One of the originators of grunge, but most definitely known for there underlying metal sound, Alice in Chains spent more time on the charts than most of the grunge bands of the 90’s. Their music was very dark and edgy. The band had a tough time within itself and Layne Staley (lead singer) had a harder time dealing with his problems. This eventually broke the band apart. In 1992 they released their second album Dirt, which went multi-platinum. The album was a great success but it actually drove the band in two different directions. Jerry Cantrell wanted to go toward the mainstream and Layne wanted to be more into the underground scene. These problems kept the band from touring during most of their popularity. With their first release they went on tour with such acts as Van Halen and Iggy Pop and started to grow some fan base. During their release of Sap, Nirvana hit the scene and Alice in Chains was quickly catapulted into the mainstream. There was an ongoing suspicion that Layne Staley was involved in Heroin and when Jar of Flies was released the gossip was flying. Not only was the album a success, but they did not tour for it. Finally after three years of not touring, they performed on MTV’s Unplugged. After this there was a couple of other decent albums, some live tracks, and a box set. Layne Staley was found dead of heroin/cocaine overdose in April 2002. This put the band on hiatus and Jerry Cantrell went off on his solo career. The band is pulling together for a couple of shows in the next couple of months with Heart.