5. Alice In Chains, Dirt
There had to be at least one grunge record on this list, and Alice In Chains’ Dirt is the best of them all. Make no mistake, this was essentially an hour-long suicide note by Layne Staley. From its title (“dirt” is slang for heroin) to songs like “Junkman,” “Drug of Choice,” and “Down in a Hole,” it’s a sad record. Yet musically, it’s almost uplifting. Jerry Cantrell’s awesome guitar riffage and distinct fifth vocal harmonies were influential, and the bassline of the album’s closer, “Would?,” is known by just about every Gen Xer, regardless of what kind of music they’re into . While much of the rest of the next five years consisted of derivative carbon copy bands trying to capture the sound, if not the lyrical content, of Alice In Chains, this is still a great album.
