Alice In Chains - Dirt
If an effort was ever applied to draft a list of the greatest albums of all time (my opinions worth anyway) there is no doubt that Alice in Chains would make the cut. As much as Facelift captured my attention, if memory serves, Sunshine was the track that really resonated with me first, I’d have to place it second to Jar of Flies and Dirt. Two albums I find equal value in for different reasons. Emotional connection is certainly a factor for both.
Jar of Flies was a strange surprise upon its release. It resonated and made a home with me as a kid learning to write music. One who was utilizing an acoustic guitar to do so. Anyone who listens to that album could agree it is a powerful statement musically and lyrically.
It had been some time since taking Dirt out for a spin. So tonight it was dusted off and let work its magic. As the thirteen songs began to call out through the stereo it brought back a flood of memories and emotions. Something the band seems to do for many people throughout their discography.
As the album played my mind wandered deeply into the dual vocal presence, the tightness of the songwriting and recording of the overall production and what these songs mean to me now and what they must have meant to the parties involved when they were created.
As a musician it’s hard to find peace with your art. It’s never finished or satisfactory. You write, rewrite, draft new, change, record, mix and toil over the art layout. By the time the album is complete it’s burned a hole into your mind. The passion is often lost in the technical finishing touches. Time to move on? No. Time to start promoting, touring, more of the same thing you and your best friends disagreed on and eventually come to terms. The musician never hears their song for the first time. The benefit we, the listeners, are rewarded with after all of their hard work to create it. We receive this art undisturbed.
It’s no secret that many look at the lyric content of Dirt as a type of epitaph for Layne Staley and his struggle with addiction. Some neglect, forget or simply do not know that the bass player on this album, Mike Starr, also lost his battle with addiction. The theme runs openly and without shame here. Not only in the artistic delivery but also with the sad loss of these artists in life so many years after the release. Layne in 2002 and Starr in 2011. An added relevance to the personal struggles written from experience and a foretelling to weight these words, be they looked upon as warning or a cry for help.
As the songs played through it once again strikes me the beauty of the lyrics. Some of them feel like they connect directly to my heart in a way that is hard to describe. I’m not struggling with an addiction but the depression in the words stick to me like glue. “I feel so alone. Gonna end up a big ol' pile of them bones.” is masked by the uptempo delivery. This is where the album opens and song after song following floods with similar blatant darkness.
The calling out to the grave that we will all meet in due time washes over my mind. The mental battle of making it through one more day only to find it is one day shorter to our ultimate demise. One more day to live through the struggle and burden placed upon us by society, family, friends or some self imposed shadow.
It seems so minimizing to state the importance of music in my life. Minimizing to others who are struggling with the misfortune of hunger or shelter. They are clearly of greater concern. Instead, let me state it as a form of catharsis. Art, creation, the consistent urge to move forward, sometimes in a way such as writing this. I’ve never planned to paint a Mona Lisa or build a Pyramid of Giza that will live on through the days of earth and make mankind reflect upon what secret meaning it may hold.
When albums like this ignite those emotions in myself it makes me feel more alive. It is a selfish moment. Something impossible to share. Does it also help me to find a way to express love to others? That is a question that I cannot actually answer. Perhaps that’s not a fair question to place in this context. Why else would I bother to write this unless it was being prepared to share and connect with you, the reader? If you’ve made it this far it is most likely an accurate assessment that our exchange of time in this writing has been an act of friendship given and received. Something we can both be thankful for.
Enjoy what we have today for we will all be met with eternity. Be that eternity of our soul or of the flesh.
“You don't understand who they thought I was supposed to be.”
~ Bobby Rayfield (Monuments In Ruin)
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