EP · 1994
Jar of Flies
Jar of Flies is a 1994 grunge EP by Alice in Chains. It runs 7 tracks across 31 minutes on Columbia. Riffiter listeners rate it 4.7/5 from 9 ratings.
Grunge · Alternative Rock · Alternative Metal
Your rating
- 4.7 /5
- 9 ratings
- 71 /100
- 8 critics
- 7
- Tracks
- 31 min
- Runtime
- 129 bpm
- Tempo
- C# major
- Key
Ratings
9 ratings · avg 4.7
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Reviews
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15 people have played it start to finish
2 people are spinning it this week
Critics
8 publications
- The Philadelphia Inquirer4/4
- Rolling Stone4/5
- Daily News4/5
- Chicago Tribune3/4
- Entertainment WeeklyB−
- Houston Chronicle3.5/5
- Los Angeles Times2/4
- NME4/10
Scores collected from the English Wikipedia ratings box (CC BY-SA). Ratings belong to the publications; follow a link to read the review.
Jar of Flies album cover
The Jar of Flies cover was photographed by Alicia K. Thompson, Pete Cronin and Rocky Schenck and art-directed by M. Maurer.
- Photography
- Alicia K. Thompson, Pete Cronin, Rocky Schenck
- Art direction
- M. Maurer
Your rating for the cover
Tracklist
7 tracks · 31 min
Ranked head-to-head
1 vs 1
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Videos
2 videos
Ranked by listeners
top 5 · 7 rated tracks
According to Riffiter listeners, the best track on Jar of Flies is Nutshell — rated 5.0/5 by 2 listeners.
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About
Jar of Flies is the third studio EP by the American rock band Alice in Chains, released on January 25, 1994 through Columbia Records. It is the first EP in music history to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 Chart and was well received by critics. The EP has since been certified double-platinum by the RIAA and has gone on to sell 4 million copies worldwide. Jar of Flies is one of the biggest sellers in Alice in Chains' catalogue. Following Alice in Chains' extensive 1993 world tour for Dirt and appearance at Lollapalooza, the band members returned home to Seattle to find themselves evicted from their residence after failing to pay the rent. The band then moved into London Bridge Studio feeling lonely and depressed. Vocalist Layne 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."
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Written and recorded in one week in September 1993, Jar of Flies was produced by the band members themselves with Toby Wright, and marks the first major studio recording with bassist Mike Inez "(the band recorded two songs with Inez, "What the Hell Have I" and "A Little Bitter", for the Summer 1993 Last Action Hero soundtrack earlier in the year)". Guitarist Jerry Cantrell said, "That was the first time we'd written with Mike Inez...The whole Jar of Flies EP proved to both us and the fans what a talented and valid part of the band Mike was. He plays the nastiest, darkest shit but he's got the sweetest heart in the world." According to Staley, the title for the album came from a science experiment Cantrell conducted in third grade: "They gave him two jars full of flies. One of the jars they overfed, the other jar they underfed. The one they overfed flourished for a while, then all the flies died from overpopulation. The one they underfed had most of the flies survive all year. I guess there's a message in there somewhere. Evidently that experiment had a big impact on Jerry."
In brief
- Is Jar of Flies good?
- Riffiter listeners rate Jar of Flies 4.7/5 from 9 ratings.
- What is the highest-rated track on Jar of Flies?
- Nutshell, rated 5.0/5 by 2 listeners on Riffiter.
- When was Jar of Flies released?
- Jar of Flies was released in 1994 on Columbia.
- How many tracks are on Jar of Flies?
- Jar of Flies has 7 tracks, with a runtime of 31 minutes.
- What genre is Jar of Flies?
- Jar of Flies is catalogued under Grunge, Alternative Rock, Alternative Metal.
- What BPM is Jar of Flies?
- Jar of Flies runs at a median tempo of 129 BPM across its tracks, most often in C# major, measured from audio analysis.
- What albums are similar to Jar of Flies?
- Listeners of Jar of Flies also rate Superunknown by Soundgarden, Nevermind by Nirvana, Ten by Pearl Jam.
Jar of Flies at a glance
- Label
- Columbia Records
- Produced by
- Alice in Chains
Facts from Wikidata (CC0).