When Alice In Chains singer Layne Staley died on April 5, 2002, it seemingly marked the end of the road for one of the greatest and most influential bands of the previous decade.
Alice In Chains rose from the ashes of a bunch of local big-haired hard rock outfits to become grunge’s first true breakout band. Their 1990 debut album, Facelift, sold half a million copies in the US, cracking open the door for the likes of Soundgarden and Nirvana to step through into the mainstream, while 1992’s monumental if harrowing Dirt remains not just AIC’s finest hour, but one of the decade’s landmark albums.
