Thanks to new music from The Cranberries, I’m on a bit of a retro alt-rock kick. Of course, no trip back to the format’s early ’90s glory days is complete without a stop in Seattle. Grunge wasn’t entirely my groove, but albums by Nirvana and Pearl Jam earned a permanent spot in my library, as did the Singles soundtrack. Yesterday, hearing Screaming Trees’ “Nearly Lost You” at the gym (of all places) brought some good memories back.

The Singles soundtrack — still one of the best ever compiled — opens with Alice In Chains’ “Would?” and I picked up the band’s 1992 album Dirt on the strength of that shared song. I quickly discovered, however, that Dirt was much too dark and sludgey for me. Fast forward a year and a half later, and the arrival of the band’s acoustic Jar Of Flies EP, a toned-down affair that was much more my style.

Released on January 25, 1994, Alice in Chains’ Jar of Flies EP not only debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, but it was also the first EP in music history to do so. Lead single, “No Excuses,” likely had a little to do with that, spending two weeks at #1 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart and three weeks at #3 on the Modern Rock chart.

The first pressing of Jar Of Flies had several plastic flies sitting in the yellow-green spine of the jewel case, but somewhere along the way I misplaced mine. I have no excuses:

Purchase Alice In Chains – “No Excuses” via iTunes, Amazon MP3.