The demo for "Rooster" was recorded at Eldorado Studios on Los Angeles' Sunset Boulevard during the sessions for the Singles (1992) soundtrack, co-produced by Alice in Chains with Dave Jerden.

[7] In the liner notes of 1999's Music Bank box set collection, songwriter Jerry Cantrell said of the song: "I think there's some vibe on the demo that maybe we didn't get here (on Dirt), but this has something all of its own... quality, for one thing.

[7][9] Cantrell wrote the song while living at Chris Cornell and Susan Silver's house in Seattle at the start of 1991.

[7] Alone, late at night, Cantrell kept thinking about his father and the psychological scars from his time in the Vietnam War that contributed to the breakdown of his family.

[11] In the liner notes of 1999's Music Bank box set collection, Jerry Cantrell said of the song: It was the start of the healing process between my Dad and I from all that damage that Vietnam caused.

[8]In a 1992 interview with Guitar for the Practicing Musician magazine, in response to the question "Do you feel you communicated with [your father] with this song?

He was back there with his big gray Stetson and his cowboy boots — he's a total Oklahoma man — and at the end, he took his hat off and just held it in the air.

[12]Cantrell said of the song in a 2006 interview with Team Rock: That experience in Vietnam changed him [his father] forever, and it certainly had an effect on our family, so I guess it was a defining moment in my life, too.

[6] Ned Raggett of AllMusic said that the song "[keeps] both the volume and the tenderness in play while tackling a slightly unexpected subject" and that it "alternates between almost dreamy verses, and surging, blasting choruses.

[18] Along with "Rooster", other Alice in Chains songs such as "Down in a Hole", "Them Bones" and "Sea of Sorrow" were also included in the memo.

The music video featured real Vietnam War documentary/news footage as well as some very realistic, graphically re-enacted combat scenes.

Cantrell Sr. served two combat tours in Vietnam, and also appears in the music video talking about his war experiences.

Cantrell Sr.'s scenes, filmed in stark black & white, show him hunting in the woods as an older man, while having "flashback" memories of his youthful Vietnam combat experiences (which are shot in full color).

"Rooster" was the last music video to feature original bass player Mike Starr, who is pictured on the cover of the single.

portrayed the title role of "Rooster", the Team Leader of a Long Range Recon Patrol (LRRPs) in the combat scenes.

The XM177E1 Assault carbine held by Elliott's character had not yet been issued with a 14-inch barrel(Not until the 1980s) as well as the Nomex flight gloves which were not used until late in the Vietnam War.

Cantrell's father joined Alice in Chains during "Rooster" on stage for the October 19, 2007, show in Tulsa, at Cain's Ballroom.

In the Primus DVD Animals Should Not Try to Act Like People, Alice in Chains are seen playing the song live, with Les Claypool joining the band on stage dressed in a chicken suit.

Jerry Cantrell often introduces his father on stage before playing the song at Alice in Chains' concerts.