Rooster is a song by Alice in Chains, featured on their second studio album, Dirt (1992), and released as the fourth single from the album on February 22, 1993.
It is the fifth song on the original pressing of the album and sixth on others. The song was written by Jerry Cantrell for his father, Jerry Cantrell Sr., whose childhood nickname was Rooster and served with the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War.
Cantrell would later name his music publishing company as Rooster’s Son Publishing. Rooster spent 20 weeks on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and peaked at No. 7.An acoustic version performed on Alice in Chains’ MTV Unplugged concert was included on the live album Unplugged (1996).
Both the studio and the demo version of the song were featured on the box set Music Bank (1999). The song was also included on the compilation albums Greatest Hits (2001), and The Essential Alice in Chains (2006).
Tracklist:
- Rooster
- Sickman
- It Ain’t Like That
The song was written by Jerry Cantrell for his father, Jerry Cantrell Sr., who served with the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. Rooster was a childhood nickname given to Cantrell Sr. by his great grandfather, because of his perceived cocky attitude and his hair, which used to stick up on top of his head like a rooster’s comb. The Rooster nickname is often mistakenly attributed to a reference to men carrying the M60 machine gun (Walking tall machine gun men), the muzzle flash from which makes an outline or pattern reminiscent of a rooster’s tail. It is also often mistakenly attributed to the 101st Airborne Division in which Cantrell‘s father served who wore shoulder sleeve insignia on their arms featuring a bald eagle. As there are no bald eagles in Vietnam, the closest thing to which the Vietnamese could draw a comparison was the chicken, thus leading to the pejorative “chicken men.”
Cantrell wrote the song while living at Chris Cornell and Susan Silver‘s house in Seattle at the start of 1991. Silver is Alice in Chains’ manager and Cornell‘s then wife. Alone, late at night, Cantrell kept thinking about his father and the psychological scars from his time in the Vietnam War that contributed to the breakdown of his family. Cantrell wrote the lyrics from the standpoint of his father.
The music video for Rooster was released in February 1993, and was directed by Mark Pellington. The music video featured real Vietnam War documentary news footage as well as some very realistic, graphically re enacted combat scenes. Jerry Cantrell‘s father was a consultant on the video, as it explores Cantrell Jr.‘s interpretation of his father’s war experience. The Rooster character (played by James Elliott), was based on Alice in Chains‘ guitarist vocalist, Jerry Cantrell‘s father (Jerry Cantrell Sr.), whose lifelong nickname was Rooster. Cantrell Sr. served two combat tours in Vietnam, and also appears in the music video talking about his war experiences. Cantrell Sr.‘s scenes were filmed on what was then Cantrell‘s great uncle’s property and is now the site of Jerry Cantrell‘s family ranch in Atoka, Oklahoma. Cantrell Sr.‘s scenes, filmed in stark black & white, show hi hunting in the woods as an older man, while having “flashback” memories of his youthful Vietnam combat experiences (which are shot in full color). The uncut (more graphic) version of the video is available on the home video release Music Bank: The Videos. Rooster was the last music video to feature original bass player Mike Starr, who is pictured on the cover of the single.
Alice in Chains
Layne Staley: lead vocals
Jerry Cantrell: guitar, backing vocals
Mike Starr: bass
Sean Kinney: drums
Layne Staley (August 22, 1967 April 5, 2002)
Mike Starr (April 4, 1966 March 8, 2011).
