The MTV Unplugged was Alice in Chains' first concert in two and a half years, and contains live, acoustic versions of the band's biggest hits along with lesser-known songs.

On April 10, 1996, Alice in Chains resurfaced to perform their first concert in two and a half years for MTV Unplugged, a program featuring all-acoustic set lists.

[4] The performance was one of Alice in Chains' final appearances with vocalist Layne Staley and featured some of the band's highest charting singles, including "Rooster", "Down in a Hole", "Heaven Beside You", and "Would?

[1] Jerry Cantrell has attested to being fairly ill during the performance as a result of food poisoning from a hot dog consumed before the gig.

[7] Inez and drummer Sean Kinney did pay tribute to Metallica, however, playing the intro to their hit song "Enter Sandman" just before "Sludge Factory".

Before "Angry Chair," Jerry Cantrell paid further tribute by playing the intro to "Battery" going into the Hee Haw song, "Gloom, Despair, and Agony on Me".

On the CD version of the MTV Unplugged concert, as Staley says "Okay, that's it," at the end of the song, booing can be heard (presumably due to the performance concluding).

[13] The songs "Angry Chair", "Frogs", and "The Killer Is Me" were cut from the original MTV broadcast but are included on both the CD and home video releases.

"[9] Sandy Masuo of Rolling Stone wrote in her review "Unplugged certainly reaffirms the emotional range and technical prowess of Alice in Chains.