Turn Down the Suck…
So just this past September, 90’s grunge/rock bank Alice In Chains released their first studio album in nearly fourteen years, Black Gives Way to Blue, which also happens to be their first album not to feature late singer/songwriter Layne Staley (RIP). To which I could hardly but say: good show! The remaining members of Alice In Chains are all talented individuals, particularly guitarist/singwriter/vocalist Jerry Cantrell, so, being a child of the 90’s (though I always gravitated more towards Pearl Jam), I was curious to hear what they would come up with more than a decade later.
The newest single, Check My Brain, started making the rounds on radio back in August, but has started to really pick up some steam of late. The other day I ping-ponged between three different stations all playing it at roughly the same time. Check My Brain is the first offering I’ve heard from the new album, so I paid pretty close attention to what I was hearing when first it graced my ears. The song starts out about as perfectly as one might desire, Cantrell opens up with a classic snarling guitar line that catches the attention. Inez and Kinney then drop in with that bottom heavy Alice In Chains rhythm section sound that is so guttural it practically makes your eyes roll back in your head. Then the lyrics kick in and, still, everything sounds about right — this isn’t a deeply evolved Alice In Chains sound, it’s about what you would expect, but altogether pleasing as a result.
“God,” I thought to myself, “I’ve actually really missed music like this…”
And then at about the fifty-two second mark things go horribly awry. I had to listen to the song a couple of times to fully process just how badly someone had tripped and accidentally cranked the suck knob on this song. Here, listen for yourself…
California, I’m fine. Somebody check my brain. California’s alright, somebody check my brain. Check my brain…
Are you fucking serious? The, for all intents and purposes, debut song after fourteen years of silence from a band that formed the undercurrent of a whole subset of music obsessionists’ still developing pysche that was cut off in its prime by the tragic death of its mythologically tormented vocalists and that is the catch line?
Here are all the lyrics to the song:
So I found myself in the sun, oh yeah
A hell of a place to end a run, oh yeah
California, I’m fine
Somebody check my brain
California’s all right
Somebody check my brain
Check my brainI walk these streets, I creep and I fall, oh yeah
When she sang I answered the call, oh yeah
California, I’m fine somebody check my brain
California’s all right somebody check my brain
Aaaaah tears have filled my bones
Aaaaah years expended goneI hung my guns and put em away, oh yeah
The trick of the trade, and by the way, oh yeah
California, I’m fine somebody check my brain
California’s all right somebody check my brainAaaah tears have filled my bones
aaaah years expended gone
Wow. Chalk that one up to DOA.
I mean, to get a sense of the travesty here, one has to consider the the catalog of truly great songs that Alice In Chains circa 1990-1997ish gave us. Songs like Would?
Or, Rooster
Or I Stay Away,
I mean, listen, Alice In Chains was never going to be a Bob Dylan or a Led Zepplin (Bunch bait…), but they were a great band and Staley was a phenomenal vocalist and Cantrell used to write some solid lyrics. All of which makes this just… disappointing as all get out. We can always use a well spring of music that touches a sense of sincerity, integrity, and reflects upon the human condition in an honest fashion. That is, to my mind, at its best what music is all about and there is always a dearth of it available.
Sadly, it would seem that Alice In Chains’ reemergence does little to change that fact.
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37 comments
Yeah, I keep going back to Loveless and Disintegration.
When I try to listen to something else, I just think “Well, yep. I could have listened to Loveless or Disintegration instead.”
JosephFM
November 19th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Or “Unknown Pleasures”.
I was also always a fan. I guess my critique of your critique is… maybe I am missing something… but is there something objectively wrong with the catch line? Is the problem with the fact that it’s California? Is the problem the “checking the brain” part? I know it’s fruitless to ask someone to objectively “prove” their reacton to music. But you seem pretty sure this is obviously terrible. I am wondering from whence that springs.
Circa 1992 or so the easiest way that CIA agents could have gotten a confession out of me was not to waterboard but to play Alice and Chains over and over. I would have given up my grandmother, my priest and my future children. They get my award for worst band of the entire grunge movement (of which there were many, see: Sound Garden) and quite possibly worst band of the 90’s.
I was waaaaay too cool for those guys, spending the early 90’s still rocking my Pixies albums and completing my collection of essential punk records. So…no surprise here that A & C still sucks.
Mike,
You obviously missed the MTV bit where they went with Alice in Chains to a water park. To see the members frolicking on the slides in all their goateed, bony brilliance… it was sublime. Perfect. And horrible. The 1990s.
But I do get the whole “Too cool for…” thing. And I regret it. I made some space for the grunge stuff next to my Pixies, and Ithink that was a good decision. But I blocked out other stuff. Especially hip-hop. If I had to pick one, I probably blocked the wrong genre, looking back. But a better decision might have been to let it all in. Having taught at the college level for the past few years, a shocking number of kids see no disconnect in openly rooting for Outkast, Miley Cyrus, Hank Williams Jr., Johnny Cash, The Clash, Blink 182, The Pixies, etc.
A few of them wear this eclecticism as a badge of honor, as if their decision to make no decisions sets them apart in a useful way. Of course, it’s fairly easy to see that the anti-fashion is a kind of fashion unto itself. But in the end, the purists–the people who moan and gripe about the lack of authenticity to be found on the radio and in the local Hot Topics–are generally seen as horribly tedious.
Not edgy or elitist or opinionated. Tedious.
Strange world. I started free-basing Geritol the moment I set foot in a classroom.
Mike at The Big Stick
November 17th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
The 90’s were a real mash for me once I got past about 1995. I was listening to a pretty wide-range of stuff, including attendance at about 40 Phish concerts (and I’m missing the brain cells to prove it!) I guess I just never got the Seattle scene other than some passing interest in Nirvana and a real love of the Presidents of the United States.
Scott H. Payne
November 17th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
What can be tedious about purists of any type or genre is the confused belief that “good music” is a by-product of “cool”, instead of vice versa.
Mike at The Big Stick
November 17th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
Oh I certainly agree. Unfortunately in the case of most of the bands out of Seattle, they were neither cool, nor good. At least in the circles I ran in.
At 52 seconds, they turn into Nickelback. Enough said.
Haven’t you heard of sickboy’s unifying theory of life?
Creed also has recently released a new album after several years of mercifully being absent. Seattle has a lot of shame to live down, and yeah, that includes Pearl Jam. Retched excess defines bands like AIC, Creed and PJ. Nirvana is the loan exception. That band had a pop sensibility second to none.
nirvana??? the were the most poppy…didn’t u see them in the mainstream all the time? alice in chains was the least mainstream…ok check my brain is just one song picked by their label because is was the most “poppy”.listen to the rest of the album. those lyrics still mean something in check my brain…so wut if it isn’t anythin more complex….look at the other crap out there…..like all the bands these other people are talkin about besided some of the grundge bands.
Dig deeper into the record, my friend. “Check My Brain” is the first single, but it’s not the best song on there. I usually skip over that one and head straight to “A Looking In View.”
PS. Their lyrics have always flirted with suck. Sure, there are some great songs with great lyrics, but one of their biggest songs revolved around lines like, “I’m the man in the box, buried in my own shit.”
Scott H. Payne
November 18th, 2009 at 9:23 am
Admittedly, I haven’t listened to the whole album, this single made me not want to bother. And I didn’t post Man In A Box for precisely that reason.
PS. Bob, Creed was most definitely NOT a Seattle band. Creed was post-grunge from Florida. They shouldn’t even be mentioned in the same breath as AIC or Pearl Jam. That other band you were thinking of? Soundgarden.
Bob
November 18th, 2009 at 6:17 am
No, I wish my mistake were that easily explained. I’ve always thought of Creed as “disciples” of the Seattle grung sound. But you are correct to point out my error. Re: Soundgarden, just awful.
“All Apologies” to Seattle.
““All Apologies” to Seattle.”
And my teen years….To get that suck out of my ears, I had to spend my post-high school years indoctrinating myself on lots of Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin.
And yes, Creed probably could be called “disciples,” but Mark Tremonti always said he was a big fan of Anthrax. Maybe we should blame them. Talk about suck…
Scott, you should be ashamed of yourself by calling yourself a journalist. The first thing they should teach you in school is to research a topic. Your reference to the lyrics are much deeper that what you suggest, and if you understood the emotion behind AIC’s new release you might be enlightened. The ENTIRE new album has gotten RAVE revies from both critics and fans alike, even with the new addition to replace Layne and a 14 year abscence from the music scene. Jerry Cantrell has always been the driving force behind the music and lyrics with writing 90 % of all AIC’s catalouge. The new album is probalby the most personal since it deals with thief grief, hope and all the other emotions that they’ve dealt with since Layne’s (not so surprising) death. “Check My Brain” if you understood the back story, is Jerry’s disbelief that he moved to California to escape after Layne’s death. If anyone would like a REAL REVIEW of the album, check out this link. http://consequenceofsound.net/2009/09/29/album-review-alice-in-chains-black-gives-way-to-blue/ … and as for you Scott, please don’t try and pass yourself off as a journalist or music fan of any kind if this is the best you can do. Stick to drinking champagne, eating bon bons, and playing with your dog Fu Fu.
tony
November 19th, 2009 at 10:00 am
p.s. you’ve shown your ignorance like most of the media has done in years past towards AIC by not grasping the bigger picture of what each of their albums were about. At least their fans, who is really who matters, gets them. Understand your topic before you speak please.
Mike at The Big Stick
November 19th, 2009 at 10:06 am
It just goes to show you that every band in the world has at least 1 fan.
But man, of all the bands to choose….
tony
November 19th, 2009 at 10:08 am
impressive comment when you have nothing else important to say
Mike at The Big Stick
November 19th, 2009 at 10:11 am
Well music is pretty subjective. It’s like being critical of someone because they don’t like brocolli. I just find it hard to believe that anyone actually likes brocolli, but of course that’s just my opinion. I guess I just don’t understand how knowing the backstory behind a song makes it stink any less when you actually hear it. At the end of the day you could put Shakespere to a crappy music track and it wouldn’t make it suddenly grammy-worthy.
tony
November 19th, 2009 at 10:17 am
agree with the broccoli statement. Point was Scott’s whole thesis behind why he didn’t like it was off base. It’s perfectly OK to not like what you hear, but the song was much more than another song boasting california. Songs are written about personal experiences, like the one in question. It’s ok to be critical of someone if they don’t like broccoli, but the person being critical must first understand broccoli is green and is a vegetable before he has any credibility.
James
November 20th, 2009 at 5:45 am
Tony, the chorus is inane. A long-rotten carcass of a far superior song writer is not going to mitigate that.
tony
November 20th, 2009 at 6:03 am
You obviously have not listened to the entire album but cherry picked one song to critique the whole piece. Pathetic to call yourself a music fan and the easy way out. You obviously don’t understand how Jerry eneded up in CA. It’s HIS personal experience through tragedy and pain. Not just some song he decided to write about to make a quick buck. You don’t have to like it, but don’t knock what you don’t know. Besides, they must be doing something right because they are succsfull musicians and we are just typing on a useless blog :) I don’t see you or any others on this blog writing anything close to what AIC has done. It’s still on the top of the billboard charts for weeks now !! Not just the song, but the album. The next single, YOur decision, will also go to number one. And for the record, I’m not just an AIC groupy. There’s songs I dislike in their catalouge. But I am a music fan and appreciate their place in the business and how they are separated from all the spinoffs, ie Tool, Creed, Godsmack etc. AIC is the original like it or not.
James
November 20th, 2009 at 6:06 am
Tony, it’s a single.
That’s how they released it. If it doesn’t stand-alone properly it doesn’t make a very good single. Even the Mars Volta can manage a good single, & they’re AOR to an almost absurd degree. The chorus is, as Scott points out, generic, hackneyed tripe. The fact that their album is good does not stop this being a terrible single.
tony
November 20th, 2009 at 6:16 am
I believe this single was number one for weeks on the charts and is still in the top three, Mars Volta never was. Very poor example. We could dismantle any artist, including any mentioned on this post by scott or others, who have generic tripe. I can’t tell you how many bands I’ve seen since the mid 60’s till now. Name any band, even your favorite, and I gaurantee I can give you numerous examples of “tripe” lyrics. Even the Beatles had repetitive, unmeanignful words. It seems that you and your like are in the minority on this songs sound, musical composition, and yes lyrics. You are entitled to that and I understand. Not every song ever written has to be a flowing masterpiece of literary magic. Just my 2 cents.
tony
November 20th, 2009 at 6:26 am
oh and the hightest any Mars Volta single ever made it on the charts was #7 . . for “The Widow” . . I do know my music :)
James
November 20th, 2009 at 6:47 am
You are trolling, right Tony? You can’t honestly say that you judge music by its popularity, if that were the case then you’d have no argument against In Da Club being the best song of the decade.
tony
November 20th, 2009 at 7:03 am
You misunderstood if that is your thought, it was in reference to your statement “Even the Mars Volta can manage a good single”. If that were the case, their single would have been number one and for a more substantiol period. Your “example” doesn’t hold any weight. If AIC can have a lyrically inferior song, as you suggest, then they are managing their new release perfectly. Just so you know, I’ve never said nor will say it is a very deep, poetic song. But the song accomplishes what is sets out to do. And, does have a very personal meaning to it’s writer and fits into the album as a piece of the puzzle about their trials and tribulations since LS’s death. Maybe you are all to young to remember what a “Concept” album was and that even in those, certain songs can stand out as singles.
James
November 20th, 2009 at 7:24 am
Frances The Mute is a much better song than the latest AIC song, regardless of their respective chart positionings. This is true just as In Da Club, by 50 Cent, being a much worse song than Rooster, despite shifting many more units.
I know what the fuck a concept album is, & I used Mars Volta as an example of a band who make concept albums, yet are also capable of a single a good deal less inane than the one released by AIC this year.
James
November 20th, 2009 at 7:29 am
*despite In Da Club shifting…
tony
November 20th, 2009 at 7:40 am
Frances The Mute was horrible. I guess everyone is entitled to their musical tastes. 50c appeals to the younger masses, like all the other eye candy talentless wonders, lady gaga, brittaney etc. And it’s those younger masses who have the spending power and actually buy those 50c cd’s thus shifting more units. AIC has always done their own thing since thier first release and never conformed to any “mold” to sell albums. Their approach has always been either you like it or you don’t. We just seem to be on opposite sides of the scale. The last decade has been dismall in the music industy if you ask me with an occasionl “OK” release here and there. I never got the “grundge” label either. AIC just happened to be a metal band in the seattle area that got lumped in with the weak PJ and OK Nirvana. Neither of which have as good a body of music as AIC.
James
November 20th, 2009 at 8:36 am
My point was, you can’t tell everything from sales.
I was born in 1984, so my entire familiarity with the whole “Seattle scene” was via rock radio in middle school, where it was mixed in with all the mediocre pop-rock and post-grunge bands that popped up everywhere for a year or two then vanished (and a few gems, like the Eels – still one of my favorites.)
When I was in high school, though, I discovered older music and the stuff that had been “alternative” when it actually meant something, and I never went back. (Also emo, but that’s another story.) It helped that I started high school in 1999, at the height of boy-band mania, “rap rock”, and pseudo-gangsta posuerism.
So, what’s with all the whiny fanboys all of a sudden?
tony
November 20th, 2009 at 5:23 am
1984 I was already married with a beautiful little baby girl to hold. Funny to hear someone say ” I discovered older music and the stuff that had been “alternative” when it actually meant something”. Now I really feel old. I was part of the whole late 60’s music scene, including Bob Dylan as Scott referenced above although as much as I like LZ, I don’t see where there lyrics were ever deep, and then as the 70’s rolled around I dove into the punk scene. Not sure what the meaning of “Whinny fanboys” suggests but if someone like Scott is going to critique something, he should know what he is talking about first. Not everyone likes the music of AIC, which is the topic at hand, and there is nothing wrong with that. But like it or not, they were the most influential band to come out of the early 90’s. Funny to hear someone think everyone of Bob Dylan’s songs had some deep meaningfull poetry behind it. I can list numerous songs he wrote an sang, which I saw live, that have no meaning at all.
You know, Scott, this is exactly what I thought. That actually amongst my favourite riffs of the year, but the chorus…That’s as bad as the Dani California. WTF is it with that state & making for shitty choruses? Is it just that bands think they can evoke the Best State & leave it at that?