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In early 1991, Alice in Chains landed the opening slot for the Clash of the Titans tour with Anthrax, Megadeth, and Slayer but they were not well received. Following the tour, Alice in Chains entered the studio to record demos for its next album. They recorded five acoustic songs instead. While in the studio, drummer Sean Kinney had a dream about "making an EP called Sap". The band decided "not to mess with fate", and on February 4, 1992, Alice in Chains released their second EP - Sap. The EP was released while Nirvana's Nevermind was at the top of the Billboard 200 charts, resulting in a rising popularity of Seattle-based bands, and of the term "grunge music". Sap was certified gold within two weeks. The EP features Cantrell on lead vocals on the opening track, "Brother", and guest vocals by Ann Wilson from the band Heart, who joined Staley and Cantrell for the choruses of "Brother" and "Am I Inside". The EP also features Mark Arm of Mudhoney and Chris Cornell of Soundgarden, who shared vocals with Staley and Cantrell on the song "Right Turn", credited to "Alice Mudgarden" in the liner notes. In 1992, Alice in Chains appeared in the Cameron Crowe film Singles, performing as a "bar band". The band also contributed the song "Would?" to the film's soundtrack, whose video received an award for Best Video from a Film at the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards. In March 1992, the band returned to the studio. With new songs written primarily on the road. The material had an overall darker feel than Facelift, with six of the album's thirteen songs dealing with the subject of addiction. "We did a lot of soul searching on this album. There's a lot of intense feelings." Cantrell said, "We deal with our daily demons through music. All of the poison that builds up during the day we cleanse when we play." On September 29, 1992, Alice in Chains released its second album, Dirt. The album peaked at number six on the Billboard 200 and since its release has been certified quadruple platinum by the RIAA, making Dirt the band's highest selling album to date. The album was a critical success, with Steve Huey of Allmusic praising the album as a "major artistic statement, and the closest they ever came to recording a flat-out masterpiece." Chris Gill of Guitar World called Dirt "huge and foreboding, yet eerie and intimate", and "sublimely dark and brutally honest." Dirt spawned five singles that reached the top 30 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart: "Would?", "Rooster", "Them Bones", "Angry Chair", and "Down in a Hole", and remained on the charts for nearly two years. Alice in Chains was added as openers to Ozzy Osbourne's No More Tours tour. Days before the tour began, Layne Staley broke his foot in an ATV accident, forcing him to use crutches on stage. Starr left the band shortly after the Hollywood Rock concert in Rio de Janeiro on January 22, 1993, stating that he wanted to spend more time with his family. Staley told Rolling Stone in 1994 about Starr leaving the band, "It was just a difference in priorities. We wanted to continue intense touring and press. Mike was ready to go home." Years later, however Starr claimed that he was actually fired due to his drug addiction. Starr was replaced by former Ozzy Osbourne bassist Mike Inez. Inez had met Alice in Chains during Ozzy Osbourne's No More Tours tour and became friends with them. When the band was in Brazil, they called Inez to join them and he accepted. Inez wanted to do the shows in Brazil and even got his immunization shots but the band said Starr wanted to do the last two shows in Brazil, so they would meet Inez in London instead. Poor Inez ended up getting sick with his vaccination shots for a couple of days. Still, Inez played his first concert with Alice in Chains on January 27, 1993, at the Camden Underworld in London. In April 1993, the band recorded two songs with Inez, "What the Hell Have I" and "A Little Bitter", done for the Last Action Hero soundtrack. During the summer of 1993, Alice in Chains toured with the alternative music festival Lollapalooza. This would be their last major tour with Staley. Following Alice in Chains' extensive 1993 world tour, Staley said the band "just wanted to go into the studio for a few days with our acoustic guitars and see what happened. We never really planned on the music we made at that time to be released. But the record label heard it and they really liked it. For us, it was just the experience of four guys getting together in the studio and making some music." Columbia Records released Alice in Chains' second acoustic-based EP, Jar of Flies, on January 25, 1994. Written and recorded in one week, Jar of Flies debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, becoming the first EP—and first Alice in Chains release—to top the charts. Paul Evans of Rolling Stone called the EP "darkly gorgeous", and Steve Huey said, "'Jar of Flies' is a low-key stunner, achingly gorgeous and harrowingly sorrowful all at once." Jar of Flies features Alice in Chains' first number-one single on the Mainstream Rock charts, "No Excuses". The second single, "I Stay Away", reached number ten on the Mainstream rock charts, while the final single "Don't Follow", reached number 25. Jar of Flies has been certified triple platinum by the RIAA, with over 2 million copies sold in the United States during its first year. Jar of Flies received two Grammy nominations, Best Hard Rock Performance for "I Stay Away", and Best Recording Package. After the release of Jar of Flies, Staley entered rehab for heroin addiction showing how he had begun to start to decline. The band was scheduled to tour during the summer of 1994 with Metallica, Suicidal Tendencies, Danzig, and Fight. They also had a slot scheduled for Woodstock '94. However, while in rehearsal for the tour, Staley began using heroin again. Staley's condition prompted the other band members to cancel all scheduled dates one day before the start of the tour, putting the band on hiatus. Alice in Chains was replaced by Candlebox on the tour and Susan Silver's management office sent out a statement saying that the decision to withdraw from the Metallica tour and Woodstock was "due to health problems within the band." The truth was, Staley was struggling. The band broke up for six months. Kinney told Rolling Stone in 1996, "Nobody was being honest with each other back then. If we had kept going, there was a good chance we would have self-destructed on the road, and we definitely didn't want that to happen in public." While Alice in Chains was inactive during 1995, Staley joined the "grunge supergroup" Mad Season. Created with Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready, bassist John Baker Saunders from The Walkabouts, and Screaming Trees drummer Barrett Martin, it was formed in the hopes to help Staley deal with his addiction. Mad Season released one album, Above, for which Staley provided lead vocals and the album artwork. The album spawned a number-two Mainstream Rock chart single, "River of Deceit", as well as a home video release of Live at the Moore. In April 1995, Alice in Chains entered Bad Animals Studio in Seattle with producer Toby Wright, who had previously worked with Corrosion of Conformity and Slayer. While in the studio, an inferior version of the song "Grind" was leaked to radio, and received major airplay. On October 6, 1995, the band released the studio version of the song to radio via satellite uplink to stem excessive spread of taped copies of the song. On November 7, 1995, Columbia Records released the eponymous album, Alice in Chains, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and has since been certified triple platinum. Of the album's four singles, "Grind", "Again", "Over Now", and "Heaven Beside You", three feature Cantrell on lead vocals instead. Jon Wiederhorn of Rolling Stone called the album "liberating and enlightening, the songs achieve a startling, staggering and palpable impact." On December 12, 1995, the band released the home video The Nona Tapes, a mockumentary featuring interviews with the band members conducted by journalist Nona Weisbaum (played by Jerry Cantrell), and the music video for "Grind". The song "Got Me Wrong" unexpectedly charted three years after its release on the Sap EP. The song was re-released as a single on the soundtrack for the independent film Clerks in 1994, reaching number seven on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. However, even with this popularity, the band opted not to tour in support of Alice in Chains. This merely added to the rumors of drug abuse. Alice in Chains resurfaced on April 10, 1996, to perform their first concert in two and a half years for MTV Unplugged, a program featuring all-acoustic set lists. The performance featured some of the band's highest-charting singles, including "Rooster", "Down in a Hole", "Heaven Beside You", "No Excuses" and "Would?", and introduced a new song, "Killer Is Me", with Cantrell on lead vocals. The show marked Alice in Chains' only appearance as a five-piece band, adding second guitarist Scott Olson. A live album of that performance was released in July 1996, debuting at number three on the Billboard 200. It was also accompanied by a home video release which received platinum certification by the RIAA just like the album. The band went on to make an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman on May 10, 1996, performing the songs "Again" and "We Die Young". Alice in Chains also performed four shows supporting the reunited original Kiss lineup on their 1996–97 Alive/Worldwide Tour. These shows for Kiss would include the final live appearance of Layne Staley on July 3, 1996, in Kansas City, Missouri. Shortly after the show, Staley was found unresponsive after he overdosed on heroin. He was taken to the hospital and although he recovered from that incident, the band was forced to go on hiatus. He'd hit bottom. Tune in next episode to hear what happened to Staley and the rise of Alice in Chains again.