Alice in Chains at Rock am Ring, Nürburg, Germany 2019

Alice in Chains (often abbreviated as AiC) is an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1987. Since 2006, the band's lineup has comprised vocalist/guitarists Jerry Cantrell and William DuVall, bassist Mike Inez, and drummer Sean Kinney. Vocalist Layne Staley and bassist Mike Starr are former members of the band. The band took its name from Staley's previous band, Alice N' Chains.[1][2] Often associated with grunge music, Alice in Chains' sound and style is rooted in heavy metal. The band is known for its distinctive vocal style,[3] which often included the harmonized vocals between Staley and Cantrell[4] (and later Cantrell and DuVall).[5]

Alice in Chains rose to international fame as part of the grunge movement of the early 1990s, along with other Seattle bands such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden. They achieved success during the era with the albums Facelift (1990), Dirt (1992) and Alice in Chains (1995), as well as the extended play Jar of Flies (1994). The band was plagued by extended inactivity from 1996 onward, largely due to Staley's substance abuse, which resulted in his death in 2002 and caused the band to go on hiatus. Alice in Chains reunited in 2005, with DuVall joining in 2006 as rhythm guitarist and sharing lead vocal duties; the band has since released three more albums: Black Gives Way to Blue (2009), The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here (2013) and Rainier Fog (2018).

Since its formation, Alice in Chains has released six studio albums, three EPs, three live albums, four compilations, two DVDs, 43 music videos[6][7] and 32 singles. The band has sold more than 30 million records worldwide,[8] and over 20 million records in the US alone.[9] It has had 18 Top 10 songs on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart[10] and 5 No. 1 hits,[10] and has received eleven Grammy Award nominations.[11][12] The band was ranked number 34 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock special and as the 15th greatest live band by Hit Parader.

History
1984–1989: Formation and early years

The original lineup in a 1988 promo. From left: Jerry Cantrell, Sean Kinney, Mike Starr, Layne Staley.
Before the formation of Alice in Chains, Layne Staley, a drummer at the time,[13][14] landed his first gig as a vocalist when he auditioned to sing for a local glam metal band known as Sleze after receiving some encouragement from his stepbrother Ken Elmer.[13][14] Other members of this group at that time were guitarists Johnny Bacolas and Zoli Semanate, drummer James Bergstrom, and bassist Byron Hansen.[13]

This band went through several lineup changes culminating with Nick Pollock as their sole guitarist and Bacolas switching to bass before discussions arose about changing their name to Alice in Chains.[15] This was prompted by a conversation that Bacolas had with Russ Klatt, the lead singer of Slaughter Haus 5,[16] about backstage passes.[15] One of the passes said "Welcome to Wonderland", and they started talking about that being a reference to Alice in Wonderland, until Klatt said, "What about Alice in Chains? Put her in bondage and stuff like that."[17]

Bacolas liked the name "Alice in Chains" and brought it up to his bandmates; they agreed and decided to change the band's name.[17] Due to concerns over the reference to female bondage, the group ultimately chose to spell it differently as Alice N' Chains to allay any parental concerns,[17] though Staley's mother Nancy McCallum has said she was still not happy with this name at first.[15] According to Bacolas, the decision to use the apostrophe-N combination in their name had nothing to do with the band Guns N' Roses.[18] The name change happened a year before Guns N' Roses became a household name with their first album, Appetite for Destruction, released in July 1987.