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Cinemetal

I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THE FUCK ALICE IN CHAINS’ “SUNSHINE” IS ABOUT, BUT I’M GUESSING IT’S HEROIN

 Monday, June 1st, 2009 at 4:09pm by

I haven’t listened to Facelift in the longest time, but last week I gave it a spin and suddenly remembered how much more I like side-B (remember those?) than side-A. Not that side-A doesn’t rock, ’cause clearly it does, but goddamn, there are some under-appreciated gems on the flipside.

One of those is “Sunshine,” a song I always thought was fucking epic, even if I have no idea what the fuck Layne Staley thinks he’s singing about. “Then some dude came down to touch the mother/Mother touched, and dude ain’t here no more.” Uhhh… okay, Layne.

Here’s the band performing the song at the Silver Dollar Saloon in Michigan in ’91.

-AR

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  • http://www.roxwel.com Pick-Axe Bobby

    Agreed whole-heartedly. Side B is the jam.

  • The Overmatt

    That’s actually my favourite song off that album. Great tune for sure.

  • major

    favorite aic tune for sure

  • http://www.myspace.com/northwestroyale Blake

    Definitely love that song. The way it ended always struck me as epic.

  • bearbomb

    Well done! For other “under-appreciated” AIC tunes, see “Rotten Apple,” “Hate To Feel,” “Shame In You,” “God Am,” and “It Ain’t Like That” to name a few. Love this band.

    • http://www.myspace.com/437666934 Noel

      yesssss hate to feel! jus what i was thinkin.

  • Paul

    Side B has “Put You Down” which is a badass little rocker. The opening riff is fun to play.

  • http://www.roxwel.com Pick-Axe Bobby

    Hell yes! I’m jamming side B now. Great suggestion.

  • ceth

    As a side note,just looked at their site and as of April 13th their new album with William Duvall is tracked and finished and in the production and artwork stages.

  • shit sandwich

    I dont care noo morrrrreeee

    Good call with that

  • Harry

    It’s cute when Jerry and Layne sing together.

    Also the last song, “Real Thing”, is awesome. “Sexual chocolate, baby!” quoth Layne.

  • Sean

    Thanks for bringing this up, ended up digging out Facelift for the drive to work today. Great way to start the day. Still fondly remember seeing them play at Clash of the Titans and watching Layne sing while barely being able to stand because he was so wasted. Never missed a note tho. God I feel old when I think how long ago that was….

  • Glenn

    Interesting to watch it from ’91 — right as things were changing in rock, right on that slope between genres. You have Layne’s punkish short hair, languid vocals, and generally feminized appearance competing with Mike Inez’s glam posing, and all the metal hair flipping he and Jerry do (plus the drummer’s metal style of playing even though he’s relegated to playing really simple stuff). I remember those years having been involved in the L.A. pop metal scene. This new music all seemed so boooooring to us. Still, we knew our music had been played out, but watching so many of the metal musicians — good players, all — try to mold themselves into grunge just felt awkward and desperate. I grew to really like AIC’s music, but the transitional years from a metal-dominated scene to one dominated by anything-but-metal was strange.

  • Another Opinion

    Would you rather the lyric be: “Fire destruction death cliche rawwwrrr!”

    Suggested Reading: Plato’s Republic Book X

  • B3N

    On a disk full of great lyrics my favorite is from the Real Thing:

    “I grew up, went into rehab,
    You know them doctors never did me no good.
    They said ‘Son, you’re gonna be a new man’
    I said ‘thank you very much and can I borrow fifty bucks…’”

  • http://myspace.com/joelbailey joel

    this takes me back to a better time. such a great band at their prime.. glad I was able to see them live when they toured in support of Facelift.

  • green.n.grey

    “and generally feminized appearance competing with Mike Inez’s glam posing,”

    Mike Starr

  • Moebius

    Well I heard Sunshine was the name of Jerry’s dog. There is no telling what the song is about, but I always think of water, specifically crossing a bridge over a bay or something. Why? I think it’s because I see a similarity with Led’s Zeppelin’s When the Levee Breaks, hence water. Sunshine is a my favorite Facelift tune and probably my favorite AIC tune altogether, and I prefer Facelift much more than Dirt. It’s more metal than grunge. Dirt was the inbetweener of metal-ish grunginess, and Tripod was grunge all the way.