Cantrell was also going through severe clinical depression from the deaths of his mother and his friend, Andrew Wood, and used Xanax, an anxiety medication prescribed by his doctor to ease his depression as well as his heavy drinking on tour. Staley was not the only one who went through heavy drug use Sean Kinney and bassist Mike Starr were also struggling with alcohol addiction.

I'm not getting paid to be Layne's friend.' And what's my job as a producer? To produce a record. Jerden said, 'Apparently he got all mad at me. Jerden later said that he was told Staley felt animosity toward him dating back to the Dirt sessions due to Jerden repeatedly recommending to Staley that he get sober at the time. Cantrell had also agreed with Kinney's report, saying that Staley, Jerden and the rest of the band would smoke marijuana in the studio room, even saying that Staley would shoot heroin in front of everyone. Drummer Sean Kinney claimed in a 2005 interview that Staley had told Kinney that he was extremely high on heroin and marijuana during the recordings of 'Down in a Hole' and 'Angry Chair' as well as taking oxycodone for back pain. When recording the album, Staley had previously checked out of rehab in Portland, Oregon and quickly went back to using heroin.

Dirt was recorded at Eldorado Recording Studio in Burbank, California, London Bridge Studio in Seattle, and One on One Studios in Los Angeles from March to May 1992. For the songs 'Them Bones', 'Rain When I Die', 'Down in a Hole', 'Dirt', and 'Would?', Cantrell brought in his black Gibson Les Paul and an amplifier he had bought when he was seventeen which had much heavier distortion than any amplifier he had used in the past. He admired vocalist Layne Staley's lyrics and voice, and lead guitarist Jerry Cantrell's guitar riffs. Producer Dave Jerden, who had previously worked with the band on their debut, Facelift, wanted to work with them again. The recording of Dirt began in the spring of 1992.

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