Song was written by Jerry Cantrell about his father who fought in Vietnam and was nicknamed Rooster from his youth. They never saw eye to eye being that Jerry was a long hair rocker and his father was a hard core military vet blue collar worker. His Mom, Gloria, encouraged them to heal their relationship. His father never went to his shows, but finally relented and went to a show. Upon seeing his Dad in the back of the room Jerry told the band to play Rooster. Dad heard the words and broke out in tears which led to more tears and hugs as he realized his son understood him more than he understood his son. Music changes people, heals relationships and moves hearts to places otherwise unknown.

George: tries to give a complex reasoning for why the song sounds the way it doe- Ryan: THIS SHIT HARD

"THIS IS HARD! I DONT GIVE A F###!!! THIS IS HARD!" Best reaction ever ^_^

Rooster was a common nickname for M60 machine gunners in Vietnam because the muzzle flash looked like a rooster tail. They had the shortest life expectancy of any other personnel because it was a priority for the enemy to take down the machine gunner. "Here they come to snuff the rooster."

Once you go AIC, you are never the same.

This was the only Alice in Chains song my dad liked. I was playing it one day while we were working on my truck and when it finished he told me to come sit with him. He told me all about his experiences in Vietnam and how much this song mirrored them. He passed away last year and I'm so glad he told me about it, I wou ld have never known

I am a 75 year old woman and I absolutely love Alice In Chains. This song brings me right back to the Vietnam war. I am going to see them one month from today. Will miss Layne but so glad to see them before I am no more.

My dad was born in 1950, loved Beach Boys and the like. I grew up in Seattle, tried to rebel with grunge music but my dad ended up loving Alice in Chains more than I did!

Rooster is about Jerry Cantrell's (the lead guitarist for Alice In Chains) father and his experiences while in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. His father's nickname in his army regiment was "The Rooster". The song was written at a time when Jerry and his father's relationship was distant and somewhat estranged. When his father heard the song he said it captured exactly how the war was for him and how he felt about it and actually served to bring Jerry and his father close together than ever before.

I would love to see these guy's reaction when they found out that the song is about Jerry Cantrell's father's experiences in Vietnam. The song isn't based on fiction, it's based on facts.

When Layne Staley and Jerry Cantrell blend their voices together, they create this beautifully dark, ethereal timbre that can make a melody melt into your bones. For me, The Everly Brothers were the greatest vocal duo but Jerry and Layne draw their breath from the same rarefied air.

Take a shot every time Ryan says, "this is fire/hot!"

Layne Staley and Jerry Cantrell had two of the most beautiful harmonizing voices EVER!!

I wish Layne was still here with us to sing more beautiful songs

I must have watched this reaction like 8 times by now. Ryan's enthusiasm for the song makes me more enthusiastic about life.

I've been listening to this song for something like 27 years and it's still just as god damned good as the first day I heard it.

"I feel like if you were to wake up a singer at three in the morning".. lol I'm dead. That's some real shit.

I love how Ryan can't hide his excitement! 😂🤘

Ryan's reaction is so great to this classic

Alice in Chains is interesting in that their sound has never been duplicated and it never ages. It always sounds good. If you go long enough between listens, it is like hearing it for the first time all over again..because no one sounds like this.

Watch Ryan all the way through this, from the first chord. It's visual representation of music taking a man over. As he starts to get excited about the song, he can't sit still, he's constantly smiling, he loses control of himself a bit,. Easily the best reaction video on the internet....

The song is about Jerry Cantrells dad in the vietnam war, cause they use to call him the rooster

Damn this dude losing his head over this song is SO epic!! Hes like "I dont care I like this!!!!" What a great reaction. Right on man! 🔥🤘🤘

Layne's style of singing is a lazy aggression, the biggest factors to this is he sings behind the beat and (mainly because he was strung out constantly) he naturally sounds like he is using little effort, absolute great talent (some people don't pick it up be he uses some twang at the end of lines to add to the uniqueness of his sound)

Jerry is a friend of mine. I'm sending this to him asap. Well done lads. I got a tear in my eye from your canid reactions, all of which I share. Peace.

10:00 "It's fire! I know I say that like 18 times in the fuckin video but that, that was----dope. DOPE!" Ryan you kill me man. lmao. Props on the editing!

RIP Layne Staley, one of THE best lead singers ever!!

"I like his voice!" Bro, everyone loves Layne's voice, he was a legend. Probably one of my favorite vocalists.

Great song! Rooster was written about guitarist Jerry Cantrell's father who fought in Vietnam

Ryan was on fire!💥💥💥💥

Alone, late at night, Cantrell’s thoughts kept turning to his estranged father, whose psychological scars from his service in the Vietnam War had contributed to the breakdown of the family some years earlier. “That experience in Vietnam changed him forever,” explains Cantrell, “and it certainly had an effect on our family, so I guess it was a defining moment in my life, too. “He didn’t walk out on us. We left him. It was an environment that wasn’t good for anyone, so we took off to live with my grandmother in Washington, and that’s where I went to school. I didn’t have a lot of my father around, but I started thinking about him a lot during that period.” Sitting in front of a four-track recorder, the song that poured out of Cantrell might have been laced with bitterness. Instead, its harrowing lyrics were written from the standpoint of his father; describing the ‘stinging sweat’ and ‘mosquito death’ of a trek through the jungle, and an imagined skirmish with the Vietcong. The title was the nickname given to Cantrell Snr. by his great-grandfather: “Apparently he was a cocky little kid, and his hair used to stick up on top of his head like a rooster’s comb.”

The vocals on this track are so sick🔥🔥His voice is so dynamic..I don't think people understand how great he was💯

"Rooster" was written as a tribute to Jerry Cantrell's (Alice In Chains' guitarist) father, who was a Vietnam Vet and whose nickname/call sign was "Rooster." Awesone work!

This is the best grunge band, on the best channel. You guys win the interwebs.

One of the things I've always, ALWAYS appreciated about Alice in Chains is the harmonies. So many bands in the early 90s had amazing vocalists, but man...NOBODY did harmonies like Layne Staley and Jerry Cantrell. "Heaven Beside You" and "No Excuses" are two of my favourites in that regard.

I feel like the guy on the lefts reaction was everyone’s reaction the first time hearing rooster

Staley. An incredible voice. RIP.

Great reaction, guys! The song is indeed about war - - specifically about guitarist Jerry Cantrell's father and his experiences in Vietnam and the disrespect he received upon coming home. An amazing tribute. Rooster is kind of an outlier on the album itself. Dirt is an autobiographical concept album of sorts that depicts the trauma associated with extreme drug addiction - - heroin in particular. Singer Layne Staley's struggles with addiction were a heavy theme in their music and it would eventually claim his life in the saddest way imaginable. So the album is kind of a tough listen now knowing that he would eventually lose the battle.

Their new Alice in Chains - Them bones reaction video brought me back to this. Crazy to see how much the quality of their videos has improved, especially the audio!

I honestly think Layne's best song was Wake Up by Mad Season. You can hear every ounce of emotion in every word.

The entire "Dirt" album is absolutely incredible and all-time. "Down in a Hole" is my favorite track on it.

Ryan acting like George when he hears Gojira. 😂

He's one of the most underrated singers of all time. He's in the same category as Chris Cornell.

All true about Jerry Cantrell's dad. I am an Army historian who specializes in the Vietnam War. The song evokes the desperate bravado of a soldier who walks point in Vietnam- "I ain't gonna die." I did my Ph.D. program in Seattle during the grunge era. This song has always had a special meaning to me.

The one thing I'm surprised you guys didn't discuss was the tight Harmony between vocalist Layne Staley and guitarist Jerry Cantrell. All of Alice in Chains songs are very tight when it comes to Harmony. It's amazing. You must Listen to More.

This song was written about his dad. Survived in Vietnam.

Been listening to AIC my whole life. Just waking up at 3 am and going down to record is probably the best description of Layne Staley's singing I've heard

From 6:23 Ryan's excitement turns to pure goosebumps at 6:30. Takes me back to when I was about 15 years old and this band changed my life.

Vietnam War. Malaria = mosquito death. Gloria was Jerry’s mom. This song was written in tribute to Jerry’s Dad and all the Vietnam vets. RIP Layne.

Rooster is the father of guitarist, Jerry Cantrells, nickname in vietnam. Thats what the song was about. The original bass player is dead too. Drugs took a lot of the best artist from this era.

It's such a joy to watch Ryan react to this song, I've watched this video several times because it's so genuine. That's what music is all about - that feeling.

The lyrics always gave me chills. Memories of guys that went away who either never came home or were mentally destroyed when they did. Super haunting lyrics. The lyrics are true statements. Pills 💊 to fight malaria and most Vietnam vets were spat on when they returned.

This song is about Vietnam. The singers pops was a Nam Vet. The rooster is what they called m-60 machine gun because you always heard it in the morning because that’s when the VC would attack. It was also called the pig because of the way it squealed when fired. Mosquito death was malaria found in most south East Asian countries. The pills are doxy which gave Marines and shoulders crazy night terrors. Love the reaction fellas! Keep it up!

Ryan is a closet metal/grunge head.

The bass line of this sound is fantastic!!! Mike Starr was awesome.

I come back to this one all the time just to smile every time Ryan says, “Yeah, this is fire!”

Dirt is one of the best hard rock albums of all time! RIP Layne 🤘🏻

Interesting story related to this song. During the battle of Mogadishu (the black hawk down incident in 1993) CW4 Mike Durant was shot down in his MH-60M Black Hawk by Somolian terrorists and captured for 11 days. During his captivity, his brothers in his unit (the 160th Special Ops Aviation Regiment) searched the city for him. During their search, they would play this song over loud speakers mounted on the bottom of helicopters because it was one of Mike’s favorite songs and they hoped that he would hear it, wherever he was in Mogadishu, and know that his brothers were looking for him. The story is outlined in Mike’s book “In the Company of Heroes”, good read and i highly recommend it.

The line about "they spit on me in my home land" refers to how the Viet Nam veterans were treated when they came home. Many people were against the war and took it out on them. Now we thank our veterans for their service, which the Viet Nam veterans deserved when they came back home but didn't get.

This song still gives me the chills. Your reaction "That shit sounds so fuckin cool! and smooth! I'm sorry!" I cracked up watching and had to rewind a few times, cuz your reaction is so genuine. Keep up the good work. Thank you for making old tunes sound new again!

That song was wrote about the guitar players dad when he was in Vietnam...the rooster was his war name...good job guys keep it up

I saw "Alice in Chains" and was compelled to watch. There is absolutely nothing better than driving at dusk with a mean sunset in your rear view mirror and "Man in the Box" blasting from your sound system. You know what... It's 11:45 pm right now, I'm going out for a drive. Thanks for making this video.

Still gives me goose bumps twenty years later!

"They almost holdin' out on me; they know I'm ready... I'm ready! Right at the end-- but they're not droppin' it on me yet." Dude, I love that. You gave me a new feeling for this song I hadn't thought about before.

As a teenager, The 90's was an amazing time for rock/metal music. So many amazing bands.

Man in the box is another great song, there never be another Layne Staley, he will be sorely missed 😢

I was smiling this whole video seeing Ryan's excitement. Glad you both enjoyed it. Much success! 🤟😎

Thank you for your support and for doing this song. My father was in Vietnam and was shot twice and was one of the lucky ones to not come home in a pinewood box.

Alice in Chains DOWN IN A HOLE!

Layne Staley was one of the best and underrated singers of all time. I would have personally recommended another AIC track since I've heard Rooster a billion times on the radio but I enjoyed how Ryan went nuts over this one; It reminds me how great the song actually is.

This level of musical joy is amazing.

I ain't got time for all these "reaction" videos people be doing, but my Bud kept telling me I HAD to watch this one so I finally did. THANK YOU - the words I used were a little different but this is the same reaction I had to this band when I first heard them, too ...

Jerry Cantrell is one of the most underrated songwriters, ever. His guitar play is not flashy but it is as soulfull as one can get and also as a singer adds as much to the songs as Layne. Stay away (from smack) because in a nutshell: you die young if you are a junkhead!

Who are we if we don't take care of our veterans?" = instant subscribe.

I remember hearing this for the first time as a new song on alternate radio in Australia and it blew me away, still does. My reaction was pretty much the same as you guys!

I LOVE how into it Ryan is. Same reaction a lot of us had on first hearing.

“Would”by Alice In Chains is another good one

This song was written about the guitarists father (Nicknamed the Rooster) during the Vietnam war and how he hoped to get back to his young son. #RIPLayneStaley (vocals) I agree with Azcension Seven about "Temple of the Dog - Hunger Strike". If you haven't yet heard any Chris Cornell lyrics/voice with Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam) they will seriously move you.

Never fails. Y'all leave me with a big smile on my face. Your enthusiasm is contagious AF.

My dad was a Vietnam Vet and ARMY GREEN was indeed no safe bet! RIP DAD ❤

In the Vietnam war the Vietcong called American paratroopers from the 101st airborne chickenmen because of the eagle patch on their uniform. There are no eagles in Vietnam and therefore thought the patch was a chicken. Hence rooster

Love it! Nutshell would be my vote for their next song as i find it to be life changing

I saw them perform this song post Layne But Jerry brought he's dad out on stage before the song who the song was wrote about. Pretty epic

"Rooster" is a nickname for a machine gunner. Every 5th round is a tracer round, so it looks like an orange rooster tail when the weapon is being fired down range. I served 5 years in the Marines, and I can assure you every machine gunner loves this song.

Here’s a fun game to play: take a shot every time Ryan says “this is hot,” “this is dope,” or “this is fire.” DISCLAIMER: do not actually do this, you will be drunk in at most 1 minute😂

Nutshell by AIC next ... one of their best songs !!!! Laynes vocals on nutshell are beyond amazing ! Do the live version tho , you can totally feel the emotion Layne sings with . I think you guys will love it , maybe even shed a tear

I straight laughed my ass off, "That shit sounds so fuckin cool" How awesome to see them appreciate an all time band

I come back to this every now and then to relive the feeling of hearing this song for the first time. love that you guys captured this reaction..

Layne Staley had such a powerful voice

Fills me with joy when you guys totally get it and love it. It's like I get to discover it all over again and remember how mind blown I was myself when I first heard these songs. RIP Layne.

My Father who served 2 tours in the Mekong Delta said the, "Rooster" was the M60 gunner, after the red tail it left from the flash suppressor.

I always come back to this video for Ryan's excitement. It always makes my day.

Ryan I love how much you got into the song! 😂😂 y’all are great!

RIP Layne

My favorite reaction on your channel. I love how he cant stop smiling. This really is an amazing song

Alice in Chains was my dad's favorite band. He was a Vietnam Vet. He passed away from liver failure due to alcoholism in 2008. Every time I hear an AIC song I think of him, especially this one.

Damn y’all gotta do Nutshell by Alice In Chains. Soooo much meaning in the lyrics, and he conveys the picture/message perfectly

The music video is incredible. Jerry Cantrell's dad talks about his time in Vietnam. Very deep stuff. One of my all time favorite songs. Keep doing what you're doing. You guys are great.

You guys broke this down. Layne's vocal Registry was insane

YO! your reaction to Would brought me here and I must say , you guys are buggin out , lol I laughed so hard ! Ryan is buggin but he is on point. Thank you for keeping it 100.