Grunge to me was always more of a punk thing than a metal to me personally. Nirvana fits that description perfectly, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains were sludgy metal, and Pearl Jam was basically just a rock band

If AIC were just another band with no association to the Seattle scene, we'd call them a Doom/Stoner/Sludge band (and a great one at that)

You open a tour for Megadeth and don't die then you are metal.

Every time someone says Alice isn't metal, I tell people about the heavy Sabbath influence. But I've never met an Alice fan who didn't consider them metal, only non-fans.

I've been saying AIC is a metal band since 1990. I mean, they were on the Clash Of Titans tour for fucks sake.😁🤘

their self titled album is basically sludge metal (but a little more accessible)

To me the term "grunge" is like a positive stain on whatever genre certain grunge bands like. My best way to explain this is by saying nirvana is punk+grunge or aic are metal+grunge

I've always thought of Alice in Chains as the Slayer of grunge

People can call them whatever genre they want, they will always be filling out my metal playlist

REAL! Also FACELIFT MENTIONED 😈😈

A lot of Stone Temple Pilots is metal too! Actually, a lot of Grunge is metal...

Alice in Chains is the love child of the Beatles and Black Sabbath. Beautiful vocal harmonies plus doom and gloom lyrics and riffs. They're 100% metal, but they're also just their own thing. There will never be another Alice in Chains

AIC has a metallum page. Rush has one too idk why but still.

I would like to see you make a video of you saying why hair metal is actually good

Awesome video ! I started listening to extreme metal because of listening to Alice in Chains 🤘❤️‍🔥

I hope you do a video on blackened like you mentioned. 🙏

duh

So many metalheads (myself included) also luv AIC and other grunge bands, says it all for me

Personally I see them as just grunge metal seeing as they had the tone and feel of grunge but the underlying brutality of heavy metal. It isn't really surprising since the members were in metal bands before they were Alice in Chains

How is this even controversial, they call themselves metal, they were played by metal radio stations, they were in the metal section of music shops.

Finally someone speaks the truth!

They also WERE an influence on Metallica and Pantera. I think it's indisputable. As far as grunge, the only proper musical characteristic that defines it, to me, is that they often use major chords in places where the "correct" diatonic choice woud be the minor. For example, once a friend was listening to Proud Mary by Creedence and told me the intro sounded like Nirvana. Thats because the second chord in the intro "should be" minor, but its major. And It's something that comes up in every grunge band (and become kind of fashionable in the nineties). Greetings

those riffs you play as examples.. some of them resemble pantera :)

It's got a metal archives page so I mean idk lmao. A lot of their songs are so bluesy and heavy it would be wild to think they're anything else

love you mention X japan and that movement. I also think Krautrock should be addressed the same way. Many generes, from folk to psych and electronic, wrapped up under a epoch, "vibe" or origin

Hear hear!

AiC was absolutely metal when Facelift first dropped in 1990. They looked, acted, sounded, and were promoted as a metal band, existing somewhere between GnR and Ozzy. It was so weird to me a few years later when I saw Layne Staley show up with short, dyed hair, looking alternative. I remember even 16-year-old me at the time thought to myself, "Wow, they're trying to be like those other guys now." The song and video for "We Die Young" was practically hair metal, and I mean that in the best way possible. TL;DR I agree that it's weird to keep pretending they're not metal.

This is a great video. I was in high school when Facelift came out. Alice In Chains is totally metal. They opened for Megadeth, Anthrax and Slayer back in 1991 when I saw them at Lake Compounce in Bristaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhlll CT. Grunge was just a label for retard NPCs to have an excuse for buying the CD. Only metal heads supported Alice In Chains back in 1991. We totally loved the sound. Jerry and Layne had a completely unique vibe. I miss those days!!!

Absolutely, the only thing that makes them slightly grunge is that they were in the same area and their similar tone in the guitar and recording. Instrumentally they really aren’t at all.

Right on! Good detailed video. Cantrell's guitar playing is heavily inspired by Tony Iommi. A lot of AiC stuff has sinister bendings and usage of tritone. I've always considered them closer to Sabbath influenced heavy/doom metal more than anything. 'Grunge' to me was just a media invented catchphrase or an umbrella tag to pigeonhole 90s bands from Seattle.

I clicked on this video cause I love AIC. I care about this video cause you are 100% correct.

Is metalcore next? New all that remains came out and ppl are saying that its not metalcore

STPs Core has some heavy shit on it. Dead And Bloated, Wicked Garden, Sex Type Thing. Maybe it’s because some of the songs don’t have solos? Idk. The DeLeo bros are metal AF IMO though. You also gotta look at bands like The Melvins, Down, Crowbar and COC in the Sludge Metal scene. Very similar to what AIC was putting out, albeit with its own uniqueness, but still considered very much metal.

Hadn't thought about this much but honestly a solid take

I mean Jerry Cantrell himself said he saw his band more as metal then grunge. They were just called grunge for marketing reasons same with Soundgarden and pearl jam. Nirvana i think the only band in the grunge scene to be grunge

Scott Ian of Anthrax said back in the 90s that Alice in Chains and Soundgarden were metal. He was commenting on how no one wanted to be labelled metal in the 90s because metal had become a dirty word. Then he started listing off grunge bands that were actually metal bands

I've always considered Alice In Chains a metal band. Like you said, they've got riffs for days that are insanely heavy, one of my favorites is "A Looking In View" which is like straight up doom metal. I remember back in the day when I was in High School how I was making a playlist of bands rock & metal bands me and a couple of friends were listening to, a lot of it was on the more commercial side of things so when I threw that in there it was the heaviest thing in the playlist by far lol

i split grunge into several subgenres and i call this metal grunge. if you listen to the u-men then soundgarden then alice in chains it would make sense. there's just something that isn't metal about them

Favorite band from the grunge movement also love stone temple pilots even though there’s not from Seattle to me grunge is 70s metal mixed with punk

You have good down picking

The takeaway from this video is the power that the marketing executives had. So much more of 'grunge' had to do with the aesthetic changes and what the record companies were pushing. Not so much musical changes.

O boi this comments section is gonna be 🥤🍿

Grunge is metal plus punk. Kind of like Misfits, SoocidalTendencies (and other crossover thrash), and Bay Area Thrash. Its funny how different attempts at mixing punk and metal sound so extremely different from one another. As for GNR, You Could Be Mine is their only song I would consider metalish, and it still isn't entirely metal because the guitars, amps, tuning etc just sound different from the more traditional metal guitar sound. Which brings me to AiC: their guitar sound just has more in common with other grunge bands, and rock bands in general, than I would normally associate with metal bands. Then again Motley Crue, DrfLeppard, and other hair bands aren't (real) metal imo. At the end of the day, it is all a matter of taste and opinion.

Grunge, metal. It don’t matter to me. Love those AIC records though. I don’t know Jack about the post Layne era, but I should check it out. Cantrell is a dynamic beast

Stp and aic had glam metal influences and stp actually has lower tuning then Alice especially in their album no. 4 which has some djent mushuggah riffing that is brutal

Grunge is to genres what "animals swimming in the ocean" is to phylogeny.

IMO AiC isn't straightforward metal band as they obviously have a bit different sound and more nuanced songwriting style. They are alternative metal band, simple as that. I think a good example of other band with similar musical style would be Tool, and those guys are widely branded alt metal as well.

Not only are they a metal band, but once you know about "Alice N' Chains" you can hear that glam metal DNA still in Facelift.

I can get behind this concept. They have a very Metal-esque Expression and music style but still being both nuanced and distinct enough to not be a completely full on ‘Metal Band’ in other ways. And not for nothing but you’re playing an Ibanez RG so you must know what you’re talking about to a reasonable degree cuz Ibanez is the badge of authenticity lolol

Always get Alice in Chains and Alice Cooper confused...

DO I care? Maybe I just watch your videos to help boost your views? I care a little, I somewhat agree, but I don't fully get behind it. They have metal-esque songs but I can't see them as a "Metal" band. Which is funny because I was listening to Dirt at work today before coming home to see this video. 10/10 album no bad songs.

I've said for decades and still maintain that grunge is a fashion, not a musical genre. There's a reason not one grunge band sounds the same as another. They're all rock (bordering on punk) or metal but they have the grunge aesthetic. My personal opinion is that Nirvana alone were the one true "grunge band" because of Kurt pioneering the idgaf guitar "fuzz" and thrift store fashion sense.

Grunge was a scene more than a genre (which is why STP and Smashing Pumpkins weren’t really ‘grunge’ bands either).

To say AIC aren't a metal band is like saying that Archaeopteryx isn't a dinosaur.

I have a pretty broad definition of metal that includes Alice in Chains, GnR, The Gathering (And other gothic metal) and even sone early Pearl Jam. It most definitely does NOT include metalcore‼️

i agree AIC is metal! they were a hair metal band before the 90’s too lol

Who is saying that Alice isn't metal? I've Never heard that from anyone

"18 and Life" would sound correct recorded by AIC, "Man in the Box" would sound correct recorded by Skid Row.

I would say Facelift is hard rock (I’d also consider glam “metal” like Motley Crue and Def Leppard to just be hard rock which isn’t a bad thing btw I love all these bands) however most of Dirt and the Tripod album are definitely metal with Dirt being doom metal and Tripod being Sludge.

I have always thought of metal as two separate ideas one is musically and the other is culturally. Nu Metal and Glam Metal sound like they are “metal” but culturally they don’t align with the broader metal scene so thus they aren’t metal. When it comes to grunge I’ve viewed it as a genre that incorporated rock, punk and metal depending on the band. Out of all of the grunge bands I despised Alice In Chains and once I became a metal head and heard doom metal it clicked why I didn’t like Alice In Chains they have just so many similarities and I’m not a fan of either. So ultimately I agree with you they are a metal band in music but not culture. I hope that all made sense!

Big 5?

Judas Priest had tons of songs that weren't metal too.

WAY 2 GO BUDDY😃😃😃😃 YOU'VE SAID WHAT I'VE ALWAYS THOUGHT🤘🤘🤘🤘 I'M A CRUUSTY 60 Y/O DUDE FROM GA. I'M AN ORIGINAL FAN OF A.I.C.🤘🤘🤘🤘 SOUNDGARDEN HAD 2 LPS OUT BEFORE I EVER HEARD THEM. I'VE ALWAYS THOUGHT OF A.I.C AS METAL🤘🤘🤘🤘 & SOUNDGARDEN🤘🤘🤘🤘 ALSO🤘🤘🤘🤘 HAVE A GREAT WEEK EVERY1🤘🤘🤘🤘

Thank you for recognizing Stone Temple Pilots as part of the Big 5 of Grunge. I feel like they're never brought up as much as the other four.

There may be some form of some metal influence but they are grunge and alternative. Just listen to the drums and bass and vocals. They all have that emotive alternative quality not that angular rigidity of metal. Pearl Jam we’re heavier on their second album. To me, metal means a lack of blues influence. I’m sure even Miley Cyrus has distorted guitar in her songs with some palm muted chugging but u wouldn’t call her metal right?

Also always considered them to be metal

AIC themselves would disagree. Tons of Grunge were HEAVILY inspired by Metal. Yet mindset and attitude were fundamentally different

Only people who hate metal think AIC aren't metal

"Grunge Metal"

I agree that Grunge isn't so much a genre as it is a movement from a particular place and time. There's a reason why there isn't new music labeled as "grunge" anymore because it literally can't be.

I think it's perfectly ok to say grunge metal. And if you say it 3 times I dont think you will have to worry about Beatlejuice or The Candyman.

To start off, I don’t consider the glam metal bands from the 80s metal, never did, even as a kid as soon as I heard them I thought they were rock bands and still consider them as such. Now, I’ve thought about this a lot because I struggled with thinking about whether or not Alice In Chains is metal and I myself don’t believe they are because like you said metal comes down to the riffs. And to your point about them having heavy riffs and just a heavy sound, a lot of the “second wave grunge bands” so.. rock bands like Creed, Nickelback, Seether also do have pretty heavy riffs. Nickelbacks song Burn It To The Ground has a pretty damn heavy riff. But still we don’t consider those “second wave grunge bands” as metal bands. They’re just rock bands who happen to have some heavy riffs. Which is the conclusion I came to about Alice In Chains. Still they are a great band and certainly heavy as fuck but idk that’s my take on it🤷‍♂️ keep rockn🤘

To me, grunge has always been more of an era and a movement. Saying Pearl Jam and Alice In Chains is the same genre is ridiculous to me.

Grunge is an aesthetic not a music genre.

People think all kinds of silly stuff on all fronts these days. AIC is Metal, anyone thinking otherwise may be pretty locked into one genre in Metal and can’t see the forest for the trees. I know people who only like Black or Death Metal who think any bands slower are not Metal. I told one friend that he must think Black Sabbath isn’t Metal and he took exception to that. He had created a circular, incorrect logic that nothing could penetrate.

So, hard rock and metal are the same thing.

Grunge to me is Sludge Metal mixed with Alternative Rock. Aka Hardcore mixed with Doom Metal mixed with Alt Rock. Alice in Chains absolutely isn't fucking Grunge though lol

Grunge is a convoluted made up mess of a term to generate hype and sell stuff. Post grunge is more of a genre than that.

FAAAAAAAAAAAYAYAYAD MY EYES jokes aside AIC are a great metal band and people who say otherwise are dumb

I remember the first time I heard someone refer to Black Sabbath as "metal"; I was like, "ok... huh... I guess I have no fucking idea what metal even is then" because Sabbath is fucking classic rock. Everybody has their own idea of what's what, therefore any such labels are basically useless..

I’d rather have grunge being metal than metalcore be metal, which is pop.

You're wrong! Guns N Roses is not metal. They're hard rock. And, calling Alice In Chains metal because of some of their songs riffs is equivalent to calling bands like Cinderella or Great White blues bands. When they obviously are not. Just because Alice In Chains guitarist was influenced by metal doesn't make them metal. They're grunge. End of story!

They arent metal because they put out 2 acoustic eps in the span of 2 years. What metal bands have released a acoustic ep/album let alone 2 of them ? Its not something that metal bands do.

No AIC is not metal .