Producer, Dave Jerden was determined to work with Alice In Chains again, as well as vocalist, Layne Staley and lead guitarist, Jerry Cantrell, he truly admired Staley's vocals and Cantrell's riffs and lyrics. Six songs on the album were about heroin, including 'Sickman', 'Junkhead', 'Dirt', 'God Smack', 'Hate to Feel' and 'Angry Chair'.ĭirt began recording in the spring of 1992.

Dirt is often considered by critics and fans as Alice in Chains' best work.Ĭantrell had stated that this album was the band's best work and most intense work, and that they all inten tionally for years wanted to make a 'brutal' record. Five singles were released from the album, 'Would?', 'Them Bones', 'Rooster', 'Angry Chair', and 'Down in a Hole'. Many of the lyrics contained within the album deal with depression and drug abuse.

Debuting at number six on the Billboard 200, the album received generally favorable critical reviews and has been certified 4× platinum by the RIAA. Dirt was produced by the band and Dave Jerden. The album was released on Septemthrough Columbia Records. And the idea of death being preferable to the frustration & lack of control over oneself & one's emotions.Dirt is the second studio album by the American Alternative Metal band Alice in Chains. The thing that smacks the most of BPD is the fantasy he's having to kill himself just to show someone else how much they've hurt him. Or you may disconnect from all emotions to protect yourself ('One who doesn't care is one who shouldn't be/I tried to hide myself from what is wrong for me.')Įventually you may turn to drugs to numb it all (think of the song Hate to Feel) because even death seems preferable to the exhausting emotional roller coaster that seems endless and inescapable. And you feel worthless deep down because you never received the proper validation as a child.Īny small sign of rejection from someone you care about opens up a pandora's box of pain and you use hate as a shield against the pain. It's a very painful condition where you simultaneously crave an impossible amount of love & acceptance as an adult that you never got as a child and that no one can now give you (except yourself) and are repulsed by the craving. Why would a person turn to dangerous drugs in the first place if not to numb the pain they are experiencing?Ī lot of the lyrics to this and other AIC songs sound like the writer suffered from Borderline Personality Disorder, IMHO.

I agree it's an oversimplification to say it's all about drugs.

Lyrics alice in chains dirt album