Facelift Songs Ranked

Facelift is the debut studio album by the American rock band Alice in Chains, released by Columbia Records on August 21, 1990. The tracks “We Die Young”, “Man in the Box”, “Sea of Sorrow” and “Bleed the Freak” were released as singles. “Man In The Box” was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance with Vocal in 1992. Facelift became the first album from the grunge movement to be certified gold on September 11, 1991. The album peaked at No. 42 on the Billboard 200 chart, was certified platinum and has gone on to be certified double-platinum by the RIAA for shipments of two million copies in the United States. Alice in Chains was nominated for a Best Hard Rock Performance with Vocal Grammy Award in 1992 for “Man in the Box”, but lost to Van Halen for their 1991 album For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge. The music video for “Man in the Box” was nominated for Best Heavy Metal/Hard Rock Video at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards. The album won Best Debut Album at the 1991 Foundations Forum. Here are all of the Facelift songs ranked.

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12. Real Thing

“This is the one and only song I tend to skip on it. And hell, I don’t even find it that bad! But I’m pretty sure you’d agree with me if I said this is not the reason we listen to Alice in Chains right. I kinda like the lyrics “I messed around as a little boy, I grew up made the blade my new toy. I grew up went into rehab you know the doctors never did me no good they said son you’re gonna be a new man I said thank you very much can I borrow fifty bucks?” (I wonder what for huh *hint*drugs) Interestingly enough, this song has some country influence in it.”

11. I Know Somethin (Bout You)

“Gone are the gloomy and dark tunes and instead there’s a playful, silly and almost childish attitude. I like how Layne and Cantrell just decided to make a song with blues (and jazz!) influences, something they refrained to do later in their career. This song is impulsive, it’s different, it’s nothing you would decide to play on your stereo, and definitely nothing that would impress your friends (hah!). It’s not a song you can play ten thousand times and not get tired off (unlike some AiC tunes that’s spinned A LOT of times in my stereo), it’s not one of their superhits… so what is it?!? It’s just a simple song, take it for what it is!”

10. Put You Down

“A rocky, bluesy song with a fun rhythm guitar and cool vocals. After some very moody tunes on an album like this, this kind of stuff is needed. It changes the pace around at the album, and the guitar riff is pretty cool. Layne kicks the song in at the 20th second, with one of those bad ass cool noises, and then the deep voice at “Heartbreaker, feelin’ alright”.”

See more: Alice In Chains Albums Ranked

9. Confusion

“Remarkable intro. The very light guitars reminds me on a summer day when the sky is blue with no clouds, I’m out taking a walk on a field with no people around me, just having a short moment for myself. Then the song starts to become more aggressive, and the vocals soon start.”

8. Sunshine

“The vocals on this song saves it from being bad. Layne sings, once again, emotionally and fits perfectly to the bluesy sound. Unfortunately, that doesn’t save the song from being pretty boring. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a poor song it’s just that the structure of it is far too simpleminded and repetitive.”

7. I Can’t Remember

“The song starts very reserved, the intro of 40 seconds is very dreamy and almost has a feeling of that it’s worried about something, something but it doesn’t know exactly what… something that’s inevitably coming and it can’t stop it… something…. he can’t remember. Then Layne breaks it down, with a more relaxed but very depressed state, that his attitude is moody and something’s not right.”

6. Love, Hate, Love

“The two most powerful emotions humans can ever feel are love and hate. If you’ve ever felt true love, you know what I mean… it brings you up high among the clouds, a deep emotion in your stomach, tickling through all of your body, making you warm and fuzzy. “

See more: Alice in Chains Songs Ranked

5. Sea of Sorrow

“Lanes vocal range on this is able to reach inside the listener. Pure emotional impact. Like an oil painting, painted so thick you want to touch the canvas as if the scene were 3d. Lanes’s voice had that ability. You felt his voice and for him to have that god given asset – god only can know how deep his pit of inspiration was.”

4. Bleed the Freak

“Once again, the intro is sweet. It starts very calm, the guitars is in the background just jamming softly, then gets a little more apparent and lighter, almost like a chilly wind. The tunes they play here very much sounds just like what the song is about; revenge and you can almost taste of bittersweet retribution on the tip of your tongue listening to it. Listening to this, I can very much feel and imagine the feeling of being betrayed or disappointed at something.”

3. It Ain’t Like That

“You thought it was over huh? You thought the demons left? “In “It ain’t like that”, the first 10 seconds is like you were dragged through the mud. You’ve been at the start of the nightmare, you *couldn’t remember* what was going to happen, then it happened with *lovehatelove* and now when it’s over you’re down, deep down into the shit, crawling on the floor, searching for something to hold on to but there’s only mud, more mud and dirt.”

2. We Die Young

“A good opener of the album, nothing too impressive or special, but it delivers the goods. I like the tension it builds up at the first few seconds, with the rolling drums and the raw guitars. I like how intense the edgy guitars sound, it immediately makes the listener aware of the fact that this album is metal, unpolished and that it means business. If you listen to this loud (the true way music should be listened to!) this gets much heavier, stronger and better, like a punch to the face, it’s almost like a street fight.”

1. Man In the Box

“This is where Facelift begins to pick up, it’s at this song that the darkness that’s soon to follow makes itself invited. It’s not all dark, but it’s starting to come. I love the intro. A melancholic piano, playing in the background, almost jazz-influenced, very calm and relaxed and laid back, a long guitar tune and the slow almost not hearable drums, and then a short guitar tune again and the song breaks down at the 20th second, with really powerful vocals by Layne, he sounds so dangerous “Mind of destructive taste I choose… to stroll among the waste, that was your heart lost in the dark”.”