Would?
Cantrell's tribute to Andrew Wood, first heard on the Singles soundtrack and used to close Dirt.
Alice in Chains, from Dirt (1992)
- Written by
- Jerry Cantrell
- Released
- 1992
- Album
- Dirt
Cantrell wrote Would? about Andrew Wood, the Mother Love Bone singer who died in 1990. In the Music Bank liner notes he remembered Wood as hilarious and full of life, and added that the song was also aimed at people who judge the decisions of others. Cantrell sings the verses and Staley the chorus. Rick Parashar produced, engineered and mixed it.
It first appeared on the soundtrack to Cameron Crowe's 1992 film Singles, in which the band have a cameo, and then closed Dirt. Columbia sent it to US radio on 8 June 1992 and it reached number 31 on the Mainstream Rock chart. The UK single, released on 11 January 1993, made the top 20 there. Crowe and Josh Taft directed the video, which won Best Video from a Film at the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards. The band played an acoustic version on MTV Unplugged in 1996. A trailer for the second season of The Punisher used it on 10 January 2019, and it reached number 15 on the Hot Rock Songs chart. Metallica and Korn both covered it at the Museum of Pop Culture's Founders Award fundraiser in December 2020.
On stage
- 1996-04-10, MTV Unplugged An acoustic version, released on the live album and video.
Covers and versions
- Opeth (2008) Recorded on the single Burden.
- Breaking Benjamin with Gavin Rossdale (2020) Rossdale sings Cantrell's parts.
More songs by Alice in Chains
Man in the Box, Rooster, Them Bones, Down in a Hole
Sources
- Would? (song), Wikipedia
- Alice in Chains: Through the Looking Glass, Rolling Stone (1992-11-26)