Specific songs that influenced Alice in Chains
If you can think of any others, please, let me know! I'll put them in this list, and hopefully make the list a little more detailed and structured.
"Dirt" (1992) - the riff is a homage to "Electric Funeral" (1970) by Black Sabbath
"Hate To Feel" (1992) - the main riff is a nod to Led Zeppelin's "Dazed and Confused" (1969)
"Whale & Wasp" (1994) - the strings melody (starts 0:34) seems to be a reference to the vocal melody in the Beatles, "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" (1965)
"Don't Follow" (1994) - the turnaround and outro (2:30) is very similar to that in Guns N Roses, "Patience" (1988) (around 4:15)
"Frogs" (1995) - Cantrell has acknowledged that the outro section (especially from about 6:15) was influenced by Robin Trower's "Bridge of Sighs" (1974), they both use rotovibe for sure.
"She Was My Girl" (2002) - they're obviously distinct enough, but the fact that this was inspired by Local H's "Bound for the Floor" (1996) was discussed quite a bit when the song first appeared on the Spiderman soundtrack
"Last of My Kind" (2009) - the pre-chorus (starts 1:29) has very strong vibes of Rob Zombie's "Dragula" (1998) (about 0:51)
"Acid Bubble" (2009) - this one's more of a 'vibe', but certainly the bass riff at the beginning has made me think of Jimi Hendrix's "Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)" (1970).
"So Far Under" (2018) - the chorus riff (1:40) definitely sounds like a nod to the outro riff on "Throes of Rejection" (1994) by Pantera (4:00)
"Off the Rails" (2025) - the main riff was described by Amit Sharma as a "cheeky nod" to Iron Maiden's "Wasted Years" (1986), with which Jerry concurred.