP Sap in 1991 to strong reviews.

Prior to the release of Alice in Chains' second album, Seattle became a media sensation thanks to the surprise success of Nirvana. As a result, Alice was now marketed as an alternative band, not as a metal outfit, and the group landed a song, the menacing "Would?," on the Singles soundtrack during the summer of 1992. "Would?" helped build anticipation for Dirt, the group's relentlessly bleak second album that was released in the fall of 1992 to very good reviews. Following its release, Starr left and was replaced by Mike Inez. Dirt went platinum by the end of 1992, but its gloomy lyrics launched many rumors that Staley was addicted to heroin. Alice in Chains soldiered on in the face of such criticism, performing successfully on the third Lollapalooza tour in 1993, which helped Dirt reach sales of three million.

The band released the low-key EP Jar of Flies in early 1994. It debuted at number one upon its release, becoming the first EP to top the album charts. Despite the band's continued success, they stayed off the road, which fueled speculation that Staley was mired in heroin addiction. Later that year, Staley did give a few concerts as part of the Gacy Bunch, a Seattle supergroup also featuring Pearl Jam's Mike McCready, the Screaming Trees' Barrett Martin, and John Saunders. The group subsequently renamed itself Mad Season and released Above in early 1995. Later that year, Alice in Chains re-emerged with an eponymous third album, which debuted at number one on the American charts. Again, the band chose not to tour, which launched yet another round of speculation that band was suffering from various addictions and were on the verge of disbanding. The group did give one concert — their first in three years — in 1996, performing for an episode of MTV Unplugged, which was released as an album that summer. Despite its success, the album did nothing to dispel doubts about the group's future and neither did Cantrell's solo album, Boggy Depot, in 1998.

Cantrell basically released Boggy Depot because he couldn't get Staley to work, but its very existence — and the presence of Inez and Kinney on the record, not to mention Alice producer Toby Wright — seemed to confirm that the group was on moratorium at best, defunct at worst. Staley, for his part, stayed quiet, conceding his spot on Mad Season's second album to Screaming Trees singer Mark Lanegan. In 1999, Sony put together a three-disc Alice in Chains box set, Music Bank, divided between the group's best work and assorted rarities. At the turn of the new millennium, Columbia Records issued Live, which plucked material from bootlegs, demos, and festival shows covering the years 1990, 1993, and 1996.

As if the group hadn't been repackaged as many times as possible with its limited repertoire, a ten-track best-of set, Greatest Hits, appeared in July 2001. With no sign of the group reclaiming their spot atop the alt-metal heap (and such copycat acts as Godsmack, Days of the New, Puddle of Mudd, and Creed taking the Alice in Chains formula to the top of the charts), Cantrell completed his sophomore solo effort, Degradation Trip, in 2002. But just two months before the album's release, in April 2002, the news that every Alice in Chains fan had been fearing for years had finally come to pass: Layne Staley was found dead due to a lethal overdose of cocaine and heroin. Although understandably grief-stricken, Cantrell launched his solo album's supporting tour according to schedule, opting to open shows in the summer for another Alice in Chains-influenced band, Nickelback.

Alice in Chains

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