1990: "Real Thing", Alice in Chains

People who think that Nirvana's Nevermind came along in Sept. 1991 and single handedly vanquished the hitherto indestructible hair metal scene often forget one important thing: bands like Alice in Chains and Soundgarden had already established themselves as staples on heavy metal radio and Headbanger's Ball more than a year prior to that.

In fact, looking back from the vantage point of someone who was immersed in metal to the exclusion of all else at the time, bands like Alice in Chains and Soundgarden largely fit in with an amorphous clump of disparate, "artsy" metal that was becoming prominent in the late 80s... Faith No More, Primus, Warrior Soul, King's X, etc. Admittedly, there was little mainstream buzz around the word "grunge" or a Seattle scene until post-Nevermind, but whether or not hair metal was still a healthy concern in its own right by late 1991 is a subject I hope to tackle in more depth later.

Facelift is less focused than subsequent Alice in Chains efforts but already demonstrates a consistent flair for songwriting. A listen to their early demos, which finds the band flailing between their polished, hair metal roots and the moodier angst of their Columbia Records stint, offers a pretty solid education into the different musical directions they struggled through at the time.

"Real Thing" - coincidentally also the title of Faith No More's breakthrough album - was one of the more uncharacteristic songs on Facelift, which by default makes it one of the strangest entries in the entire AiC catalog. An apocalyptic death-blues number, what it lacks in innovation lyrically it more than demonstrates in guitarist Jerry Cantrell's flair with a riff... probably AiC's biggest ace in the hole this early in their career.