Rooster (song)

"Rooster" is a song by the American rock band Alice in Chains, from their second studio album, Dirt (1992). Columbia Records serviced the song to US radio on February 22, 1993, making it the album's fourth single. It is the fifth song on the original pressing of the album and sixth on others. The song was written by guitarist/vocalist Jerry Cantrell for his father, Jerry Cantrell Sr., whose childhood nickname was "Rooster" and served with the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. Cantrell would later name his music publishing company Rooster's Son Publishing. "Rooster" spent 20 weeks on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and peaked at No. 7. An acoustic version performed on Alice in Chains' MTV Unplugged concert was included on the live album Unplugged (1996). Both the studio and the demo version of the song were featured on the box set Music Bank (1999). The song was also included on the compilation albums Greatest Hits (2001), and The Essential Alice in Chains (2006). Metal Hammer ranked "Rooster" at No. 12 on its list of "The 100 Best Metal Songs of the 90s" in 2018, and at No. 2 on its list of "The Top 10 Best Alice in Chains Song" in 2020.