And [now] it’s okay for people to go on stage and f*cking fake the songs. They don’t want the real thing, they don’t want the bad notes, they don’t want somebody who can go up there and sing their own songs, they just want somebody that can do the f*cking flashy dance moves.
It’s not like that element wasn’t there before, but now it seems like that’s all that it is. I mean, that’s not to say that there’s not some great bands out there doing really good music, but the ratio to those other things seems off.
Alice in Chains - “Stone”
A shorn Jerry Cantrell and Sean Kinney of Alice in Chains talk with Jack Osbourne (yes, that Jack Osbourne) and Fuse about their new album The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here, the current state of rock, touring plans, and sounding like… well, like AiC.
Alice in Chains - “Hollow”
I’m really loving the old-school groove of this new AiC tune from their as-yet unnamed fifth album due out this summer. And the video is creepy as hell.
Check out my Friday Five gone bad at Popdose.
Sixpence None the Richer - “I Can’t Explain” (This Beautiful Mess, 1999)
Closing track from my favorite Sixpence album back when they were an indie rock CCM outfit struggling with their record label and not FM pop radio darlings.Jughead - “Yesterday I Found Myself” (Jughead, 2002)
When Platypus, the prog-rock supergroup side project featuring King’s X guitarist Ty Tabor, Dream Theater bassist John Myung, Dixie Dregs drummer Rod Morgenstein, and former Dream Theater keyboardist Derek Sherinian, disbanded after only two albums (both excellent by the way), Tabor and Sherinian teamed up with brothers Matt and Gregg Bissonette to form the more straight-ahead pop/rock project Jughead. However, their self-titled debut, the only album the project has released to date, does have its progressive moments on a few of the songs, such as this cut with its spacey droning verses, Beatles-esque bridge section, and harmony-laden, sugary-sweet, pure power pop chorus.Toad the Wet Sprocket - “Stories I Tell” (Fear, 1991)
I played Fear so often back in the ’90s that there were times I just couldn’t stand to listen to it again. But “Stories I Tell” has always held this strange draw for me with its dark weightiness and mysterious lyrics.Van Halen - “Girl Gone Bad” (1984, 1984)
Probably one of the best and most underrated songs on this Van Halen classic that saw the band moving in a new direction.Alice in Chains - “LOVE SONG” (Sap, 1995)
The Sap EP’s closing nonsense track complete with grunting, screaming, bullhorn vocals, fart noises, and piano-based thrashing is a strange way the end what up to this point was another excellent Five. Oh well. “Kiss the midget!”
Friday the 13th doesn’t have to be scary with the Friday Five over at IckMusic.
Dream Theater - “Ytse Jam” (When Dream And Day Unite, 1989)
Excellent instrumental from Dream Theater version 1. The title is “Majesty” spelled backwards and alludes to the band’s name in its previous incarnation. The album as a whole has not aged well in places, but in others, it remains an excellent showcase of the band’s songwriting and playing prowess.Alice in Chains - “Nutshell” (Unplugged, 1996)
This album which was recorded as part of MTV’s Unplugged series is probably my favorite from this “grunge” band, with “Nutshell” being one of the best performances from the set. Known more for his chunky guitar riffs than for his acoustic work, Jerry Cantrell shows just how well-rounded he is, providing his usual excellent harmony vocals behind Layne Staley’s unique—though sometimes annoying—voice. I think the songs benefit from the laid-back acoustic arrangements here, and given that AIC had not performed together as a band for nearly three years, they are amazingly tight. Unfortunately this would become one of Staley’s last shows prior to sliding into deep depression and his eventual overdose in 2002, giving many of the songs a weight and somberness in hindsight that they may not have carried at the time.Caedmon’s Call - “Thousand Miles” (Back Home, 2003)
I’m not sure why iTunes keeps picking Caedmon’s Call, and this album specifically, from my library for Friday Fives, but in the case of this song, I don’t mind one bit.Iron Maiden - “Moonchild” (Flight 666: The Original Soundtrack, 2009)
Another live cut from Flight 666, this time an often forgotten Maiden gem that popped up in my Friday Five for August 26, 2011. “Moonchild” is from a Puerto Rican show on the tour, and the crowd there is as wild as the South American audiences. And frontman Bruce Dickinson hams it up as usual. Maiden is such a tight unit, and you would be hard-pressed to find a better live metal band.Mae - “Release Me” (Singularity, 2007)
I am pretty open about my love of this band on my blog, which may seem odd to many given my metalhead and snobbish musical tendencies, but I just can’t help it. I love just about everything Dave Elkins and company have ever put out, and this song and the album it comes from are no exception.
Alice In Chains performs “Nutshell” on MTV Unplugged
Just this morning I came across a Ryan Adams cover of Alice In Chains’ “Nutshell” at the I Am Fuel You Are Friends blog, and it reminded me just how much I love the song, especially this MTV Unplugged version. Actually, the band’s April 1996 Unplugged performance—their first following a three-year absence from the stage—is probably my favorite Alice in Chains “album” and is loaded with excellent accoustic versions of AIC classics like “Brother,” “Down in a Hole,” “Angry Chair,” and “Would?” Unfortunately this would end up being one of the last Alice In Chains concerts with frontman Layne Staley due to his severe drug addictions, which prompted the band to go on an extended hiatus later that year. Staley eventually succumbed to his addictions in 2002.
Watching this Unplugged footage now gives me an eerie feeling knowing that Staley was about to go into a downward spiral that he would be incapable of coming out of. Lyrics like “And yet I fight this battle all alone; No one to cry to, no place to call home” and “If I can’t be my own, I’d feel better dead” offer a glimpse at the demons that tormented him and give an indication of the loneliness and despair that haunted him and troubled his friends who felt they were helpless to pull him back from the edge.
Alice In Chains bassist Mike Inez showing King’s X some love
