Alice In Chains - Alice In Chains(aka Tripod)POLL

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a tossup between Grind Sludge Factory and Heaven Beside You for me.
Album was a disappointment for sure at the time, kudos for trying to make an uncompromising album that didn't follow a successful formula, which makes it worthwhile checking out now and again, but def the weakest by far of their stuff.

pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Friday, 8 May 2009 15:32 (fifteen years ago) link

I have never heard a note of this. Weird.

EZ Snappin, Friday, 8 May 2009 15:36 (fifteen years ago) link

on the Dirt thread more people wanted this polled than Facelift for some reason.

pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Friday, 8 May 2009 15:44 (fifteen years ago) link

I'm just trying to figure out how I completely missed it - AiC were an important part of my late teen years, but I guess they were off my radar by the time this came out.

EZ Snappin, Friday, 8 May 2009 15:48 (fifteen years ago) link

1995 it came out

pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Friday, 8 May 2009 15:48 (fifteen years ago) link

voted for a single again. ("heaven beside you")

I honestly don't remember this album well enough to comment on whether it's patchy or whatever, but the stuff I do remember ("heaven beside you," "sludge factory," "frogs") trumps the best stuff on facelift, imo.

original bgm, Friday, 8 May 2009 15:58 (fifteen years ago) link

nah

pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Friday, 8 May 2009 16:06 (fifteen years ago) link

i remember having a big debate on how a 15-year-old whiney should spend his $15: This album or the Foo Fighters debut. I chose this and was crestfallen when it sucked. I wish I could go back and tell 15-year-old whiney that the correct answer was "another album altogether."

gui lovato (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, 8 May 2009 16:13 (fifteen years ago) link

i remember how exactly two of these songs go--"Heaven Besides You" and "Over Now" the rest is a blur

gui lovato (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, 8 May 2009 16:13 (fifteen years ago) link

"Heaven Beside You"

Alex in NYC, Friday, 8 May 2009 18:02 (fifteen years ago) link

The singles on this one ('Grind', 'Heaven Beside You' and 'Again') were pretty good, but like most others, I can't remember anything else about it. Oh well. I'll vote 'Again' - even the 'hoo-hoo' bit at the end isn't cheesy as one might expect in hindsight.

MacDara, Friday, 8 May 2009 18:14 (fifteen years ago) link

the reason noone remembers most of it is maybe because they haven't listened to the album much and probably not since it came out?

pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Friday, 8 May 2009 23:16 (fifteen years ago) link

this is a strange record with a really grimy mix and some truly oddball lyrical observations. i imagine layne was pretty far gone by this stage.

'grind' is definitely my favourite.

Charlie Howard, Saturday, 9 May 2009 05:52 (fifteen years ago) link

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

System, Wednesday, 13 May 2009 23:01 (fifteen years ago) link

fucking "Grind"

even corpse management will be at risk (Drugs A. Money), Wednesday, 13 May 2009 23:27 (fifteen years ago) link

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

System, Thursday, 14 May 2009 23:01 (fifteen years ago) link

worst turn out of all the AiC polls lol

pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Friday, 15 May 2009 11:10 (fifteen years ago) link

i had a copy on cassette. from what i remember i enjoyed "again" a lot, i think it was a ballad.

ch4rlie fr4m3, Friday, 15 May 2009 13:13 (fifteen years ago) link

four years pass...

love how Grind kicks off like they've been jamming on that massive riff for several bars already. great way to start a song.

Brush Away is probably the best song to get 0 votes. that one has a really evil, infected-sounding solo.

now that this album is almost, what, 20 years old, i'm starting to appreciate how fucked-up most of it sounds.

charlie h, Wednesday, 9 April 2014 06:56 (ten years ago) link

God Am should have got a vote or two, its really nice

jamiesummerz, Wednesday, 9 April 2014 09:09 (ten years ago) link

six years pass...

sure, God's all powerful....but does he have lips

I hear that sometimes Satan wants to defund police (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 1 July 2020 23:15 (four years ago) link

seven months pass...

this album's great and this poll sucks

"shame in you"

mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Sunday, 7 February 2021 05:10 (three years ago) link

It took me 25 years to realise that this is actually a great album.

charlie rex, Sunday, 7 February 2021 07:04 (three years ago) link

"Head Creeps" and "Brush Away" are amazing

he said that you son of a bitch (Neanderthal), Sunday, 7 February 2021 16:14 (three years ago) link

Chorus of “grind” makes me think of proggy allman bros southern rock or something

brimstead, Sunday, 7 February 2021 23:28 (three years ago) link

in a good way

this album is twisted

brimstead, Sunday, 7 February 2021 23:29 (three years ago) link

yes

mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Sunday, 7 February 2021 23:29 (three years ago) link

really love the slowed down acoustic arpeggio part of “over now”

brimstead, Sunday, 7 February 2021 23:29 (three years ago) link

i like to contrast it with dirt, an album full of songs in odd time signatures and with hairpin turns and secret trapdoors whereas these songs just sink and sink like their heels are stuck in quicksand

mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Sunday, 7 February 2021 23:32 (three years ago) link

Sludge Factory on Unplugged is excellent, & a fun counterpoint to the version on Tripod.

charlie rex, Monday, 8 February 2021 03:39 (three years ago) link

man this record is dark as hell, real corrosive sound

(⊙_⊙?) (original bgm), Monday, 8 February 2021 04:51 (three years ago) link

God Am has a dope snow riff during chorus

he said that you son of a bitch (Neanderthal), Monday, 8 February 2021 04:52 (three years ago) link

I'm e-bow

he said that you son of a bitch (Neanderthal), Monday, 8 February 2021 04:52 (three years ago) link

this record has legit riffs and all that but it also just sounds like it’s melting

(⊙_⊙?) (original bgm), Monday, 8 February 2021 04:56 (three years ago) link

agree with Brad about the pointed contrasts between this & Dirt. Dirt is muscular & direct, with clean breaks & sharp departures. Layne swats every note shrewdly & the guitars have teeth. Tripod meanders gauchely in comparison. the songs run a leaden course until they stall. and yet it's hypnotic & powerful & hard to look away from. and it's brave too. the ugly textures are a choice in service of the harrowing stories to be told.

charlie rex, Monday, 8 February 2021 12:10 (three years ago) link

Cantrell has a ton of interesting things going on in Brush Away.

charlie rex, Tuesday, 9 February 2021 21:25 (three years ago) link

"Frogs" is such a weird-assed song, yet it was one of my favorites despite it sounding like a fever dream

he said that you son of a bitch (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 10 February 2021 02:31 (three years ago) link

i love that i couldn't tell you another record that sounds or feels like this one

mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Wednesday, 10 February 2021 02:42 (three years ago) link

my mother got this for me for my birthday as it was released the week before I turned 15. I remember not shutting up about the album on the BBS I was chatting on the day it came out and everybody getting annoyed

he said that you son of a bitch (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 10 February 2021 02:45 (three years ago) link

riffs like creeping basement mold

mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Wednesday, 10 February 2021 02:45 (three years ago) link

ok I'm a complete dumdum, I had The Nona Tapes mockumentary on VHS and until now didn't realize that Nona was Jerry Cantrell in drag. I knew it was someone in drag but I didn't know it was JERRY.

Sean Kinney as the drunk clown was hilarious

he said that you son of a bitch (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 10 February 2021 02:48 (three years ago) link

no matter how many times i listen to "sludge factory" i am never ready for "YOUR WEAPON IS GUILT" *song completely falls apart into a different and much odder arrangement???*

mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Wednesday, 10 February 2021 03:20 (three years ago) link

oh man I love that part.

i used to just go in chat channels in the 90s and type that over and over until i got banned

he said that you son of a bitch (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 10 February 2021 03:26 (three years ago) link

interestingly though I think why the acoustic version worked is he abandoned the weird falsetto at the opening of the song and sung it in his chest voice

he said that you son of a bitch (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 10 February 2021 03:27 (three years ago) link

yeah, that weird falsetto always catches me off guard, being such an incongruent feature so early on in the song.

charlie rex, Wednesday, 10 February 2021 07:23 (three years ago) link

the vocal production all over the album is like... nonstop bizarre choices. love it

mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Wednesday, 10 February 2021 17:01 (three years ago) link

even on ostensible single "again"

HEY

mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Wednesday, 10 February 2021 17:07 (three years ago) link

this is very in character for me but while i could never say this record is better than dirt, i think it's become my favorite aic record

mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Wednesday, 10 February 2021 17:08 (three years ago) link

still obsessed with this record and listening to it daily, rarity for me

mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Monday, 15 February 2021 00:46 (three years ago) link

least favourite for me these days is Heaven Beside You, mainly because it sounds the most like a song from a JC solo album.

charlie rex, Monday, 15 February 2021 01:14 (three years ago) link

yeah I got burnt on that one so fast back in 1995 even

he said that you son of a bitch (Neanderthal), Monday, 15 February 2021 01:18 (three years ago) link

I used to dislike Nothin' song, now I kinda like its super ugly chorus (in which JC's attempts to pick up the pace are stalled by Layne miring the whole thing in slop).

charlie rex, Monday, 15 February 2021 01:19 (three years ago) link

yodalayeeeeeeeee

he said that you son of a bitch (Neanderthal), Monday, 15 February 2021 01:27 (three years ago) link

“heaven” was my gateway into AiC, and kinda Nirvana indirectly? it was played on the radio around the same time as “man who sold the world” so I sort of group them together as great wintry moody minor chord alt rock things

brimstead, Monday, 15 February 2021 02:54 (three years ago) link

it's prob weird that i didn't really dig "heaven beside you" as a radio hit but love it on the album

mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Monday, 15 February 2021 03:46 (three years ago) link

unplugged version of Heaven is one of my alltime faves

terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 15 February 2021 05:54 (three years ago) link

Kinney's a beast on Nothin' song, actually.

charlie rex, Monday, 15 February 2021 07:36 (three years ago) link

like peanut butter on the brain

mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Monday, 15 February 2021 15:48 (three years ago) link

such a weird line!

I remember hearing a radio interview with the band in 98 or 99 or so, during which Layne unexpectedly joined the call from his home in Seattle. A fan called in & asked Layne what Frogs was all about & in his typical style, he said something along the lines of: "oh it's about those green, slimy things". was nice to know he never lost his sense of humour, even towards the end.

charlie rex, Tuesday, 16 February 2021 23:19 (three years ago) link

Unplugged Heaven translates well but I miss the original solo

Vinnie, Wednesday, 17 February 2021 01:03 (three years ago) link

one month passes...

your weapon is guilt

mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Monday, 22 March 2021 14:40 (three years ago) link

Chug chuuuuuug chuuuuuug

"Salvation Army FUCK!" (Neanderthal), Monday, 22 March 2021 14:42 (three years ago) link

I've never listened to alice in chains lol

intern at pepe le pew research (Simon H.), Monday, 22 March 2021 14:46 (three years ago) link

guess I should fix that

intern at pepe le pew research (Simon H.), Monday, 22 March 2021 14:46 (three years ago) link

Like not even the singles or just not the albums?

"Salvation Army FUCK!" (Neanderthal), Monday, 22 March 2021 14:48 (three years ago) link

nothin' (that I can recall)

intern at pepe le pew research (Simon H.), Monday, 22 March 2021 14:50 (three years ago) link

Maybe heretical in the context of this thread, but listen to Dirt first.

chap, Monday, 22 March 2021 14:51 (three years ago) link

Yea Tripod works better habit heard what comes prior

"Salvation Army FUCK!" (Neanderthal), Monday, 22 March 2021 14:52 (three years ago) link

My recommended listening order:

Dirt
Jar of Flies (sorbet!)
Facelift (cock rawk!)
Sap
Tripod (aka s/t)

"Salvation Army FUCK!" (Neanderthal), Monday, 22 March 2021 14:53 (three years ago) link

oh simon should absolutely listen to dirt first

the s/t takes work, as evidenced by this thread, even though it's one of the most singular rock records ever made

mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Monday, 22 March 2021 14:56 (three years ago) link

Sap could make a rather lovely appetiser before Dirt actually.

chap, Monday, 22 March 2021 15:01 (three years ago) link

Not literally, that would be horrible.

chap, Monday, 22 March 2021 15:07 (three years ago) link

world dies i still pay taxes

mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Monday, 22 March 2021 15:30 (three years ago) link

so far the s/t feels more my speed tbh

intern at pepe le pew research (Simon H.), Monday, 22 March 2021 15:55 (three years ago) link

lol well that works too

mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Monday, 22 March 2021 16:12 (three years ago) link

"sludge factory" is one of the most apropos song titles of all time

mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Monday, 22 March 2021 16:13 (three years ago) link

I like how most of the lyrics to Again have a dumb, silly rhyminess to them, but then Layne throws a curveball with “your weak will won’t help to heal her heart”, which clearly carries deeper, more heartbreaking meaning.

charlie rex, Tuesday, 23 March 2021 07:20 (three years ago) link

wish I still owned the t-shirt I used to wear all the time with the cover of this album on the front (and the song titles on the back).

charlie rex, Tuesday, 23 March 2021 11:01 (three years ago) link

five months pass...

this is the best album ever

STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Tuesday, 14 September 2021 15:35 (three years ago) link

"Head Creeps" reminds me of my depressive summer of freshman year of high school and having zero friends.

well really the whole album but also that song

you had me at "giallo" (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 14 September 2021 22:36 (three years ago) link

Frogs is such a jam

Urbandn hope all ye who enter here (dog latin), Tuesday, 14 September 2021 23:17 (three years ago) link

Eerie tune that one

you had me at "giallo" (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 14 September 2021 23:32 (three years ago) link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiEr9OUcqpo

been listening to a lot of aic and mastodon so this cover appeared in my youtube suggestions. really great, to the point where toward the end it feels like they brought the more diseased vibe from the other songs on the album into "again"'s atmosphere

STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Monday, 20 September 2021 16:32 (three years ago) link

that's an inspired choice of cover, one that suits Mastodon & still somehow takes them outside of their orbit. but yeah, sick performance for sure.

charlie rex, Wednesday, 22 September 2021 12:08 (three years ago) link

two weeks pass...

time to call the doggies off

STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Wednesday, 6 October 2021 16:46 (three years ago) link

WORLD DIES I STILL PAY TAXES

STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Wednesday, 6 October 2021 17:28 (three years ago) link

two years pass...

"God Am" rules. I karaoked it once and this person in the crowd got mega-excited.

lyrically, it sounds cliched, but there's so many good one-liners

the aforementioned "world dies, I still pay taxes", "all bloomin' life you're feeding, can't hide sick ones you're weeding"

also that chorus, and that bridge.

never trust a big book and a simile (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 24 January 2024 19:11 (nine months ago) link

yeah I especially love the ebow (?) guitar in the chorus of “god am”.

“shame in you” is a great ballad

brimstead, Wednesday, 24 January 2024 19:15 (nine months ago) link

yeah shame in you is my favourite off this one

...eh you get the gist of it (dog latin), Wednesday, 24 January 2024 19:17 (nine months ago) link

Which is the other American band also ranked inside the Top 50 of VH1’s 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock, also formed in the late 1980s and still active today, also with a three-word name which contains 13 letters in total, all of which appear in the word “Chileans”? (apologies for tangentially related post but this tickled me when I read it in a guardian quiz)

organ doner (ledge), Wednesday, 24 January 2024 20:35 (nine months ago) link

Fuuuuck.

I would prefer not to. (Chinaski), Wednesday, 24 January 2024 20:52 (nine months ago) link

This was such a polarizing album from my friends in college that were into them, every single one of them HAAAAAAAAAAAATED this album so hard. I loved it and used to spend way too much breath trying to explain why and defend it.

Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 24 January 2024 20:55 (nine months ago) link

I never understood why people were so opposed to this one? I

...eh you get the gist of it (dog latin), Wednesday, 24 January 2024 21:01 (nine months ago) link

they’re just see through faded, super jaded

brimstead, Wednesday, 24 January 2024 22:15 (nine months ago) link

What was the answer, Ledge?!

I would prefer not to. (Chinaski), Thursday, 25 January 2024 18:50 (nine months ago) link

From what I recall, most of my friends found it too "slow" and "plodding" for their tastes.

Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 25 January 2024 19:03 (nine months ago) link

xp nine inch nails!

organ doner (ledge), Thursday, 25 January 2024 20:05 (nine months ago) link

Argh!

I would prefer not to. (Chinaski), Thursday, 25 January 2024 21:20 (nine months ago) link


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