The Opus podcast is rising out of the Dirt for a new season centered on the legacy of Alice in Chains’ sophomore album. Presented by the Consequence Podcast Network and Sony, the hit music history series is back to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the genre-changing classic.
Launching on October 6th, Season 18 of The Opus travels back to 1992, a time when alternative music was being pushed towards grunge, putting it in direct conflict with the metal scene. Then along came the Seattle quartet of Layne Staley, Jerry Cantrell, Sean Kinney, and Mike Starr with Dirt, an effort that took the best of both worlds and redefined hard rock for the end of the millenium.
“As the Seattle sound exploded in the early ’90s, Alice in Chains created one of the decade’s darkest and most influential albums at the intersection of grunge, metal, and hard rock,” says new host Adam Unze. “They channeled their pain and grief into Dirt, a genre bending collection of electrifying songs with hooks that defined an era. I’m so excited to explore that seismic cultural shift on this new season of The Opus.”
Joining Unze to trace the legacy of Dirt will be guests like Anthrax’s Charlie Benante, Bush’s Gavin Rossdale, Baroness, City and Colour’s Dallas Green, Halestorm, author Mark Yam (Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge), and more. Together, they’ll till the soil of how Alice in Chains changed a scene, bared their souls, and moved heavy music in a new direction.
Tune in when The Opus: Dirt premieres on Thursday, October 6th. New episodes of the four-part season will arrive every Thursday. While you wait, revisit Alice in Chain’s classic album by streaming or downloading it here. You can also watch the band perform some of the LP’s songs alongside other hits from their catalog on their current tour, tickets for which can be found here.
To keep up with The Opus: Dirt, subscribe now to be notified when each new episode drops, and also revisit our 17-season archive. Also pick up an official Opus hoodie or T-Shirt at the Consequence Shop.