Alice in Chains Discography & Videos

1.We Die Young (1990); 2.Facelift (1990); 3.Sap (1992); 4.Dirt (1992); 5.Jar of Flies (1994); 6.Alice in Chains (1995); 7.MTV Unplugged (1996); 8.Black Gives Way to Blue (2009)

 

 

 

We Die Young

Released: July 1990, Length: 10:08 Label: Columbia

1. We Die Young 2:31

2. It Ain't Like That 4:38

3. Killing Yourself 2:59

 

"We Die Young" is a single EP by the American rock band Alice in Chains. It was released in July 1990 and is their first studio EP. This EP was only released on vinyl and cassette, and is thus a sought-after collector's item amongst Alice in Chains fans.

In the liner notes of 1999's Music Bank box set collection, guitarist Jerry Cantrell said of the song:

"I'd just temporarily moved in with Susan Silver because Sean and I had just had a fight. So I was riding the bus to rehearsal and I saw all these 9, 10, 11 year old kids with beepers dealing drugs. The sight of a 10 year old kid with a beeper and a cell phone dealing drugs equaled "We Die Young" to me.

"We Die Young" became a top five metal track at the time of its release. The music video was released in 1990 and was directed by Rocky Schenck, who would later direct the music videos for "Them Bones", "What the Hell Have I", and "Grind". The video features the band performing while various people drown in pools of blood. The video is available on the home video releases Live Facelift and Music Bank: The Videos. An early music video for the song directed by The Art Institute of Seattle is also available on Music Bank: The Videos.

Ned Raggett of Allmusic called the song "two and a half minutes of pure heavy metal rampage" and "a masterpiece of arrangement and production."

 "We Die Young" and "It Ain't Like That" were released on the band's debut album, Facelift, later that year (1990). A demo version of "We Die Young" was released on Nothing Safe: Best of the Box (1999), the only song released on the compilation which was not available on Music Bank. The studio version was included on the compilation albums Music Bank (1999) and The Essential Alice in Chains (2006). The version of the song "Killing Yourself" is exclusive to this EP; a faster-tempo demo version was later released on Music Bank.

 

Facelift 

Released August 21, 1990, Length 54:15

1. We Die Young 2:32

2. Man in the Box 4:46

3. Sea of Sorrow 5:49

4. Bleed the Freak 4:01

5. I Can't Remember 3:42

6. Love, Hate, Love 6:26

7. It Ain't Like That 4:37

8. Sunshine 4:44

9. Put You Down 3:16

10. Confusion 5:44

11. I Know Somethin' ('Bout You) 4:22

12. Real Thing 4:03

Facelift is the debut studio album by the American rock band Alice in Chains. The album was released on August 21, 1990. The album is the bands second highest selling album and has been certified triple-platinum by the RIAA for shipments of three million copies in the United States.

Background and recording

Local promoter Randy Hauser became aware of the band at a concert, and offered to pay for demo recordings. However, one day before the band was due to record at the Music Bank studio in Washington, police shut down the studio during the biggest marijuana raid in the history of the state. The final demo was named The Treehouse Tapes, and found its way to the music managers Kelly Curtis and Susan Silver, who also managed the Seattle-based band Soundgarden. Curtis and Silver passed on the demo to Columbia Records' A&R representative Nick Terzo, who set up an appointment with label president Don Ienner. Based on The Treehouse Tapes (a 1988 demo tape sold by the band at shows), Ienner signed Alice in Chains to Columbia in 1989.

Alice in Chains soon became a top priority of the label, who released the band's first official recording in July 1990, a promotional EP We Die Young. The EP's lead single, "We Die Young", became a hit on metal radio. After its success, the label rushed Alice in Chains' debut album into production with producer Dave Jerden. Facelift was recorded at London Bridge Studio in Seattle and Capitol Recording Studio in Hollywood from December 1989 to April 1990. Footage from the Facelift sessions can be found on Alice in Chains' Music Bank: The Videos DVD.

Music and lyrics

Guitarist Jerry Cantrell stated the album was intended to have a "moody aura" that was a "direct result of the brooding atmosphere and feel of Seattle." Regarding the music for "Man in the Box", Cantrell said, "That whole beat and grind of that is when we started to find ourselves; it helped Alice become what it was." Cantrell also credited "I Can't Remember" for helping the band find its sound. "It Ain't Like That" came out of a riff that Cantrell cited as a mistake, however he called it "a cool mistake." Cantrell called "Love, Hate, Love" the "masterpiece of that record," adding about the song that Staley's vocals are "amazing" and that it features one of his favorite guitar solos he ever performed. Regarding the lyrical content, Cantrell said he wrote "We Die Young" after "riding the bus to rehearsal and [seeing] all these 9, 10, 11 year old kids with beepers dealing drugs. The sight of a 10 year old kid with a beeper and a cell phone dealing drugs equaled "We Die Young" to me." In a recorded interview with Fuse TV, vocalist Layne Staley stated that the lyrics for "Man in the Box" are about censorship in the mass media, and "I was really stoned when I wrote it." Discussing "Bleed the Freak", Cantrell stated that the lyrics represent "us against the world, those people who put you down." Cantrell wrote "Sunshine" about his mother's death.

Release and reception

The resulting album, Facelift, was released on August 21, 1990, peaking at number 42 in the summer of 1991 on the Billboard 200 chart. Facelift included the singles "We Die Young", "Man in the Box", and "Sea of Sorrow", all of which had accompanying music videos. The album was a critical success, with Steve Huey of Allmusic citing Facelift as "one of the most important records in establishing an audience for grunge and alternative rock." It was also the first grunge album to reach the top 50 in America on the Billboard 200, the first to go platinum, and second to Soundgarden's Louder Than Love to reach number one on Heatseekers, thanks mainly to the hit songs "We Die Young" and "Man in the Box".

Facelift was not an instant success, selling under 40,000 copies in the first six months of release, until MTV added "Man in the Box" to regular daytime rotation. The single hit number 18 on the Mainstream Rock charts, with the album's follow up single, "Sea of Sorrow", reaching number 27, and in six weeks Facelift sold 400,000 copies in the US. Facelift was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America by the end of 1990. Alice in Chains was nominated for a Best Hard Rock Performance Grammy Award in 1992 for "Man in the Box", but lost to Van Halen for their 1991 album For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge. The music video for "Man in the Box" was nominated for Best Heavy Metal/Hard Rock Video at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards.

Sap
Released: February 4, 1992, Length: 20:49, Label: Columbia

 

1. Brother 4:27
2. Got Me Wrong 4:12
3. Right Turn 3:17
4. Am I Inside 5:09
5. Love Song 3:44

Sap is the second studio EP by the American rock band Alice in Chains. It was released on February 4, 1992 through Columbia Records.

Background and recording

Following the tour for Facelift, Alice in Chains entered the studio to record demos for its next album, but ended up recording five acoustic songs instead. While in the studio, drummer Sean Kinney had a dream about "making an EP called Sap." The band decided "not to mess with fate", and Sap was recorded in 1991 with producer Rick Parashar.

Music and lyrics

The EP features guest vocals by Ann Wilson from the band Heart, who joined vocalist Layne Staley and guitarist Jerry Cantrell for the choruses of "Brother" and "Am I Inside". The EP also features Mark Arm of Mudhoney and Chris Cornell of Soundgarden, who appeared together on the song "Right Turn", credited to "Alice Mudgarden" in the liner notes. The song was featured in the 2001 film Black Hawk Down.

Regarding the lyrical content, Cantrell said he wrote "Brother" about his relationship with his younger brother. The song specifically refers to the time period after Cantrell's parents divorced when his younger brother went off to live with his father while he stayed with his mother, and Cantrell said that the song "was a way of trying to build a bridge." Commenting on "Got Me Wrong", Cantrell said he wrote the song about a relationship where one person thinks he or she can change the other person, and added that the song speaks of "the different ways that men and women see each other."

Release and reception

On February 4, 1992, Alice in Chains released their second EP, Sap. Cantrell said that Alice in Chains released Sap "without any fuss or fanfare so as the real Alice fans could find it." The EP was released while Nirvana's Nevermind was at the top of the Billboard 200 charts, resulting in a rising popularity of Seattle-based bands, and the term grunge music. Sap was soon certified gold.

The album was re-released on March 21, 1995 when "Got Me Wrong" became a hit after its inclusion on the soundtrack to the 1994 film, Clerks. The re-released version included lyrics and slightly different artwork. The aforementioned song, as well as "Brother", was performed live during Alice in Chains' MTV Unplugged concert.

In addition to the CD, the album was also released in a limited edition double vinyl along with Jar of Flies (Jar of Flies was on sides 1 and 2, Sap was on side 3, and an etching of the Alice in Chains logo was on side 4). In the UK, Sap and Jar of Flies were issued as a double CD, as Sap had not previously had a UK release.

Dirt 
Released September 29, 1992, Length 57:35

1. Them Bones 2:30

2. Dam That River 3:09

3. Rain When I Die 6:01

4. Down in a Hole 5:38

5. Sickman 5:30

6. Rooster 6:15

7. Junkhead 5:09

8. Dirt 5:16

9. God Smack 3:50

10. Intro Dream Sequence (Iron Gland) 0:43

11. Hate to Feel  5:16

12. Angry Chair 4:47

13. Would? 3:28

Dirt is the second studio album by the American rock band Alice in Chains and was released on September 29, 1992, through Columbia Records. Peaking at number six on the Billboard 200, the album was well received by music critics and has since been certified four-times platinum by the RIAA, making Dirt the band's highest selling album to date.

The album spawned five singles: "Would?", "Them Bones", "Angry Chair", "Rooster", and "Down in a Hole". The songs on the album focused on depression, anger, drug use, war, death, and other emotionally heavy topics.

Background and recording

The recording of Dirt began in the spring of 1992. Producer Dave Jerden, who had previously worked with the band on their debut, Facelift, wanted to work with them again. He admired vocalist Layne Staley's lyrics and voice, and lead guitarist Jerry Cantrell's guitar riffs. For the songs "Them Bones", "Rain When I Die," "Down in a Hole", "Dirt," and "Would?", Cantrell brought in his black Gibson Les Paul and an amplifier he had bought when he was seventeen which had much heavier distortion than any amplifier he had used in the past. Dirt was recorded at Eldorado Recording Studio in Burbank, California, London Bridge Studio in Seattle, and One on One Studios in Los Angeles from March to May 1992.

When recording the album, Staley had previously checked out of rehab in Portland, Oregon and quickly went back to using heroin. Drummer Sean Kinney claimed in a 2005 interview that Staley had told Kinney that he was extremely high on heroin and marijuana during the recordings of "Down in a Hole" and "Angry Chair" as well as taking Oxycodone for back pain. Cantrell had also agreed with Kinney's report, saying that Staley, Jerden and the rest of the band would smoke marijuana in the studio room, even saying that Staley would shoot heroin in front of everyone. Jerden later said that he was told Staley felt animosity toward him dating back to the Dirt sessions due to Jerden repeatedly recommending to Staley that he get sober at the time. Jerden said, "Apparently he got all mad at me [during the Dirt sessions]...And what's my job as a producer? To produce a record. I'm not getting paid to be Layne's friend."

Staley was not the only one who went through heavy drug use; Sean Kinney and bassist Mike Starr were also struggling with alcohol addiction. Cantrell was also going through severe clinical depression from the deaths of his mother and his friend, Andrew Wood, and used Xanax, an anxiety medication prescribed by his doctor to ease his depression as well as his heavy drinking on tour... "I was going through a tough time, everyone was, but that's what made the album stronger and more intense, I look back on that period of time as the longest four years of sex, drugs and alcohol we all went through," Cantrell said in a 2007 interview with The Seattle Times.

Music and lyrics

With songs written primarily on the road, the material has an overall darker feel than Facelift. "We did a lot of soul searching on this album. There's a lot of intense feelings." Cantrell said, "We deal with our daily demons through music. All of the poison that builds up during the day we cleanse when we play". Themes on the record integrated topics of depression, anti-social behaviour, drug use, war, death, entrapment, deep relationships and various other heavy topics. Cantrell stated that the album was the band's best and most intense work, and that they all intentionally for years wanted to make a "brutal" record.

Staley later expressed regret about the lyrical content of some songs on Dirt, explaining, "I wrote about drugs, and I didn't think I was being unsafe or careless by writing about them...I didn't want my fans to think that heroin was cool. But then I've had fans come up to me and give me the thumbs up, telling me they're high. That's exactly what I didn't want to happen."

Cantrell said he wrote "Them Bones" about "mortality, that one of these days we'll end up a pile of bones." Cantrell was inspired to write "Dam That River" after a fight he had with Kinney in which Kinney broke a coffee table over his head. "Down in a Hole" was written by Cantrell to his "long-time love" and commented that "it's hard for us to both understand...that this life is not conducive to much success with long-term relationships." "Sickman" came together after Staley asked Cantrell to "write him the sickest tune, the sickest, darkest, most fucked up and heaviest thing [Cantrell] could write." "Rooster" was written by Cantrell for his father, who served in the Vietnam War. His nickname was "Rooster". Cantrell described the song as "the start of the healing process between my Dad and I from all that damage that Vietnam caused." Discussing the title track "Dirt", Cantrell stated that "the words Layne put to it were so heavy, I've never given him something and not thought it was gonna be the most bad-assed thing I was going to hear." Cantrell cited "Junkhead" and "God Smack" as "the most openly honest" songs about drug use. "Iron Gland" was developed out of a guitar riff that Cantrell would play that annoyed the other band members, so he created the song (adding in a reference to Black Sabbath's "Iron Man") and promised to never play the guitar riff again. It features Tom Araya of Slayer on vocals. "Hate to Feel" and "Angry Chair" were both composed solely by Staley, and Cantrell has expressed his pride in seeing Staley grow as a songwriter and guitarist. The album's final track, "Would?", was written by Cantrell and concerns the late lead singer of Mother Love Bone, Andrew Wood. Cantrell said the song is also "directed towards people who pass judgments."

Release and reception

Dirt was the band's breakthrough album. Upon its release in September 1992, Dirt peaked at number six on the Billboard 200. Dirt was released on the same day as another important album of the grunge era, Core by Stone Temple Pilots. Dirt granted Alice in Chains international recognition. Dirt was certified four times platinum status in the United States, platinum status in Canada and gold status in the UK. The album had sold 3,358,000 copies in the United States as of 2008.

The album was a critical success and is often considered to be one of the best rock records of the 1990s, with Steve Huey of Allmusic saying "Dirt is Alice in Chains' major artistic statement and the closest they ever came to recording a flat-out masterpiece. It's a primal, sickening howl from the depths of Layne Staley's heroin addiction, and one of the most harrowing concept albums ever recorded. Not every song on Dirt is explicitly about heroin, but Jerry Cantrell's solo-written contributions (nearly half the album) effectively maintain the thematic coherence—nearly every song is imbued with the morbidity, self-disgust, and/or resignation of a self-aware yet powerless addict." Michael Christopher of PopMatters praised the album saying "the record wasn't celebratory by any means -- but you'll be hard pressed to find a more brutally truthful work laid down -- and that's why it will always be one of the greatest records ever made." Chris Gill of Guitar World called Dirt "huge and foreboding, yet eerie and intimate," and "sublimely dark and brutally honest."

Dirt included the singles "Would?", "Them Bones", "Angry Chair", "Rooster", and "Down in a Hole", all of which had accompanying music videos. Dirt spawned five top 30 singles, including "Rooster", "Them Bones", and "Down in a Hole", and remained on the charts for nearly a year. At the 1993 Grammy Awards, Dirt received a nomination for Best Hard Rock Performance. The band also contributed the song "Would?" to the soundtrack for the 1992 Cameron Crowe film, Singles, whose video received an award for Best Video from a Film at the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards. Dirt was named 5th best album in the last two decades by Close-Up magazine. Dirt was also included in the book 1001 albums to listen to before you die.

Jar of Flies
Released: January 25, 1994, Length: 30:49, Label: Columbia

1. Rotten Apple 6:58 
2. Nutshell 4:19
3. I Stay Away 4:14
4. No Excuses 4:15
5. Whale & Wasp 2:37
6. Don't Follow 4:22 
7. Swing on This 4:04

Jar of Flies is the third studio EP by the American rock band Alice in Chains, released on January 25, 1994 through Columbia Records. It is the first EP in music history to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 Chart and was well-received by critics.

Background and recording

Following Alice in Chains' extensive 1993 world tour for Dirt and appearance at Lollapalooza, the band members returned home to Seattle to find themselves evicted from their residence after failing to pay the rent. The band then moved into London Bridge Studio feeling lonely and depressed. Vocalist Layne Staley said the band "just wanted to go into the studio for a few days with our acoustic guitars and see what happened. We never really planned on the music we made at that time to be released. But the record label heard it and they really liked it. For us, it was just the experience of four guys getting together in the studio and making some music."

Written and recorded in one week in September 1993, Jar of Flies was produced by the band members themselves, and marks the first studio recording with bassist Mike Inez. Guitarist Jerry Cantrell said, "That was the first time we'd written with Mike Inez...The whole Jar of Flies EP proved to both us and the fans what a talented and valid part of the band Mike was. He plays the nastiest, darkest shit but he's got the sweetest heart in the world."

According to Staley, the title for the album came from a science experiment Cantrell conducted in third grade: "They gave him two jars full of flies. One of the jars they overfed, the other jar they underfed. The one they overfed flourished for a while, then all the flies died from overpopulation. The one they underfed had most of the flies survive all year. I guess there's a message in there somewhere. Evidently that experiment had a big impact on Jerry."

Music and lyrics

Jar of Flies well demonstrates Alice in Chains' broad musical scope and features a variety of predominately acoustic songs ranging from dark, depressed passages like "Rotten Apple", "Nutshell" to the more upbeat anthems like "No Excuses". It also boasts various instrumentation not otherwise common in the Alice in Chains catalog; the opening track, "Rotten Apple", features a talk box effect, and "Don't Follow" includes both harmonica and soul-driven vocals. However, Cantrell's signature electric guitar style still plays a prominent role in correspondence with the acoustic rhythms. "Whale & Wasp" also offers another Alice in Chains rarity in its purely instrumental nature, as does the jazz/country-inspired "Swing On This", the closing track of the album.

Release and reception

While it was never originally intended for a public release, Columbia Records released Jar of Flies on January 25, 1994. Jar of Flies debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, becoming the first ever EP—and first Alice in Chains release—to top the charts. It was the only EP ever to gain this distinction until 2004, when a mashup EP by Jay-Z and Linkin Park titled Collision Course also achieved the number one spot ten years later. Jar of Flies has since been certified double platinum. Paul Evans of Rolling Stone called the EP "darkly gorgeous," and Steve Huey stated "Jar of Flies is a low-key stunner, achingly gorgeous and harrowingly sorrowful all at once."

Jar of Flies included the singles "No Excuses" and "I Stay Away", both of which had accompanying music videos. "No Excuses", which was a number one single on the Mainstream Rock charts, was Alice in Chains' most successful radio song until 2009. The second single, "I Stay Away", reached number ten on the Mainstream Rock charts, while the final single "Don't Follow", reached number 25. The final single released from the EP was a bold offering for a grunge-oriented band; a promo of the string instrumental "Whale & Wasp" was released as a promo-only single in January 1995. "I Stay Away" was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance in 1995.

Packaging

The first pressing of the CD contained plastic flies in the spine of the jewel case. In 1995, the album was briefly re-released in a limited edition, short-lived format called CD Plus. It contained a second CD of drivers in order to access special computer content on the CD. The key extras were lyrics, a discography and the full versions of both of the videos released from the EP, "No Excuses" and "I Stay Away". The picture on the CD itself is the purple/orange photo negative of the one found on the regular release CD.

In addition to the CD, the album was also released in a limited edition double vinyl along with Sap (Jar of Flies was on sides 1 and 2, Sap was on side 3, and an etching of the Alice in Chains logo was on side 4). In the UK, Jar of Flies and Sap were issued as a double CD, as Sap had not previously had a UK release.

Alice in Chains
Released: November 7, 1995, Length 64:50, Label: Columbia

1. Grind 4:45
2. Brush Away 3:22
3. Sludge Factory 7:12
4. Heaven Beside You 5:27
5. Head Creeps 6:29
6. Again 4:05
7. Shame in You 5:35
8. God Am 4:08
9. So Close 2:45
10. Nothin' Song 5:40
11. Frogs 8:18
12. Over Now 7:03

Alice in Chains (known informally as Tripod) is the eponymous third studio album by the American rock band Alice in Chains. Released on November 7, 1995, it was the follow-up to the highly successful Dirt. It marks the band's last studio album to feature vocalist Layne Staley, who would die of a drug overdose in 2002, and the last until Black Gives Way to Blue was released in 2009 featuring new vocalist William DuVall.

Background and recording

After the release of Jar of Flies, vocalist Layne Staley entered rehab for heroin addiction. The band had been scheduled to tour during the summer of 1994 with Metallica and Suicidal Tendencies, but while in rehearsal for the tour, Staley began using heroin again. Staley's condition prompted the other band members to cancel all scheduled dates one day before the start of the tour, putting the band on hiatus. While Alice in Chains was on hiatus, Staley joined the "grunge supergroup" Mad Season while guitarist Jerry Cantrell worked on material originally intended for a solo album. In January 1995, Cantrell, bassist Mike Inez, and drummer Sean Kinney began jamming on Cantrell's material. In the spring of 1995, Staley was invited back to join the band. Staley said that "we started to split apart and went different ways, and we felt like we were betraying each other."

In April 1995, Alice in Chains entered Bad Animals Studio in Seattle with producer Toby Wright, who had previously worked with Corrosion of Conformity and Slayer. Few of the songs on the album had been written before the sessions began, so Cantrell's material was used as a starting point. The band would then give the demo tapes to Staley so he could write lyrics. The album was finished in August 1995. Cantrell said, "It was often depressing, and getting it done felt like pulling hair out, but it was the fucking coolest thing, and I'm glad to have gone through it. I will cherish the memory forever," while Staley added, "I'll cherish it forever, too, just because this one I can remember doing." While in the studio, a rough mix of the song "Grind" was leaked to radio, and received major airplay. On October 6, 1995, the band released the studio version of the song to radio via satellite uplink. The mockumentary, The Nona Tapes, features interview footage regarding the album.

Music and lyrics

Cantrell, in an interview around the release of the album, said, "Our music's kind of about taking something ugly and making it beautiful." With the exceptions of "Grind", "Heaven Beside You", and "Over Now", the lyrics are all written by Staley. Staley said, "I just wrote down whatever was on my mind...so a lot of the lyrics are really loose. If you asked me to sing the lyrics to probably any one of them right now, I couldn't do it. I'm not sure what they are because they're still that fresh." Staley added, "For a long time I let problems and sour relationships rule over me instead of letting the water roll off my back...I thought it was cool that I could write such dark, depressing music. But then instead of being therapeutic, it was starting to drag on and keep hurting. This time I just felt, 'Fuck it. I can write good music, and if I feel easy and I feel like laughing, I can laugh.' There's no huge, deep message in any of the songs. It was just what was going on in my head right then. We had good times, and we had bad times. We recorded a few months of being human."

Of the album's four singles, "Grind", "Heaven Beside You", "Over Now", and "Again", three feature Cantrell on lead vocals. Cantrell also wrote the lyrics for the songs for which he sang lead vocals. Regarding "Grind", Cantrell said it was written at "pretty much at the height of publicity about canceled tours, heroin, amputations, everything, thus it was another 'FUCK YOU for saying something about my life' song." "Heaven Beside You" was written by Cantrell after the break-up of his girlfriend of seven years. He described the song as "Another attempt to reconcile the fact that my life and paths are tearing me apart from the person I love." Commenting on "Over Now", Cantrell said of the song: "A lot of deep shit in there, a big epic number. Plus you can get away with a hugely long tune near the end of a record." "Brush Away", "Head Creeps", "Shame In You", "So Close", and "Nothin' Song" have never been played live in concert by the band.

Release and reception

Although not as successful as Dirt, the album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, and has since been certified double platinum, despite lack of support through touring. It then fell completely out of the Top 10 the following week. The band opted not to tour in support of Alice in Chains, adding to the rumors of drug abuse. When asked about the frustration of not touring to support the record, Cantrell provided some insight into how Staley's addictions led to repercussive tensions within the band: "Very frustrating, but we stuck it out. We rode the good times together, and we stuck together through the hard times. We never stabbed each other in the back and spilled our guts and do that kind of bullshit that you see happen a lot."

It was noted for being a break away from the externally applied grunge label affixed to the group. Rolling Stone described the album as a "musical rebirth," and The New York Times remarked that in contrast to the raw distortions associated with grunge, Alice in Chains' sound was "cleanly delineated and meticulously layered." Jon Wiederhorn of Rolling Stone called the album "liberating and enlightening, the songs achieve a startling, staggering and palpable impact."

Alice in Chains included the singles "Grind", "Heaven Beside You", and "Again", all of which had accompanying music videos. "Grind" and "Again" were nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance in 1996 and 1997, respectively. The music video for "Again" was nominated for Best Hard Rock Video at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards.

Packaging

The album is also known informally as "Tripod" due to a three-legged dog on the front cover and George Formby Jr. with a computer-generated third leg, on the back. The compact disc was initially available in two versions: one with a transparent purple jewel case with a translucent yellow-green spine and the other with the color scheme reversed. The purple jewel CD case is currently out of print and the yellow-green edition is now quite hard to find. The cassette edition features a transparent purple cassette or transparent yellow-green case. It was also released on double vinyl with a purple label on the A-side and a yellow-green label on the B-side of both discs. Disc 1 featured tracks 1-6, disc 2 featured tracks 7-12 and both discs had 3 tracks per side.

MTV Unplugged
Released: July 30, 1996, Length: 71:26, Label: Columbia

1. Nutshell 4:58
2. Brother 5:27
3. No Excuses 4:57
4. Sludge Factory 4:36
5. Down in a Hole 5:46
6. Angry Chair 4:36
7. Rooster 6:41
8. Got Me Wrong 4:59
9. Heaven Beside You 5:38
10. Would? 3:43
11. Frogs 7:30
12. Over Now 7:12
13. Killer Is Me 5:23

MTV Unplugged is a live album and DVD by Alice in Chains. It was recorded at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Majestic Theatre as part of the MTV Unplugged series of concerts and contains live, acoustic versions of the band's songs.

Overview

Alice in Chains resurfaced on April 10, 1996 to perform their first concert in two and a half years for MTV Unplugged, a program featuring all-acoustic set lists. The show first aired on MTV on May 28, 1996. A live album of the performance was released in July 1996, which debuted at number three on the Billboard 200, and was accompanied by a home video release. The album has received platinum certification by the RIAA and the home video release has received gold certification by the RIAA. A full length DVD of the concert was also later released in 1999. The songs "Angry Chair", "Frogs", and "The Killer Is Me" were cut from the original MTV broadcast but are included on both the CD and home video releases. The album was re-released as a CD/DVD package on September 18, 2007.

The performance was one of the band's final appearances with vocalist Layne Staley. The performance featured some of the band's highest charting singles, including "Down in a Hole", "Heaven Beside You", and "Would?", and introduced a new song, "The Killer Is Me". The show marked Alice in Chains' first appearance as a five-piece band, adding second guitarist Scott Olson. It is often hailed as one of the most memorable editions of MTV Unplugged, with a reputation comparable to the famous editions featuring Nirvana, Eric Clapton, and Bob Dylan.

Mike Inez's bass had the phrase "Friends Don't Let Friends Get Friends Haircuts..." written on it, directed at the members of Metallica who were in the audience and had recently cut their hair short. It was revealed on the Metallica episode of Behind the Music that it was simply a light-hearted jab between bands, and not the hot topic that fans made it out to be. Inez and drummer Sean Kinney did pay tribute to Metallica, however, playing the intro to their hit song "Enter Sandman" just before "Sludge Factory" (this can be heard on the CD and the DVD).

Black Gives Way to Blue

Released: September 25, 2009, Length: 54:10, Label: Virgin/EMI

1. All Secrets Known 4:43
2. Check My Brain 3:58
3. Last of My Kind 5:53
4. Your Decision 4:43
5. A Looking in View 7:06
6. When the Sun Rose Again 4:00
7. Acid Bubble 6:56
8. Lesson Learned 4:17
9. Take Her Out 4:00
10. Private Hell 5:38 
11. Black Gives Way to Blue 3:04

Black Gives Way to Blue is the fourth studio album by the American rock band Alice in Chains, released in September 2009. The first Alice in Chains album in nearly fourteen years, Black Gives Way to Blue is their first release with new vocalist/guitarist William DuVall, who took over from the late Layne Staley. This is the first Alice in Chains album released on Virgin Records and their first venture away from Columbia, who handled all of their previous releases. The album has been certified gold by the RIAA on May 26, 2010, with shipments exceeding 500,000 copies.

The span of nearly fourteen years between the self-titled album and Black Gives Way to Blue marks the longest gap between studio albums in Alice in Chains' career. The band had been working on new material since early 2006, shortly before hiring DuVall as their new singer. By April 2007, Alice in Chains had been writing and demoing songs for the album, but the band did not show further signs of progress until October 2008, when they announced that they had begun recording with producer Nick Raskulinecz in the studio. The writing and recording process was completed on March 18, 2009, guitarist Jerry Cantrell's 43rd birthday.

Background and recording

In 2005, Cantrell, bassist Mike Inez, and drummer Sean Kinney reunited to perform a benefit concert in Seattle for victims of the tsunami disaster that struck South Asia. On March 10, 2006, the surviving members performed at VH1's Decades Rock Live concert, honoring fellow Seattle musicians Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart. The band followed the concert with a short United States club tour, several festival dates in Europe, and a brief tour in Japan. Comes with the Fall vocalist DuVall joined Alice in Chains as lead singer during the band's reunion concerts.

Kinney mentioned in a February 2006 interview that he would be interested in writing new material, but not as Alice in Chains. He explained, "If we found some other dude, I'd love to move on, write some cool tunes and change the name and go on like that. I don't see continuing as Alice and replacing somebody. ... We're not trying to replace Layne. We want to play these songs one more time, and if it seems like the right thing to do, it'll happen. I don't know how long it will go or where it will take us. It's kind of a tribute to Layne and our fans, the people who love these songs. It's not some 'I'm broke and I need the money' situation. We love playing together."

In April 2007, the band's "official blogger", Baldy, posted an update on progress towards the writing of the album, saying that Alice in Chains had been in Los Angeles, California for five days, "sat through three rehearsals and one demo recording session, listened to several other demos" and the new material was "kicking his ass right out of his pants." In September 2008, it was reported that Alice in Chains would enter the studio that October to begin recording a new album for a summer 2009 release. Recording began on October 23, 2008 at the Foo Fighters' Studio 606 in Northridge, California with producer Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Rush, Stone Sour, Trivium, Shadows Fall, Death Angel). In mid-2009, Cantrell told Revolver Golden God Awards that Alice in Chains had finished recording the album on March 18 (his 43rd birthday) and were in the process of mixing it for a September 29 release.

Music and lyrics

In April 2009, a blog post from the band expressed the hope that "these songs will strike a chord and make a similar impact on all of you out there that were moved by this band in the first place." Kinney said that the music on the album doesn't deviate too far from the band's past music, adding, "It's nice to sound like yourself...It's not really that hard, actually. I know people are blown away that we really sound like ourselves, and I understand the apprehension, but it's not really that big a stretch to sound the way that you sound." There are hard rock as well as acoustic songs featured on the album. In addition, Elton John appears on the album's title track.

Kinney said that there are lyrics on the album that deal with original vocalist Layne Staley. He elaborated, "There's not a day that goes by that I don't think of him. And there's a lot to address, with all of that stuff coming to the forefront. A lot has happened since 1995, a lot has happened in our lives and we've never talked about it or discussed it publicly. So some of that is what's addressed here. That's the way we operate, it's about what really happened in life. We're not really the fast cars and chicks songs. It's basically what's happened in life, but a lot has happened since the last record. And it's on this record." The title track "Black Gives Way to Blue" was written as a tribute to Staley. Regarding the lyrics to other specific songs, Cantrell said the first single from the album, "A Looking in View", "basically speaks to any number of things that keep you balled up inside." The second single, "Check My Brain", features lyrics dealing with Cantrell's move from Seattle to Los Angeles in 2003. The third single, "Your Decision", contains lyrics about "surviving pain and choosing to live."

Release and reception

On April 25, 2009, it was reported that the new Alice in Chains album would be released on their new label Virgin/EMI, making it the band's first label change in their 20-plus year career. Alice in Chains revealed parts of their new album at a listening party on July 14, 2009 in Los Angeles. They played the entire album over the PA system and performed an acoustic set including versions of songs "Your Decision" and "Black Gives Way to Blue". Another listening event took place on July 21, 2009 in New York. The UK magazine Classic Rock awarded the album nine out of ten stars in its review section in September 2009. Metal Hammer magazine awarded the album 10/10 in September while Nigel Britto of The Times of India lauded the album as a "stunner", later going on to describe it as a "huge, huge success".

On June 30, 2009, one of the album's songs, "A Looking in View", was released as the first single from the album. It was made available for a limited time as a free download through the official Alice in Chains website in early July. The music video for "A Looking in View" debuted via Alice in Chains' official website on July 7, 2009. The second single "Check My Brain" was released to radio stations on August 14, 2009, and was made available for purchase on August 17, 2009. The music video for "Check My Brain" premiered on September 14, 2009. As of late-September "A Looking in View" has peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and at number 27 on the Billboard Rock Songs chart and "Check My Brain" has peaked at number 92 on the Billboard Hot 100, at number 75 on the Hot 100 Airplay chart, at number one on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks and Billboard Rock Songs charts, and at number one on the Billboard Hot Alternative Rock Tracks chart.
Black Gives Way to Blue debuted at #5 on the Billboard 200, selling 126,000 in its first week, and entered the UK charts at number 19 on October 5, 2009.
To coincide with the band's European tour, Alice in Chains released its next single, "Your Decision", on November 16 in the UK and in the US on December 1. The album's third single debuted on the US Rock Songs chart at #32, and has since charted at #1 in the US Rock Songs, at #1 the US Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks and at #4 in the US Alternative Songs charts.
The fourth single, "Lesson Learned", went to radio on June 22 and reached #1 in the US Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks.
Black Gives Way to Blue received Gold certification by the Canadian Recording Industry Association in February 2010, signifying sales of over 40,000 units. The album was certified Gold in the by the RIAA, in May 2010. Black Gives Way to Blue was voted number 2 in Kerrang!'s top twenty albums of 2010 and in Metal Hammer's Top 50 albums of the year. The album won the 2010 Revolver Golden Gods Award in the category Album of the Year, beating out Slayer, Mastodon, Megadeth and Heaven and Hell.

Music videos

More music videos have been released in support of Black Gives Way to Blue than for any previous Alice in Chains release. Videos were released for "A Looking in View", "Check My Brain", "Your Decision", "Acid Bubble" (which is available as an interactive video on Alice In Chains.com), "Lesson Learned", and "Last of My Kind", which highlighted performances from the entire fall 2010 tour. Three of the videos ("A Looking in View", "Acid Bubble", and "Lesson Learned") do not feature the band in any way, which is a first. (The music video for "Get Born Again" featured glimpses of the band.)

HOLE ****

Hole is an American alternative rock band that originally formed in Los Angeles in 1989. The band is fronted by vocalist/songwriter and rhythm guitarist Courtney Love, who co-founded Hole with former songwriter/lead guitarist Eric Erlandson. Hole achieved considerable commercial and critical success throughout the 1990s.

The band made a splash in the underground rock scene in 1991 with their debut album, Pretty on the Inside, which was musically and lyrically abrasive, noted for its predominant punk and noise rock influence. Their second studio album, Live Through This (1994), which featured a more streamlined and grunge-oriented sound, received vast critical accolades upon release and has been regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time, as well as the group's most notable work.

As the band progressed into the later 1990s, they incorporated elements of pop rock into their sound; the band's third album, Celebrity Skin (1998), fused hard rock with various pop elements, contrasting to their rougher punk rock-oriented past. Celebrity Skin went on to be the band's most commercially successful album, garnering them immense critical attention as well as several Grammy nominations.

In 2009, seven years after disbanding in 2002, Love announced she was reforming Hole with former Larrikin Love guitarist Micko Larkin. Erlandson, however, stated that no reunion could take place contractually without mutual involvement between Love and Erlandson. On January 1, 2010, a website promoting Hole's latest release, Nobody's Daughter, was launched, with links to various social media pages including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and MySpace. Despite the dispute between Erlandson and Love, the new Hole album was released on April 27, 2010.

Overview

Hole released three official albums before their split, Pretty on the Inside (1991), Live Through This (1994) and Celebrity Skin (1998), each of which reflect a distinctive and progressive sound and approach. The band's first release, Pretty on the Inside was a no wave, noise rockpunk-influenced record, experimenting with alternate tunings. The band's second release, the critically acclaimed, Live Through This showcased a more power pop, and grunge-influenced approach, still infused with a punk rock sound. The band's third release, Celebrity Skin was prominently powerpop and pop-influenced. Hole also released a number of EPs during their career. and

Hole also experienced a number of line-up changes for each album. Courtney Love and Eric Erlandson were the only constant members throughout the group's career. Pretty on the InsideCaroline Rue and bassist Jill Emery, both of which left the band in 1992, to be replaced by Patty Schemel and Kristen Pfaff, respectively. This new line-up recorded Live Through This. Seattle musician Leslie Hardy was also a touring member for a short time, however did not contribute to any studio work, despite some reports. After Pfaff's death in 1994, Melissa Auf der Maur was recruited, at Billy Corgan's suggestion, as bassist. Prior to the recording of Celebrity Skin, Schemel left the group for reasons which remain disputed, and was replaced by Samantha Maloney, who left the group after the band's tour in 1999. Auf der Maur also left in late 1999, leaving Love and Erlandson the only two remaining members. After attempts at a fourth album, Love and Erlandson announced the split of Hole less than three years later. was recorded with original drummer

In June 2009, Love – via a blog by music magazine NME – announced Hole was reforming with former Larrikin Love guitarist, Micko Larkin and Melissa Auf der Maur. Auf der Maur later said she had "no clue" of plans for a reunion, and co-founder Eric Erlandson stated via SpinMercury Records (Island Def Jam) and released Nobody's Daughter on April 26 and 27, 2010 worldwide. The first single was "Skinny Little Bitch". magazine that no reunion could take place without his involvement, legally. Despite this, Hole was signed to

History

Background

Hole formed in Los Angeles in August 1989 by its two central members, Courtney Love and Eric Erlandson.

Courtney Love had grown up in Oregon and had a fairly troubled childhood, bouncing between foster homes and juvenile systems due to her anti-authoritarian and often reckless behavior. Her parents were both fledgling hippies; her mother came from a wealthy adoptive family, and her father had been a roadie for The Grateful Dead in San Francisco in the late 1960s. Love became legally emancipated when she was 16 and traveled to England, Ireland, and Japan on a trust fund before returning to Oregon and falling in with Portland's punk scene in the 1980s. Throughout her teenage and early adult years, Love worked as a stripper in order to support herself and briefly attended several colleges intermittently. Fascinated by music, she had several unsuccessful attempts at starting bands, mostly with friend Kat Bjelland. She started two bands in her early adulthood, both of which were fruitless; firstly, Sugar Babydoll in Portland, and later, The Pagan Babies in San Francisco; she also briefly sang in Faith No More. Love made a slight break into the entertainment industry when she landed roles in two Alex Cox films, Sid & Nancy (1986) and Straight to Hell (1987), but was dissatisfied with the experience and eventually moved to Los Angeles, intent on forming a band. When asked if there were any traumatic or negative experiences that motived her to be a musician, Love replied, "Start with day one and keep going. The exact moment of my birth and onward. I always wanted to be in a band. The concept of life just hit me one day."

Erlandson was a California native and had grown up in San Pedro. He began playing music after several traumatic experiences in his teenage years, one of which was finding a dead body: "I was walking along the tide pools [in San Pedro], and I found a dead body. I thought they were filming a movie, it was this body that was pure white, it had been thrashed around a few days in the water, hitting the rocks. I walked up close to it and 'oh my God!'... then I saw Kiss and Aerosmith and it was all over. I don't know. I had to be a rock star." Erlandson attended Loyola Marymount University where he studied economics and marketing, and then traveled to Europe in 1988, trying to figure out "what to do with his life". He was working as a royalties manager at Capitol Records when he met Love, managing the royalties of Paul McCartney and Tina Turner.

Formation and early years (1989–1990)

Hole formed after Eric Erlandson replied to an advertisement, placed by Courtney Love, in punk rock fanzine Flipside. The advertisement simply read: "I want to start a band. My influences are Big Black, Sonic Youth, and Fleetwood Mac." Love had several responses to the ad, but chose Erlandson. In retrospect, she said: "He had a Thurston [Moore] quality about him. He was tall, skinny, blonde. He dressed pretty cool, and he knew who Sonic Youth were... he's an intensely weird, good guitarist, and he's the glue that kept me together."

Love has joked that she took the name for the band from "my husband's favorite drinking spot",Later... with Jools Holland, claimed the name was inspired by a quote from Euripides' "Medea" which read "there's a hole that pierces my soul." Additionally, Love has cited a conversation with her mother as being a primary influence for the band's name. In an interview with Flipside magazine in fall 1990, Love said of the band's name: but this claim is dubious since she met Kurt Cobain, her second husband, the year after Hole was formed. Love, during in an interview on

“

...the name came from my mom. She's like, a therapist, and I said "I had a really fucked childhood", and she said "Well Courtney, you can't walk around with a big hole inside of yourself about it". Then I realized that a lot of different kinds of anger came from my hole, this hole that needs to be fed— that angst inside a person is like their hole... Like when you feel human emptiness and you have to feed it. We're not trying to be obscene, we're not trying to be gross, we're not trying to be anything, we're just a vapor of fucking hell that passes through your hole and out the other side, and if it leaves a fucking impression, then it's fucking great.

”

The band's first rehearsal took place in Fortress Studios in Hollywood, where Love, Erlandson and original bassist Lisa Roberts "played something noisy" while "they [Courtney and Lisa] started screaming their poetry at the top of their lungs for two or three hours." Initially, the band had no percussion, until Love met drummer Caroline Rue at a Gwar show after noticing that she had been closely watching the drummers onstage. They also recruited a third guitarist, Mike Geisbrecht, and began to book local concerts. Hole's first show took place at Nightmoves— a small club in Huntington Beach— in mid 1989. The band played two more shows in October and November of 1989, at The Shamrock, and once again at Nightmoves.

The band's early shows were notable for featuring lots of experimental playing, distortion, and guitar feedback— a style that would be heavily present in their eventual studio material— and Courtney Love interacting a lot with the audience. At the beginning of their third show at Nightmoves, the theme from Phantasm (1979) was played, and Love introduced the band, saying: "We're Hole. Some of you will like us, and some of you will hate us." Several notable songs were performed at these shows, including the band's eventual debut single, "Retard Girl", as well as "Phonebill Song", "Berry", and "Turpentine", all of which would eventually make it onto studio recordings.

Love very early on noted that the band was "heavily into lyrics": "[Lyrics] are the most important thing to me. I used to write lyrics for a band when I was 16 and they wouldn't even look at them. That was bogus. Lyrics are important. I think you should have something to say." The band's attitude in its early years also had a very pro-feminist stance, particularly from Love. In an interview on the topic, she referred to Poison as "drag queens" and said, "they dress up like women therefore they get to confront emotional issues. The whole feminization of men in heavy metal speaks for itself. Well, scratch that, because I want to transcend this whole 'chick thing'. Fuck this chick thing. The whole thing with music is that it's cathartic, and if it wasn't cathartic then I wouldn't want to play it."

Before Hole began to develop a fanbase, guitarist Mike Geisbrecht left and was replaced briefly by Errol Stewart, who left a few weeks later. Roberts also left the group at some point in early 1990. After Geisbrecht and Roberts' departure, Hole recruited Jill Emery on bass and began recording studio material, as well as playing (and often headlining) local rock shows in Los Angeles. After several months of live performances, the band released their debut single: "Retard Girl", and followed it with "Dicknail", released on Sympathy for the Record Industry and Sub Pop, respectively. The band became known at the time for Love's wild onstage behavior, and her ability to really "rile up" the crowd. As the group began to make decent money as an underground band, A&R reps and music labels started to appear at their shows. After one show, the band was approached by a major music label representative, who told Love they needed a more "full sound", to which she replied "fuck off".

Pretty on the Inside and tour (1991-1992) 

Hole released their first full-length album Pretty on the Inside (1991) on Caroline Records. In searching for a label to release the album, the group was approached by Sub Pop and Sympathy for the Record Industry, who had previously released singles for them, but Love declined their offers. Instead, the band signed onto Caroline Records, and Love sought Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth to produce the album for her. Sending a letter, a Hello KittySST record" (either referring to Sonic Youth's album SisterEVOL). Gordon agreed, and Gumball's Don Fleming assisted in production.

Pretty on the Inside received vast praise from underground critics, especially in the United Kingdom, where the band did an extensive tour with Daisy Chainsaw, Mudhoney, and Therapy?. Love was touted as a "darling" of the UK alternative rock scene. Hole also toured North America and the rest of Europe in support of the record. Upon the album's release, it was branded by underground music critics as "loud, ugly and deliberately shocking." A 1991 review in Spin said that the album "revolves around a fascination of the repulsive aspects of L.A.— superficiality, sexism, violence, and drugs. Love is the embodiment of what drives the band: the dichotomy of pretty/ugly... The pretty/ugly dynamic also comes across in Hole's music... a song like "Teenage Whore" at first comes across like a ranting noisy rage, but underneath is a surprisingly lush melody." Spin also ranked the album in their "20 Best Albums of the Year" list, and it was voted album of the year by New York's Village Voice.

The album spawned one single, "Teenage Whore", which entered the UK Indie Chart at number one, as well as the band's debut music video for the song "Garbadge Man". Musically and lyrically, the album was very abrasive, characterized by overt noise and feedback, chaotic guitar riffs, graphic lyrics, and a variation of Love's vocals ranging from whispers to guttural screaming.Neil Young and Bauhaus In later years, Courtney Love referred to the album as "unlistenable". The album also featured guitar riffs admittedly lifted verbatim from songs.

A fair amount of drama occurred during the band's tour to promote Pretty on the Inside; on December 19, 1991, roadie Joe Cole attended a Hole show at the Whiskey A Go Go in Los Angeles with roommate/friend Henry Rollins of Black Flag, and was murdered in a robbery after arriving home from the concert. Love was an acquaintance of Cole's, and the band's second album would be dedicated to him. At the end of the tour, while playing in London with Mudhoney at their final show, Love had her clothes torn off of her while stage diving; an incident that would later become the inspiration for the song "Asking for It"— a similar retread of themes heavily present in the band's 1991 single, "Dicknail".

According to Love, after jumping off the stage, her dress and underwear were torn off of her by audience members, people "shoved their fingers inside of her", and she was "completely naked" when she got back onstage: "I felt like Karen Finley. But the worst thing of all was that I saw a photograph of it later— someone took a picture of me right when this was happening, and I had this big smile on my face like I was pretending it wasn't happening. I can't compare it to rape because it's not the same. But in a way it was. I was raped by an audience— figuratively, literally, and yet, was I asking for it?" Nonetheless, the band ended their tour, and, in 1992, Love met Kurt Cobain of Nirvana (the two had initially crossed paths in 1989 in Portland, Oregon), and became pregnant.

Mainstream success and Live Through This (1993-1995)

Following the success of Pretty on the Inside, Hole began working toward a second album in 1992. In the midst of this, Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain were married, and gave birth to their daughter, Frances, in the summer of that year. Amidst the events in Love's personal life, she had purportedly wanted to transition from Hole's dirty punk rock style to a more melodic, pop-influenced rock format on their next album, which bassist Jill Emery did not want to partake in. "Courtney wanted to be pop, she wanted to change. I don't mind changing, I love it, but I didn't want to go from A to Z— it just felt fake", said Emery. Emery left the band shortly after Love married Kurt Cobain, and drummer Caroline Rue followed. In an advertisement to find a new bass player, Love wrote: "[I want] someone who can play ok, and stand in front of 30,000 people, take off her shirt and have fuck you written on her tits. If you're not afraid of me and you're not afraid to fucking say it, send a letter. No more pussies, no more fake girls, I want a whore from hell."

As a result of Pretty on the Inside's success and the furious press coverage around Courtney Love and husband Kurt Cobain, Hole was signed to Geffen Records with an eight-album contract in late 1992, around the time they recruited Janitor Joe bassist, Kristen Pfaff and drummer Patty Schemel. After another well-praised tour of Europe and the United States in 1993 – the first leg of which was for promotion of their single, "Beautiful Son" – Hole began work on their major label debut at Triclops Studios in Atlanta, Georgia in the fall of 1993. In the spring of 1994, Love and husband Kurt Cobain individually checked themselves into rehab clinics for purported heroin addiction, just weeks before the release of Hole's upcoming second album. The album, titled Live Through This, was released on April 12, 1994, and in tragic timing— four days prior, Love's husband Cobain committed suicide in their Seattle home.

Amidst the emotional impact and hysteria surrounding Cobain's death, Live Through This was a massive critical success, and spawned a slew of successful singles: "Doll Parts", "Violet", "Miss World" and "Softer, Softest". The album went multi-platinum and was hailed "Album of the Year" by Spin magazine and received unanimously rave reviews from major music periodicals. Despite the critical praise, furious rumors circulated insinuating that Cobain had written the album, though the band vehemently denies this. They did, however, state that Cobain provided backing vocals on "Asking for It" and "Softer, Softest" while visiting the studio. Incidentally, Love has revealed that the alternate mix of "Asking for It" featuring Cobain, was planned to be released as a single, however after Cobain's death the idea was scrapped.

Almost immediately prior to the album's release, the final song, "Rock Star", was removed and replaced by the outtake "Olympia". It was widely believed at the time that this was because its lyrics, which read: "How'd you like to be Nirvana?/ So much fun to be Nirvana / A barrel of laughs to be Nirvana / Say you'd rather die", appeared inappropriate in the wake of Cobain's suicide. By the time the decision to remove "Rock Star" was made, the album artwork and various other inserts had already been printed, and since "Olympia" was put in its place, "Olympia" is labelled as "Rock Star" and serves as its official title.

With Love mourning Cobain's death, the band pushed forward to prepare for a tour to promote the massively successful album, but it came to a halt when bassist Kristen Pfaff died that June of an apparent heroin overdose. Hole pulled out of the upcoming Lollapalooza festival, which was also going to include Cobain's band, Nirvana. The band disappeared from the media spotlight in the summer of 1994, and on September 1, played their first headlining show since the album's release at the Phoenix Theatre in Toronto, dedicating it to Kristen. The band, now with Melissa Auf der Maur on bass, recruited by Love at Billy Corgan's suggestion, toured extensively throughout late 1994 and 1995, and the tour became notorious for its press coverage surrounding Love's fragile emotional state. Appearances included the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas, Saturday Night Live, the Big Day Out festival, MTV Unplugged, the Reading Festival, Lollapalooza 1995 and the 1995 MTV Video Music Awards, at which Hole performed "Violet" and were nominated for awards.

During this time period, Love's stage antics had grown wild, garnering much attention from the press. At Lollapalooza on July 4, 1995, in George, Washington, Love punched Bikini Kill singer Kathleen Hanna in the face and pelted her with candy and a burning cigarette, after Hanna had allegedly made a drug joke about Love's two-year-old daughter. Love went to court over the case and was sentenced to anger management classes. More controversy was stirred at a Pittsburgh Lollapalooza concert in the fall of 1995, when Love stormed offstage with the band in tears after an audience member threw shotgun shells at her, referencing unsubstantiated conspiracy theories that she may have been involved in husband Kurt Cobain's death. A similar event had happened several months prior— at an April 1995 show at the Paradiso in Amsterdam, Love cursed at an audience member for throwing things at her, and eventually stormed off the stage with the band after playing only four songs.

The band released their first EP, Ask for It in September 1995; it featured 1991 Peel session recordings of "Doll Parts" and "Violet", as well as covers of The Wipers' "Over the Edge" and "Pale Blue Eyes" by The Velvet Underground. After the band's tours in 1995, a final music video for the album was filmed for "Violet", and Hole entered the studio to begin work on a new album. There were multiple attempts to record Hole's third album, and one such attempt was in New Orleans in winter 1995. Interviews with Erlandson have confirmed the authenticity of this session, and the style is thought to have been a transition between the alternative style of "Live Through This" and the band's later pop-influenced sound, however no material from the sessions has surfaced.

Hiatus and retrospective releases (1996–1997)

Hole was thought to be on hiatus in 1996, due to Love's rising movie career which skyrocketed when she landed a lead role in The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996). Despite the reported hiatus and Love's acting career, the band recorded and released a cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Gold Dust Woman" for The Crow: City of Angels (1996), the band's first studio song to feature Melissa Auf der Maur on bass.

During the supposed hiatus, Hole released two retrospective albums: firstly, their second EP, titled The First Session (1997), which was composed of a complete version of the band's first recording session at Rudy's Rising Star in Los Angeles in March 1990, some of which had been bootlegged widely years prior. It featured the group's first ever recorded track, "Turpentine", which had previously been unreleased to the public, as well as their first single, "Retard Girl", and its two b-sides.

The same year, the band released their first compilation album, My Body, The Hand GrenadeLive Through This recording sessions which was included on this release was the controversial song, "Old Age". The history and writer of this song was the subject of controversy among Courtney Love detractors who believed Kurt Cobain had written Hole's second album, an allegation for which no evidence has ever surfaced. It was eventually learned "Old Age" had been written by Kurt Cobain for the Nevermind sessions in 1991, then given to Hole, whereupon its lyrics were rewritten by Love, who "tried to make it goth". Another song featured on the album was "20 Years in the Dakota", which discussed Yoko Ono's struggles as John Lennon's wife, a position which Love herself has been frequently compared to, due to the perception that Ono drew Lennon away from The Beatles and that Love drew Cobain away from Nirvana. The album also featured a demo version of "Miss World", as well as recordings from a 1995 MTV Unplugged performance. (1997), which was produced chiefly by Eric Erlandson; Love designed the packaging and artwork on the album. The album was composed as a retrospective on the band's career, featuring early singles, mid-period b-sides and recent live tracks, illustrating their path from a "tiny L.A. basement studio into alternative rock superstardom". One outtake from the

Although Hole as a band did not perform during 1996 and 1997, members of Hole performed separately, including Love's guest appearance at a Smashing Pumpkins' show in February 1996, at which she performed "Silverfuck" and "Farewell and Goodnight", with Smashing Pumpkins' frontman, and former boyfriend, Billy Corgan. Auf der Maur and Schemel also performed a show in Toronto in July 1996. Erlandson also collaborated with Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth and director Dave Markey in the short-lived project, Rodney & the Tube Tops, with whom he released one single.

Celebrity Skin and disbandment (1997–2002)

Hole's third studio album, Celebrity Skin (1998) adopted a complete new sound for the band, which had become known for its grunge and punk rock roots. Featuring a more pop-oriented sound, Celebrity Skin was a critical success with strong sales and successful singles, including the title track, "Celebrity Skin", "Malibu", and "Awful". Eric Erlandson told Rolling Stone, "I still think a lot of Celebrity Skin is my Johnny Thunders influence coming up – which Courtney just fucking hates."

The album was recorded in Conway Recording Studios in Los Angeles throughout 1997, after many "fruitless attempts" in Miami, London and New York. Although Patty Schemel is listed as drummer in the liner notes of the record, she did not actually appear on the record as she had left the band prior to the main recording sessions and was in turn replaced by a session drummer (the band would eventually recruit drummer Samantha Maloney for the tour). The studio work on Celebrity Skin took almost a year and a half— according to Erlandson, Courtney was more focused on song-writing and singing and "did not care about her instrument". Eric also noted that Billy Corgan, who co-wrote a large portion of the album, played bass on "Hit So Hard".

In reaction to public speculation that Kurt Cobain had written the band's second album, Celebrity Skin's liner notes listed explicitly every musician's contribution to the record, specifying authorship for every song. Love wrote a comprehensive amount of the lyrics, while Erlandson, assistant-producing alongside Michael Beinhorn, had a hand in every song. Co-songwriters on the album also included Melissa Auf der Maur, Patty Schemel, Jordon Zadorozny of Blinker the Star, and Charlotte Caffey of The Go-Go's, each contributing pieces to a number of songs, however the most notable contributor was Billy Corgan, who co-wrote five of the twelve songs on the album.

Nonetheless, as with the rumors surrounding the writing credits on Live Through This, unwarranted controversy stirred over the writing credits. Upon its release, Corgan made references that he should have "been given credit" for writing the entire album. One journalist took note of the controversy when reviewing the album, stating: "Back in 1994, the acclaim for Live Through This was undercut by whispers that Love's late husband wrote the album. Combine those conspiracy theories with the unfounded but persistent rumor that Cobain was actually murdered, and it is no surprise that, in the song "Celebrity Skin", Love calls herself a walking study in demonology."

The album received unanimously positive reviews, with praise from music periodicals such as Rolling Stone, NME, and Blender, as well as a four-star review from the Los Angeles Times,calling it a "wild emotional ride" sure to be "one of the most dissected and debated collections of the year." The album charted incredibly well, peaking at number 9 on the Billboard 200, and garnering the band its first and only number 1 single, "Celebrity Skin", which topped the Modern Rock Tracks. "Malibu" was the album's second successful single, making it to number 3 on the Modern Rock Tracks. Commercially speaking, Celebrity Skin went on to be the band's greatest success.

In the winter of 1998, Hole went on tour to promote Celebrity Skin, and made further appearances at festivals throughout 1999 after an extensive American and European tour. Hole and Marilyn Manson toured together, with Manson promoting his then-recent album, Mechanical Animals. Hole dropped out of the tour nine dates into it, due to both the majority of the fans being Manson's, who were not very interested in the Hole performances, and the financial arrangement for the bands (50/50 cost and revenue splitting) as a reason for discontinuing the tour (Hole had relatively little production costs and ending up paying a large amount for Manson's high cost production)". Nonetheless, Melissa Auf der Maur considered the tour "the best [we] ever were as a live band", and documented the Celebrity Skin concerts by taking photographs, several of which were featured in National Geographic music editorials. As noted by Auf der Maur, it was a "daily event" for Love to invite audience members onstage to sing with her for the last song at nearly every concert performed during the tour.

On June 18, 1999 during Hole's set at the Hultsfred Festival in Sweden, a 19-year old girl died after being crushed by the mosh pit behind the mixing board. The band did not comment on her death. Hole played its final show at Thunderbird Stadium in Vancouver on July 14, 1999. A few months later, Auf der Maur quit Hole and went on to become a touring bassist for The Smashing Pumpkins. Despite being the only two remaining members of the group, Love and Erlandson still continued with Hole. The band's final release was a single for the movie Any Given SundayCelebrity Skin sessions, and was another song co-written and included bass-work by Corgan. (1999). "Be a Man", released in March 2000, was an outtake from the

Love and Erlandson officially disbanded Hole via a message posted on the band's website in 2002. Their more than decade-long run as a band produced three studio albums that generated sales of 8 million in total. After the split, the four musicians each took on projects of their own. Erlandson continued to work as a producer and session musician, eventually forming the experimental group RRIICCEE with controversial artist, Vincent Gallo and Love began a solo career, releasing her debut, America's Sweetheart in 2004. Melissa Auf der Maur also embarked on a solo career, and released her self-titled debut album in 2004, which also included Erlandson on lead guitar on the track, "Would If I Could." Her second album, Out of Our Minds, was released on March 30, 2010.

Hole's original body of work includes thirteen singles, six Grammy nominations, three LPs, three EPs, one compilation album and 10 music videos.

Reformation and Nobody's Daughter (2009–present)

On June 17, 2009, NME posted two in-depth blogs, and links to two interviews, of Courtney Love announcing the reunion of Hole. The article was primarily focused on Love's upcoming solo release, Nobody's Daughter, yet it claimed with the "rock Courtney back in action, this music could only come out under one name, HOLE". According to the blog post, Melissa Auf der Maur would once again be bassist, with Micko Larkin replacing Eric Erlandson, and a drummer was not mentioned. There was also mention of "tours next year". However, days later, Melissa Auf der Maur, interviewed in Toronto where she was appearing at the North by Northeast music festival, said she had "no clue" about the band's reported reunion and denied the NME claim she had, or was asked to, contribute vocals to the album or had been asked to tour with the purportedly reunited band saying, "I actually don't know [about the reunion]...I arrived at [the music festival in Toronto] and I heard that Hole were getting back together from people sending me links," she said.

Eric Erlandson has also stated in Spin magazine that contractually no reunion can take place without his involvement, therefore Nobody's Daughter would remain Love's solo record, as opposed to a "Hole" record. Love then responded to Erlandson's comments in a Twitter post, claiming that "he's out of his MIND, Hole is MY band, MY name, and MY Trademark". Shortly after this quarrel Love began posting new Hole logos, stage ideas, and guitar pick ideas on her Facebook page, implying, though not confirming, that Hole had reformed.

In December 2009, three upcoming shows were announced in New York, Milan and Amsterdam, at The Standard Hotel's Boom Boom Room, the Magazzini Generali and Paradiso respectively, though flyers from the New York show credit the performer solely as Courtney Love. The official Paradiso website issued a press release the same month stating Melissa Auf der Maur would partake in the show, but when asked by a fan on her official Facebook fan page, Auf der Maur claimed that "[this] mysterious press release is news to me [...] putting my detective hat on now [...] more on this soon." The Paradiso's website claimed in January 2010 that "many quarrels are settled."

Auf der Maur stated in an interview with New York Magazine in April, 2010: "Even in rock and roll, I believe there's a right and wrong. I'm still close friends with Eric [Erlandson, co-founder and former guitarist of Hole], and he's the only one who can do anything on his end about it. He's a peaceful man who has made great efforts in his own life to find peace. I feel protective of the legacy of Hole and my memories in it. It wasn't even so much about doing a reunion. I told Courtney, 'I support the retrospective of everything done in that time. If and when you're ready to look at that, I'll support it.' What's so funny is that she can come out and say that I asked her to do a reunion. That's not exactly what was said. What I said was that I think a retrospective would be incredibly valuable right now and that's obviously not where she's at. ... I've always wished the best for her. I want her to be happy. I want her to be musical. I care about her well-being. When she gets an idea in her mind, that's what she stays with regardless of what other people think or feel. I put my foot down when she shockingly declared Hole was playing its first shows. All I was really trying to say was that I hope it doesn't blow the opportunity for a real reunion and retrospective. You can’t just do Hole Two again later." 

Hole launched a new website, and an official Facebook page on January 1, 2010. The band played its first performance since the reunion on February 12, 2010 on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross playing "Samantha". On February 17, 2010 they played a full set at the O2 Shepherds Bush Empire, with support from Little Fish. Further shows were performed at 02 Academy Brixton and SPIN's annual SXSW music festival, with further dates being added for the United States and United Kingdom in April and May 2010. Television appearances, in efforts to promote the upcoming album, include performing on Late Show with David LettermanJimmy Kimmel Live! on April 29 and on Later with Jools Holland on the 4th of May. on April 27,

On March 16, the first Hole single in ten years, and first from Nobody's Daughter was released. "Skinny Little Bitch" was the most added song on alternative radio and the second most added song on active rock in early March in the United States, debuting at #32 on Billboard's Alternative Singles Chart. "Pacific Coast Highway" is expected to be the second single from the album. On April 14, Eric Erlandson confirmed the contract he had mentioned in SPIN in 2009, stating that "in the agreement, she agreed that she would not use the name Hole commercially without [Eric]'s approval. She was intent on using her name at that point, figuring it had more value than the name Hole." He also claimed "[Courtney]'s management convinced me that it was all hot air and that she would never be able to finish her album. Now I’m left in an uncomfortable position" and disputed claims that he and Love reached a financial settlement over the name Hole, stating that "[they] haven’t settled the issue. There’s been no financial settlement. [Eric is] sure what she meant to say is that she hoped for a settlement in the future. But nothing’s happened yet. Courtney and her management continue to roll along with their plans to, in my opinion, ruin the Hole legacy, just for some cheap thrills."

Nobody's Daughter was released on April 26 and 27 worldwide via Mercury Records (Island Def Jam). Hole is now being managed by Crush Management which manages other groups such as Fall Out Boy, Train and Panic! at the Disco.

On March 28, 2011, Love, Erlandson, Patty Schemel and Auf der Maur appeared at the New York screening of Schemel's documentary Hit So Hard: The Life & Near Death Story of Patty Schemel at the Museum of Modern Art. The appearance was first time in thirteen years that all four members appeared together in public. Schemel has expressed a desire to record with Love, Erlandson and Auf der Maur stating "nothing has been discussed, but I have a feeling." After the screening, the four took part in a Q&A session where Courtney Love stated "so for me, as much as I love playing with Patty — and I would play with her in five seconds again, and everyone onstage — if it's not moving forward, I don't wanna do it. That's just my thing. There's rumblings; there's always bloody rumblings. But if it's not miserable and it's going forward and I'm happy with it… that's all I have to say about that question."