Courtesy of Museum of Pop CultureGrunge-rock legends Alice in Chains were honored with the 2020 Founders Award Tuesday from Seattle’s Museum of Pop Culture, a.k.a. MoPOP, as part of a star-studded virtual tribute that streamed live on Amazon Music’s Twitch channel. It also lives on demand on the museum’s YouTube channel.
Among the many artists that contributed video performances to the nearly two-and-a-half-hour event were Heart‘s Ann and Nancy Wilson, separately. Ann sang “Rooster” with her backing band, while Nancy performed “Brother” with Screaming Trees frontman Mark Lanegan and one-time Prince backing vocalist Liv Warfield. Warfield also is a member of Nancy’s recent Roadcase Royale side project. Ann recently announced that she will be releasing a limited-edition vinyl single soon that will feature her cover of “Rooster” on the B-side.
Other artists who performed during the special included Alice in Chains themselves, plus Metallica, Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan, The Smashing Pumpkins‘ Billy Corgan, Nirvana‘s Krist Novoselic, Foo Fighters‘ Taylor Hawkins, Pearl Jam‘s Mike McCready, and Dave Navarro and Chris Chaney of Jane’s Addiction.
The program also featured video tribute messages from Sammy Hagar, longtime Elton John guitarist Davey Johnstone, Robert Downey Jr., filmmaker Cameron Crowe, Stone Temple Pilots, and Pearl Jam’s McCready, Eddie Vedder and Jeff Ament, among many others.
Throughout the special, Alice in Chains members were shown visting MoPOP’s various exhibits and discussing the legacy and influence of Jimi Hendrix, who was the museum’s original inspiration.
This year’s Founders Award ceremony raised more than $600,000 for MoPOP.
Here’s the full list of performances from the show:
“Your Decision” — Alice in Chains
“Rooster” — Ann Wilson
“Man in the Box” — Dave Navarro, Taylor Hawkins, Corey Taylor, Chris Chaney
“Down in a Hole” — Duff McKagan, Shooter Jennings, Ayron Jones, Martin Feveyear
“Would?” — Korn
“Brother” — Nancy Wilson, Mark Lanegan and Liv Warfield
“Them Bones” — Fishbone
“Rain When I Die” — City and Colour
“Put You Down” — Liv Warfield
“Again” — Mastodon
“It Ain’t Like That” — Kim Thayil with Shaina Shepherd, Bubba Dupree, Bill Herzog, Nathan Yaccino
“Drone” — Kim Thayil with Krist Novoselic, Giants in the Trees
“Black Gives Way to Blue” — Lily Cornell Silver with Queensrÿche’s Chris Degarmo
“Nutshell” — Mark Lanegan, Maggie Bjorklund
“Heaven Beside You” — Aryon Jones
“Angry Chair” — Members of Soundgarden with Tad Doyle, Mike McCready and Meagan Grandall
“Check My Brain” — Billy Corgan
“Would?” (Acoustic) — Metallica
“No Excuses” — Alice in Chains
“Black Gives Way to Blue” — Eric & Encarnación
(Video contains uncensored profanity.)
By Matt Friedlander
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