“Would?” – Alice in Chains (1992)

More than a song. A eulogy. A warning. A masterpiece.

Released on June 7, 1992, “Would?” remains one of Alice in Chains’ most iconic and emotionally charged tracks — not only because of its dark, hypnotic sound, but also because of what it represents.

Written by guitarist and co-lead vocalist Jerry Cantrell, the song was crafted as a tribute to his late friend Andrew Wood, the charismatic frontman of Mother Love Bone, who tragically died of a heroin overdose in 1990. Wood’s death sent shockwaves through the Seattle music scene, foreshadowing the epidemic of addiction that would haunt many artists in the grunge era.

“Would?” appeared on the soundtrack for Singles (1992), a film that captured the spirit of Seattle at the time, and later became one of the standout tracks on Alice in Chains’ legendary album Dirt — a record often hailed as one of the most honest portrayals of addiction and despair in rock history.

The structure of the song itself mirrors the internal conflict it expresses:

• Cantrell delivers the verses with a cold, almost resigned tone — as if reflecting, narrating, questioning.

• Then Layne Staley enters in the chorus with raw power and haunting intensity, injecting the song with emotional weight that feels like both confession and confrontation.

  

“Into the flood again / Same old trip it was back then…”
Those lyrics still hit like a wave, pulling listeners into the cycle of relapse and regret.

Musically, “Would?” blends doom-laden riffs, sludgy bass, and a hypnotic groove, creating a soundscape that feels both heavy and strangely dreamlike. It’s not explosive — it’s smoldering, creeping, haunting.

And that’s the genius of it: Alice in Chains didn’t scream to be heard — they whispered, and it echoed forever.