Ann Wilson's self-described "dark" video for her cover of the Alice In Chains' anti-war anthem Rooster has finally seen the light of day. Originally recorded in 2020, the song was first released on 7" vinyl as the b-side of Wilson's cover of Steve Earle's The Revolution Starts Now!.
Heart singer Wilson also performed Rooster when Alice In Chains were recipients of the Museum Of Pop Culture (MoPOP) Founders Award in December 2020, during a live show that also starred Billy Corgan, Dave Navarro, Corey Taylor, Duff McKagan, Fishbone, Soundgarden's Kim Thayil, Korn, Krist Novoselic, Mark Lanegan, Mastodon, Metallica, Nancy Wilson and Taylor Hawkins.
"I wanted to remain true to the song as much as possible, but I wanted to make it my own," Wilson told the Seattle Times the same month. "But really, honouring the original spirit of the song, which is cockroaches and flies and all this kind of stuff. Before I knew what form the MoPOP thing was gonna take with the live performances, I made a video for Rooster that was really dark.
"They decided not to use it because they wanted it to be a bunch of live performances. But sometime I’ll put that video out because it’s really cool. It’s just maggots and war stuff and darkness and insanity." And now here it is.
Alice In Chains and Heart also performed Rooster together at VH1's Decades Rock Live show in Las Vegas in 2006. The show was released as the Live In Atlantic City album in 2018, and was William DuVall's first performance with Alice In Chains.
