As it turns out, British R&B singer Seal — known for his era-defining 1994 smash, "Kiss From a Rose," and several other mega-hits — is a gigantic Alice in Chains fan. During a new segment on Amoeba Records' "What's in My Bag?" video series, Seal picked up a bunch of albums that have been meaningful to him throughout his life, including AIC's 1992 masterpiece, Dirt.
From there, the 60-year-old singer spoke passionately and at length about why he loves the dark, tortured grunge classic, and why he thinks Layne Staley had a voice like no other.
"This band were really significant for me, because when I left England at the beginning of my career, grunge had just kicked off," Seal said in the video, as transcribed by Louder Sound. "I remember coming to Los Angeles and being in a cab, and talking to the driver, and we got talking about music. And he said, 'Well what kind of music do you like? What are you interested in?' I said, well I'm I'm really curious about this grunge thing, I really like it. And he said, 'Who are the bands?' I said I love Nirvana, of course, and I like Pearl Jam, and he said, 'Oh they're cool, have you heard of this band called Alice In Chains?' I went, well, no, and he put on 'Man in the Box' and that was it."
"I heard Layne's voice, Layne [Staley] and Jerry [Cantrell] singing together with those close harmonies, and so out of that whole grunge period they were by far, by far, my favorite. And I think the most underrated, Alice In Chains."
"There were some great songs on here," Seal continued while holding a vinyl copy of Dirt. "The obvious one being 'Rooster,' which Jerry wrote about his father coming home for Vietnam."
"I love the artistry obviously, but there's a real sexiness to their music. It's dark, it's beautiful, it's melancholic but it's really sexy. And it's it's weighty. They had something — of all those other bands from that grunge era — they had something truly unique. Like, they had a soul, almost like an R&B type soul, even though it didn't sound like R&B. That guttural soul as opposed to just kind of being in your head, hence headbanger. They had stuff that got you right down here [points to his stomach].
"I'm a big fan of of Alice in Chains, and Layne's voice and his approach. God rest his soul."
Watch Seal's full "What's in My Bag?" video below.
