Originally Posted by TheUsed2lguy

That doesn't make sense. 80's stadium rock wasn't dreary. It was hairspray, and cocaine, and cheese. AIC may have some heavy songs like, Rooster, or Man in the Box, which get heavy in the chorus, but the verses sound nothing like 80's stadium rock. It is way, way slower.

As I mentioned in the above post, their music was extremely slow, which is pretty anti-80's pop. You could argue that they tried to sound like Nirvana, but I highly doubt that, since their most successful album came out the same year as Nevermind.

That contradicts your earlier statement that they were a stadium rock band, only heavier. So, they had some heavy songs, and they had some acoustic songs. So what if a band wants to explore their plethora of emotions through varying styles? Also, I have to give a nod to Staley over Cobain. I think Kurt was a better lyricist, and a great singer, but Staley could croon and shriek like no other. He had an incredible range in his voice from the low octave voice common in his verses to the high pitched shrieking in Rooster. He also had one of the loudest voices in rock, next to Chris Cornell.