Why Alice in Chains' 'Dirt' Is One of the Greatest Albums Ever

We’ve always thought that Alice in Chains‘ sophomore album Dirt is one of the greatest albums of all time, but for its 30th anniversary, we wanted to do something special to honor it, so we created a mini-documentary.

Nirvana‘s Nevermind knocked Michael Jackson’s Dangerous from the top of the album chart in early 1992, and Cameron Crowe released the movie Singles a few months later, which featured music and appearances from quite a few Seattle musicians. Alice contributed a song called “Would?” to the film’s soundtrack, which gave fans a first look at the band’s follow-up to their debut album Facelift. So when Dirt came out on Sept. 29, Seattle was already the focal point of the music industry.

For the video, we reached out to some key people who’ve worked with Alice in Chains over the years, as well as musicians who are fans of them to discuss the impact Dirt had on music and why it was such a monumental record for its time.

If you watched our 30 Years of Grunge video series that came out last year, you may recognize some of the faces in this documentary, including Seattle-based radio host Cathy Faulkner and radio and MTV personality Matt Pinfield. Greg Puciato, formerly of The Dillinger Escape Plan, worked with Jerry Cantrell on his 2021 solo album Brighten and tours with him too, so he offers a unique perspective as someone who frequently sings Dirt songs live.

Watch our documentary about Alice in Chains’ Dirt below.