Leave it to a thread about 90s music featuring one of my favorite bands and albums EVER to start with to bring me out of a self-imposed hiatus. Good work, Mister Schmevin.
Anyhoot - I'd first heard Dirt around the same time as I got into Images and Words, which was late 1992/early 1993. Both blew me away in different ways - I&W because I&W, and Dirt because... well, I guess it spoke to the still angry teen hiding in a 22-23 year old's body (yes, I'm a fogey and damn proud of it LOL). Plus, as a prior alto in Choir from the time I was 11-12 to about 14-15... Layne's voice literally blew my mind with where he could take it. That, and the pentatonic harmonies that he and Jerry came up with - thanks to JERRY'S time in Choir... just fucking WOW. Dirt remains one of my favorite albums ever, it's the CD I've had the longest, and it's aged VERY well. The sun logo on the back cover (modified) is my only tattoo (so far) simply because I love AiC, Layne drew it, and I'd gotten it done a little over a year after Layne died as a tribute to him and as a 33rd birthday present to me.
I also remember going to see Collective Soul and Aerosmith back in 1994 and the deep cuts from Dirt were the background music before Aerosmith hit the stage. I was in hog heaven, and people were giving me REALLY strange looks for singing along to the song Godsmack. Until they realized it was Alice in Chains playing in the background lol. And speaking of that song...
Too bad Godsmack had to dick ride them by using the song's name for their band.
ANY Alice in Chains fan worth their salt will agree with this wholeheartedly. That, and how Sully did a weasely back pedal years later when people asked about it in interviews - he claimed that he'd gotten it from either an Aerosmith quote or song about "how God smacked you" or some such horseshit, but Fraudsmack started as an AiC COVER BAND, ffs. The last straw was their album Faceless. FACELESS. With songs similar to songs on AiC's Facelift. REALLY?! Fuck you, Sully Erna.
Whoops. Sorry 'bout the long text wall. xD
As for Jagged Little Pill... it had its time, but it didn't age well for me at all. In fact it's the reason why I can't stand Alanis to this day. IMO, she's a talentless hack.