Them Bones (2022 Remaster)

"Them Bones" is about Alice in Chains songwriter/frontman Jerry Cantrell's fear of dying. In the liner notes for the Music Bank box set, he wrote, "I was just thinking about mortality, that one of these days we'll end up a pile of bones. It's a thought for every human being, whether you believe in an afterlife or that when we die, that's it. The thought that all the beautiful things and knowledge and experiences you've been through just end when you end scares me, the thought that when you close your eyes for good, it's gone forever." The irreverence of the lyrics reflects the band's approach to life. In 1993, Cantrell told Rip Magazine that AIC always had a sarcastic sense of humor as a way of discussing the hardships of life without having those hardships crush them. While there's a sarcastic edge to the words, "Them Bones" is Cantrell legitimately contending with his fears. Gallows humor just takes the sting off of things.

In 1993, a Beavis and Butt-Head episode titled Sick showed the "Them Bones" video, with Butt-Head declaring it the coolest video he'd ever seen. Silly as it seems now (and silly as it most certainly is), that inclusion was no small thing. Beavis and Butt-Head was a bona fide cultural phenomenon for '90s youth. Being positively featured on the show was a real boon for youth-oriented bands of the era.

Rocky Shenck directed the video. Shenck has done many prominent music videos, celebrity photographs, and album covers, including the covers of the AIC albums Facelift, Sap, Dirt, and Jar of Flies.