Alice In Chains — Facelift

intothewellsabyss
Aug 21, 2023
7 min read

𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐑𝐘𝐏𝐓𝐒 - 𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐁𝐔𝐌 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄𝐒 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐊 & 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐘 𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐋…

August 21, 1991 — Alice in Chains released their debut studio album, Facelift via Columbia Records. (Listen)

The tracks We Die Young, Man in the Box, Sea of Sorrow and Bleed the Freak were released as singles.

Man In The Box was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance with Vocal in 1992.

Facelift became the first album from the Grunge movement to be certified gold on September 11, 1991.

The album peaked at No. 42 on the Billboard 200 chart, was certified platinum and has gone on to be certified double-platinum by The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of two million copies in the United States.

Background:

Local promoter Randy Hauser became aware of Alice in Chains at a concert, and offered to pay for demo recordings. However, one day before the band was due to record at the Music Bank studio in Washington, police shut down the studio during the biggest marijuana raid in the state's history. The final demo – dubbed The Treehouse Tapes – found its way to managers Kelly Curtis and Susan Silver, who also managed the Seattle-based Soundgarden. Curtis and Silver passed the demo to Columbia Records' A&R representative Nick Terzo, who set up an appointment with label president Don Ienner. Based on The Treehouse Tapes (sold by the band at shows), Ienner signed Alice in Chains to Columbia in 1989.

Alice in Chains became a top priority for the label, who released the band's first official recording in July 1990: the promotional EP We Die Young. Its lead single and title song became a hit on Metal radio.

After its success, the label rushed Alice in Chains' debut album into production with producer Dave Jerden. "𝙸 𝚝𝚘𝚕𝚍 𝙹𝚎𝚛𝚛𝚢 𝙲𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚕, ‘𝙼𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚌𝚊 𝚝𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚃𝚘𝚗𝚢 𝙸𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚒 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚍 𝚑𝚒𝚖 𝚞𝚙. 𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞’𝚟𝚎 𝚍𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚢𝚘𝚞‘𝚟𝚎 𝚜𝚕𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚍 𝚑𝚒𝚖 𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗,’" Jerden recalled. "𝙷𝚎 𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚔𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚝 𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚊𝚒𝚍, ‘𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚐𝚘𝚝 𝚒𝚝.’ 𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚝‘𝚜 𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝙸 𝚐𝚘𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚐𝚒𝚐."

Drummer Sean Kinney claims to have played this album with a broken hand;

“𝙸 𝚊𝚕𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗‘𝚝 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚢 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚍 - 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚛𝚎𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚛𝚞𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚛 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝙼𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝙻𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝙱𝚘𝚗𝚎, 𝙶𝚛𝚎𝚐 𝙶𝚒𝚕𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎. 𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚍, 𝚐𝚞𝚒𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚑𝚒𝚖 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚒𝚝.

(𝙼𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝙻𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝙱𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚍𝚛𝚞𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚛, 𝙶𝚛𝚎𝚐 𝙶𝚒𝚕𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎)

𝙳𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝙹𝚎𝚛𝚍𝚎𝚗 𝚌𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚛𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚘 𝚒𝚝. 𝙷𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎, '𝚂𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚠 𝚒𝚝 - 𝚙𝚞𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚕𝚞𝚐. 𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚒𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚐𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚊𝚖𝚎.' 𝙻𝚞𝚌𝚔𝚒𝚕𝚢, 𝚠𝚎 𝚝𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚊 𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚢 𝚋𝚒𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚘𝚏𝚏. 𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚌𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝚘𝚗 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚊 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚎, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎, '𝙸 𝚌𝚊𝚗‘𝚝 𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜.' 𝙸 𝚌𝚞𝚝 𝚖𝚢 𝚌𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝚘𝚏𝚏 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚞𝚍𝚒𝚘 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚔𝚎𝚙𝚝 𝚊 𝚋𝚞𝚌𝚔𝚎𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚒𝚌𝚎 𝚋𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚛𝚞𝚖 𝚜𝚎𝚝. 𝙺𝚎𝚙𝚝 𝚖𝚢 𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚒𝚌𝚎𝚍 𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚢𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚊 𝚋𝚛𝚘𝚔𝚎𝚗 𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚍. 𝙸 𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚍 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗 - 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝚋𝚒𝚐 𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚔, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚏𝚞𝚌𝚔 𝚒𝚝 𝚞𝚙.”

Facelift was recorded at London Bridge Studio in Seattle and at Capitol Recording Studio in Hollywood from December 1989 to April 1990. Footage from the Facelift sessions can be found on Alice in Chains' Music Bank: The Videos DVD.

Guitarist Jerry Cantrell stated the album was intended to have a "𝚖𝚘𝚘𝚍𝚢 𝚊𝚞𝚛𝚊" that was a "𝚍𝚒𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚞𝚕𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚛𝚘𝚘𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚝𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚙𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚕 𝚘𝚏 𝚂𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚕𝚎." Regarding the music for Man in the Box, Cantrell said in the 1999 Music Bank box set, "𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚠𝚑𝚘𝚕𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚊𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚐𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚒𝚜 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚠𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚟𝚎𝚜;𝚒𝚝 𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚙𝚎𝚍 𝙰𝚕𝚒𝚌𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚒𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜." The idea of using a voice box in the song came from producer Dave Jerden, who was driving to the studio one day when Bon Jovi's Livin' on a Prayer started playing on the radio.

Cantrell also credited I Can't Remember for helping the band find its sound. It Ain't Like That came out of a riff that Cantrell cited as a mistake, however he called it "𝚊 𝚌𝚘𝚘𝚕 𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚎."

Cantrell called Love, Hate, Love the "𝚖𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚙𝚒𝚎𝚌𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚍," adding about the song that Lane Staley's vocals are "𝚊𝚖𝚊𝚣𝚒𝚗𝚐" and that it features one of his favorite guitar solos he ever performed.

Regarding the lyrical content, Cantrell said he wrote We Die Young after "𝚛𝚒𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚞𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚛𝚎𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚜𝚊𝚕 𝚊𝚗𝚍 [𝚜𝚎𝚎𝚒𝚗𝚐] 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚎 𝟿, 𝟷𝟶, 𝟷𝟷 𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚘𝚕𝚍 𝚔𝚒𝚍𝚜 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚍𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚍𝚛𝚞𝚐𝚜. 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚊 𝟷𝟶 𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚘𝚕𝚍 𝚔𝚒𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚊 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚙𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊 𝚌𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚙𝚑𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚍𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚍𝚛𝚞𝚐𝚜 𝚎𝚚𝚞𝚊𝚕𝚎𝚍 "𝚆𝚎 𝙳𝚒𝚎 𝚈𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚐" 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚎."

(𝚅𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚘 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚘𝚝 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚆𝚎 𝙳𝚒𝚎 𝚈𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚐)

In a recorded interview with MuchMusic USA, vocalist Layne Staley stated that the lyrics for Man in the Box are about censorship in the mass media, and "𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝙸 𝚠𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚎 𝚒𝚝."

Discussing Bleed the Freak, Cantrell stated that the lyrics represent "𝚞𝚜 𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚕𝚍, 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚙𝚎𝚘𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚠𝚑𝚘 𝚙𝚞𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚗."

Cantrell wrote Sunshine about his mother's death. Facelift was dedicated to her memory.

Staley's "𝚂𝚎𝚡𝚞𝚊𝚕 𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚌𝚘𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎, 𝚋𝚊𝚋𝚢!" scream at the end of Real Thing was a reference to the film Coming to America starring Eddie Murphy, whose character was the singer of a band called Sexual Chocolate.

In an interview with Video Metal Sheet in 1991, Jerry Cantrell said that the original idea for the album cover was "𝚊𝚗 𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚛𝚢𝚘𝚗𝚒𝚌-𝚝𝚢𝚙𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐" representing the birth of the band. But it ended up taking more of a scary overtone and fitting quite well with the music.

The band discussed several ideas for the album art with photographer Rocky Schenck. One of those ideas was making it appear as if they were emerging from an eyeball. Columbia Records did not give the band a large budget for the photoshoot, but Schenck liked them so much that he was willing to make it work.

The budget was barely enough for a one-day shoot, but Schenck stretched it out for over three days. The first day of shoot took place on May 2, 1990, at the swimming pool of the Oakwood Apartments in Burbank, California.

The pool was covered with a thin piece of plastic to give the idea that the band was emerging from an eyeball. They had to swim under the plastic, rise to the surface and breathe in as they emerged, so the plastic distorted their faces. One of the photos from that session included a shot of Layne Staley wrapped in plastic with the other members holding him, which was used as the cover for the We Die Young single.

Schenck was experimenting with in-camera multiple exposures, where he would create a distorted image by exposing different parts of a single frame of film one exposure at a time, a technique that he had been using for years in his videos and art photography. The band had seen Schenck's portfolio of black and white portraits of haunted, distorted faces, and asked him to duplicate the technique.

Schenck did not want to duplicate the original black and white photo, so he tried the same technique in color using photos of each band member's face. A photo of bassist Mike Starr was chosen as the album cover. After seeing the photo, the band decided to name the album Facelift. The original concept for the cover was to have all four members' faces superimposed into one startling expression, which appeared years later in the Music Bank box set.

Performance & Reception:

Facelift peaked at No. 42 in the summer of 1991 on the Billboard 200 chart. It was the first album from the Grunge movement to reach the top 50 in America on the Billboard 200, and the first to be certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America on September 11, 1991, followed by Nirvana's Nevermind on November 27, 1991.

The album was a critical success, with "Hollywood" Steve Huey of AllMusic citing Facelift as "𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚒𝚖𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚗 𝚊𝚞𝚍𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝙶𝚛𝚞𝚗𝚐𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙰𝚕𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚁𝚘𝚌𝚔 𝚊𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝙷𝚊𝚛𝚍 𝚁𝚘𝚌𝚔 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙷𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚢 𝙼𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚕 𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚛𝚜."

Facelift was not an instant success, selling under 40,000 copies in the first six months of release, until MTV added Man in the Box to regular daytime rotation.

Man in the Box hit No. 18 on the Mainstream Rock charts, with the album's follow up single, Sea of Sorrow, reaching No. 27, and in six weeks Facelift sold 400,000 copies in the US.

Alice in Chains was nominated for a Best Hard Rock Performance with Vocal Grammy Award in 1992 for Man in the Box, but lost to Van Halen for their 1991 album For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge.

The music video for Man in the Box was nominated for Best Heavy Metal/Hard Rock Video at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards.

The album won Best Debut Album at the 1991 Foundations Forum.

In June 2017, Ozzy Osbourne listed Facelift as one of his 10 Favorite Metal Albums.

In April 2019, the album was ranked No. 14 on Rolling Stone's 50 Greatest Grunge Albums list.

Soundgarden lead guitarist Kim Thayil also picked Facelift as one of his favorite Grunge albums.

Outtakes for Facelift:

Killing Yourself, recorded during the Facelift sessions, was featured as the B-side to the 1990 We Die Young vinyl single. It has never been issued on CD.

Demos for the songs I Can't Have You Blues, Whatcha Gonna Do, Social Parasite, Bleed the Freak, Sea of Sorrow, and Killing Yourself were featured on Alice in Chains' 1988-89 demo tape.

Remixes of these recordings were later included on the band's 1999 box set, Music Bank.

A demo of We Die Young from the same sessions was released exclusively on the 1999 Nothing Safe: Best of the Box compilation.

Further 1988 demos of the songs Chemical Addiction, Fairytale Love Story, Queen of the Rodeo, Bite the Bullet, King of the Kats, I Can't Remember, Sunshine, The Real Thing, and a cover of David Bowie's Suffragette City circulate on various bootlegs in poor quality.

A live version of Queen of the Rodeo features on the 2000 live album Live as well as the Music Bank box set.

Regarding the songs featured on the 1988 demo tape, Cantrell said, "𝙸 𝚐𝚞𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚠𝚎 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 '𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚌𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐' 𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚟𝚎𝚜."

Watch the Official Music Video for We Die Young.

Watch the Official Music Video for Man in the Box.

Watch the Official Music Video for Sea of Sorrow.

Watch the Official Music Video for Bleed the Freak.

Notice: Any reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells