Alice in Chains

USA, 1987–now

Seattle band formed in 1987 (Layne Staley, Jerry Cantrell). Marrying Black Sabbath heaviness to eerie, harmonised vocals and dark, addiction-haunted lyrics, Dirt (1992) made them one of grunge's heaviest and most influential acts — a template for a decade of post-grunge and alt-metal.

MusicRoots documents 3 artists who influenced Alice in Chains and 6 artists Alice in Chains influenced in turn. Every connection cites a published source.

Who influenced Alice in Chains?

• AC/DC — Cantrell on what he grew up on: 'By that time, I was heavily into rock, like AC/DC and Kiss and all the English metal. And I grew up on bands that wrote good riffs.' The riff is the unit of an Alice in Chains song.
• Kiss — Named in the same sentence as AC/DC — the American arena half of what he was listening to before the English metal.
• Black Sabbath — Alice in Chains built their doomy, down-tuned heaviness on Black Sabbath — Jerry Cantrell's crushing riffs are Sabbath filtered through grunge.

Which artists did Alice in Chains influence?

• Stone Sour — Alice in Chains are the band Stone Sour were built on — the same pairing of downtuned heaviness with dark, harmonised melody runs through Corey Taylor's writing.
• Nickelback — Alice in Chains' heavy, harmonised grunge is a direct model for Nickelback's darker, riff-driven post-grunge.
• Creed — Alice in Chains' dark, heavy grunge is part of the Seattle lineage behind Creed's post-grunge.
• Three Days Grace — Three Days Grace's brooding, riff-driven post-grunge draws directly on Alice in Chains.
• Shinedown — Shinedown's dark, harmonised heavy rock draws on Alice in Chains' grunge template.
• Seether — Alice in Chains' dark, heavy grunge shapes Seether's brooding, riff-driven sound.