Alice In Chains Celebrate 'Jar Of Flies' 30th Anniversary With Real Flies Implanted In Vinyl

Alice In Chains’ massively successful, mostly acoustic EP Jar Of Flies was released 30 years ago this week, and to celebrate, the grunge icons have released 30th-anniversary editions of the record… including one version with actual flies embedded inside it.

Yep, alongside the Jar Of Flies limited edition box set with tri-colour vinyl (orange, purple and yellow), cassette, plushie set, skateboard, custom poker set, blacklight poster, clothing including t-shirts, long sleeves and hoodies is a rare edition Jar Of Flies clear fly vinyl.

While the rare edition of the EP is already sold out – the release was limited to just 150 units – real flies were assembled and inserted into the record by hand.

You can look at the vinyl via Alice In Chains’ website and pre-order the remaining merchandise (the vinyl is all sold out) before its late March 2024 shipping date.

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Jar Of Flies was the first EP in music history to reach #1 on the Billboard 200, while in Australia, in a release packaged with the band’s 1992 EP Sap, Jar Of Flies hit #2 on the ARIA Albums Chart. The EP also reached #1 in New Zealand, #4 in the UK, #5 in Canada and the top 10 in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark.

Featuring the undeniably powerful singles No Excuses, Don’t Follow, and I Stay Away, the latter track was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance in 1995, while the EP was nominated for Best Recording Package.

In other Alice In Chains news, rapper and singer Post Malone appeared Live on the Howard Stern Show a few months ago and performed the Dirt classic, Them Bones.

Sticking to the song’s original arrangement, Post Malone played the track on acoustic guitar and paid tribute to original singer Layne Staley with a rocking vocal performance. He was accompanied by a choir for the true Staley and Jerry Cantrell effect – you can check it out below.