"Down in a Hole" | ||||||||||||||||
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Single by Alice in Chains | ||||||||||||||||
from the album Dirt | ||||||||||||||||
Released | August 30, 1993 | |||||||||||||||
Format | CD | |||||||||||||||
Recorded | March–May 1992 at Eldorado Recording Studios in Burbank; London Bridge Studio in Seattle; One on One Studios in Los Angeles | |||||||||||||||
Genre | Grunge | |||||||||||||||
Length | 5:38 | |||||||||||||||
Label | Columbia | |||||||||||||||
Writer(s) | Jerry Cantrell | |||||||||||||||
Producer(s) | Alice in Chains, Dave Jerden | |||||||||||||||
Alice in Chains singles chronology | ||||||||||||||||
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"Down in a Hole" is a power ballad by Alice in Chains, featured on their album Dirt (1992). It is the twelfth song on most pressings of the album and fourth or eleventh on others. The song was included on the compilation albums Nothing Safe: Best of the Box (1999) and Music Bank (1999).
Songwriter and guitarist Jerry Cantrell was at first hesitant to present the song to the band, feeling that the song was too soft, but after a positive response from the band, they followed through and recorded it. The composition is written in A♭ minor, utilizing Dorian mode, and is centered mainly around Ab minor - Gb major - Db major chord progression, with Layne Staley's and Jerry Cantrell's vocal parts intricately harmonizing.
In the liner notes of 1999's Music Bank box set collection, Jerry Cantrell said of the song:
["Down in a Hole"]'s in my top three, personally. It's to my long-time love. It's the reality of my life, the path I've chosen and in a weird way it kind of foretold where we are right now. It's hard for us to both understand...that this life is not conducive to much success with long-term relationships.
"Down in a Hole" was released as a single in 1993. "Down in a Hole" peaked at number ten on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. The UK single was released in October 1993. "Down in a Hole" reached the top 40 in the UK and the top 30 in Ireland.
Ned Raggett of Allmusic said that "Staley's...half-strangled but still amazingly evocative performance...is heartfelt and almost yearning" and that "the end result feels like a ruined man looking for some sort of comfort."