History YMMV / AliceInChains

* EvenBetterSequel: ''Facelift'' is a great musical work in itself, but ''Dirt'' was one of the defining albums of the '90s along with Music/{{Nirvana}}'s ''Music/{{Nevermind}}'' and Music/{{Soundgarden}}'s ''Superunknown''. ''Dirt'' also solidified their sound as a sludgy, dark toned, mournful metal band, dropping all of their remaining glam elements.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: Along with Music/{{Nirvana}} and Music/PearlJam, Alice in Chains inspired the sound of many PostGrunge bands such as Music/{{Nickelback}}, Music/{{Godsmack}}, and Music/{{Staind}}, maybe moreso than any of their grunge contemporaries. In fact, they've inspired so many bands that their music may sound like generic post-grunge to the uninitiated.

* SugarWiki/SweetDreamsFuel: ''Jar of Flies'' is often noted for it's incredibly dreamy music and production, especially songs like "Rotten Apple" and "No Excuses." Despite the otherwise characteristically [[LyricalDissonance depressing lyrics]], listening to the EP all the way through can be a downright relaxing experience.

* SignatureSong: "Man in the Box", "Them Bones", "Would?" and "No Excuses" for the Staley era, "Hollow", "Check My Brain" and "Your Decision" for the [=DuVall=] era. "Down in a Hole" is the signature ballad for both eras.

* TheWoobie: Oh God, Layne... A lot of the songs he wrote tell a story of a man falling into total despair due to a drug addiction he can't break free from and a girl who he wishes would stay with him, all reflective of his real life struggles with heroin and a fiancé who would succumb to heroin before he did.

* SignatureSong: "Man in the Box", "Them Bones" and "No Excuses" for the Staley era, "Hollow", "Check My Brain" and "Your Decision" for the [=DuVall=] era. "Down in a Hole" is the signature ballad for both eras.

* FaceOfTheBand: Due to the problems stemming from his heroin addiction, Layne Staley was pretty much this, for better or worse. Jerry Cantrell, who already did most of the songwriting, took this role after Staley's death.

* ReplacementScrappy: Some fans tend to think this of William Duvall, although to be fair, there probably wasn't ''anyone'' who would have met their satisfaction. Ironically, William tends to be a replacement lead singer almost exclusively for the older Layne Staley songs. For most of the newer material, he's typically only doing harmony and/or backup vocals.

** "Private Hell" from ''Black Gives Way to Blue'' is generally considered to be this to ''Dirt'''s "Down in a Hole". "Private Hell" in turn has its own spiritual successor in the form of "Choke" on ''The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here''.

* MisBlamed: William [=DuVall=] for ''Black Gives Way to Blue'', as Jerry Cantrell sings on much of the album, though some people who dislike it will acknowledge this.

* MisBlamed: William Duvall for ''Black Gives Way to Blue'' as Jerry Cantrell sings on much of the album, though some people who dislike the album will acknowledge this.

* FanNickname: Fans usually refer to the self-titled album as ''Tripod'' because of the three-legged dog on the cover[[note]]Which was based on an actual dog with such a name that was used to terrorize Kinney (who designed the cover himself) in his childhood.[[/note]]. It's also been called ''Lucky'', based on an old joke.

* FanNickname: Fans usually refer to the self-titled album as ''Tripod'' because of the three-legged dog on the cover[[note]]Which was based on an actual dog with such a name that was used to terrorize Kinney (who designed the cover himself) in his childhood.[[/note]]. It's also been referred to as ''Lucky'', based on an old joke.

* EvenBetterSequel: ''Facelift'' is a great musical work in itself, but ''Dirt'' was one of the defining albums of the '90s along with ''Music/{{Nevermind}}'' and ''Superunknown''. ''Dirt'' also solidified their sound as a sludgy, dark toned, mournful metal band, dropping all of their remaining glam elements.

* EvenBetterSequel: ''Facelift'' is a great album and very influential, but ''Dirt'' was one of the defining albums of the '90s along with ''Music/{{Nevermind}}'' and ''Superunknown''. ''Dirt'' also solidified their sound as a sludgy, dark toned, mournful metal band, dropping all of their remaining glam elements.

* {{Anvilicious}}: Pretty much the only way the ''Dirt'' album could be less subtle is if it consisted of nothing but Layne screaming "HEROIN RUINED MY LIFE" over and over again for an hour. [[note]]Except for "Rooster", which is screaming "[[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar THE VIETNAM WAR]] WAS HELL!" for over six minutes, "Dam That River", which is Cantrell saying "Hey, Sean, fuck you for smashing a coffee table over my head, asshole", and "Them Bones", which is two minutes and thirty seconds of "life sucks and then you die".[[/note]] And he was ''absolutely right''! Anyone with similar addictions would be wise to take it as a cautionary tale.

** Fans are divided on whether William [=DuVall=] is any good as the lead vocalist or not, which is rather moot seeing that Cantrell is usually the lead singer from ''Black Gives Way to Blue'' onwards.

** Despite ''Dirt'' being this alone, the self-titled album is much darker and extremely sludgy, consisting of one of the creepiest chords ever on most of the songs; it's easily the most disturbing album by the band. Think of ''Dirt'' as the disaster but this as the aftermath. One has to mention the bleak packaging of the album along with the nightmarish inserts, of which the cover's three-legged dog is just the beginning. The vintage-style images on the lyric sheets include mutated animals at a trial, medical sketches of a man and a woman with leg braces, some skull architecture, a deformed fairy, a pig with severed legs, a dying patient in bed, a sinister-looking bottle in the ocean, some type of creature with teeth and tentacles terrorizing a variety of little humanoids, and a donkey-headed skeletal figure. Not a cheerful product in the slightest.

** "Private Hell" is generally considered to be this to "Down In A Hole". "Private Hell" in turn has its own spiritual successor in the form of "Choke" on the next album.

* {{Anvilicious}}: Pretty much the only way the ''Dirt'' album could be less subtle is if it consisted of nothing but Layne screaming "HEROIN RUINED MY LIFE" over and over again for an hour. [[note]] Except for "Rooster", which is screaming "[[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar THE VIETNAM WAR]] WAS HELL!" for over six minutes, "Dam That River", which is Cantrell saying "Hey, Sean, fuck you for smashing a coffee table over my head, asshole", and "Them Bones", which is two minutes and thirty seconds of "life sucks and then you die". [[/note]] And he was ''absolutely right''! Anyone with similar addictions would be wise to take it as a cautionary tale.

** Despite ''Dirt'' being this alone, the self-titled album is much darker and extremely sludgy, consisting of one of the creepiest chords ever on most of the songs; it's easily the most disturbing album by the band. Think of ''Dirt'' as the disaster but this as the aftermath. One has to mention the bleak packaging of the album along with the nightmarish inserts. The vintage-style images on the lyric sheets include mutated animals at a trial, medical sketches of a man and a woman with leg braces, some skull architecture, a grotesque fairy, a pig with severed legs, a dying patient in bed, a sinister-looking bottle in the ocean, some type of creature with teeth and tentacles terrorizing a variety of little humanoids, and a donkey-headed skeletal figure. Not a cheerful product in the slightest.