In commemoration of my legendary pilgrimage to Seattle, I’ve decided, in the next 25 weeks, to count down the Top 25 Grunge Songs of All Time and Infinity, presented to you once weekly, with much pomp and circumstance. Yes, you’re right, I’ve TOTALLY reverted back to eleventh grade.
Anyway, rankings are somewhat arbitrary, but do factor into account popular opinion, lasting power, and song quality as well as some sort of critical, mainstream, even cultic success. (This is so much less lame than numerous Songs of the Weak features, which no one likely ever read, anyway.) Off we go.
25.
Alice In Chains
AIC’s debut album Facelift is admittedly their least-complete and most-metal effort. Filled with blistering power chords and only beginning to probe the deep-deep-deep depths of heroin addiction, there are still a few standout cuts.
More than anything, this live anthem (It’s tragic it wasn’t included on Live, but I do have it, after paying 35 pounds for a bootleg AIC record at Camden Market in 2000) signals AIC’s arrival. It’s certainly possible to argue the album best encapsulates the grunge era — thundering guitar riffs, screeching solos, and furious lyrics. This song isn’t one of Chains’ best known, but it signals their most aggressive fuck-you to the song’s audience, not replicated the same way in any of their more introspective works, which are still to come.
