Slayer’s Kerry King Names His Favorite Alice in Chains Song
Though Slayer and Alice in Chains come from somewhat different musical spheres, they have quite a few ties between the two of them. Shortly after the 30th anniversary of Alice's album Dirt, Slayer's Kerry King has named his favorite song by the Seattle rockers, and it's on that album.
Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax took Alice in Chains out on the road with them in 1991 for the U.S. leg of their Clash of the Titans tour. The metal community didn't seem to take to the young rockers at first, but once their Facelift hit "Man in the Box" was put into heavy rotation on MTV, they became more widely accepted and noticed a difference in the way the metal crowds reacted to them.
Tom Araya of Slayer actually contributed vocals to the song "Iron Gland," sometimes referred to as "Untitled," which was included on Dirt. However, it's not King's favorite.
"'Them Bones' is such a great song — super short, heavy, great video and these really haunting vocal melodies," King told Metal Hammer. "Those dudes were untouchable on their first two records, they were really vibing as a band and Layne [Staley] was just a superstar.
"They played on the 'Clash of the Titans' [tour], and on the first couple of dates we’d be backstage going, ‘Who is that with that fucking voice?’ And we started going out to watch the entire set every night. It was just one of those moments," he continued.
Fellow thrasher Scott Ian of Anthrax also recently praised Alice in Chains' performance during that tour, noting that Megadeth's Dave Mustaine introduced him to them with "Man in the Box" while the bands were collectively deciding on who they wanted to open the shows.
"I remember the first show they played on the 'Clash of the Titans' tour, and I expected them to just be up there shoegazing, but they were jumping around, headbanging, Layne was in the crowd’s faces. He’d jump in the crowd and fight people," Ian recalled to Metal Hammer.
Check out our video on why Alice in Chains' Dirt is one of the greatest albums of all time.