Seal, the British vocalist responsible for hits like "Kiss From A Rose" and "Crazy," is a pretty big Alice In Chains fan.
In a recent episode of Amoeba Music's "What's In My Bag" series, Seal chooses Alice In Chains' 1992 grunge classic Dirt and dives into a lengthy explanation of why he loves it so much. And it's not just a rant about why Alice In Chains is great – Seal dives into everything from why the band's writing is great, to why Layne Staley's vocals are fantastic, down to a few of his favorite songs. It's very cool, especially considering Seal's immense talent and how he's obviously out there listening to a lot of different genres (as we all should be).
"This band [was] really significant for me because when I left England at the beginning of my career, grunge had just kicked off. I remember coming to Los Angeles and being in a cab and talking to the driver. We got talking about music, and he said 'well, what kind of music do you like? What are you interested in?' I said well 'I'm really curious about this grunge thing. I really like it' and he said 'who are the bands [you like]?' I said, you know 'I love kind of Nirvana, I like Pearl Jam.' He says 'oh they're cool. Have you heard of this band Alice In Chains?' and I went 'no' and he put on 'Man in the Box' and that was it. I heard Layne's voice, Layne and Jerry singing together with those close harmonies and [I went] 'yes.'
"Out of that whole grunge period, they were by far my favorite and I think the most underrated [band]. There were some great songs on here, the obvious one being 'Rooster', which Jerry wrote about his father coming home for Vietnam. I love the artistry obviously, but there's a real sexiness to their music. It's dark, it's beautiful, it's melancholic but it's really sexy and it's weighty.
"They had something that all of those other bands from that era, that grunge era – they had something truly unique. They had a soul that was almost like an r&b-type soul that, even though it didn't sound like r&b, that guttural soul as opposed to just kind of being in your head – hence 'headbanger'. They had stuff that got you right down here. I'm a big fan of Alice In Chains and Layne's voice and his approach, God rest his soul."
