The Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) this week presented Seattle rock icons Alice In Chains with its 14th Annual Founders Award, an honour given to artists who have made outstanding contributions to popular music.

The museum, along with Amazon Music, has also announced the release of MoPOP Founders Award Honouring Alice In Chains: A Benefit for the Museum of Pop Culture, a brand-new Amazon Originals compilation. Available for streaming only on Amazon Music, the compilation features highlights from the event’s performances, including Mastodon’s cover of ‘Again’, City and Colour’s take on ‘Rain When I Die’, two covers of ‘Would?’ by KORN and Metallica, a rendition of ‘Man In the Box’ by Dave Navarro, Taylor Hawkins, Corey Taylor, and Chris Chaney, and more. The compilation also features performances of ‘Your Decision’ and ‘No Excuses’ by Alice In Chains.

The Founders Award event serves as the non-profit museum’s principal annual fundraiser for youth development programs, access initiatives, community engagement, and world-class exhibitions. So far the celebration has raised £500,000 and counting, attracting more than 275,000 views online throughout the evening.

“It was an amazing evening honouring Alice In Chains and raising a tremendous amount to support our non-profit institution.” said MoPOP Executive Director Alexis Lee. “We extend our heartfelt gratitude to all of the artists who participated as well as our generous supporters who are funding our efforts to serve our community, reach young people, and preserve our shared pop culture history during this difficult time.”

Alice In Chains were thrilled to be honoured and, upon receiving the award, Jerry Cantrell said, “This band started 33 years ago, three and a half miles down the road in Ballard… it’s a pretty amazing journey that we’re still on. There are so many great artists and friends who have contributed shout-outs and performances — it’s been a really cool experience and William, Sean, Mike, and I would like to thank everybody. And, as we accept these awards, we want to remember our bandmates as well, Layne Staley and Mike Starr. Wow, what a night!””

Listeners can access the compilation album simply by asking, “Alexa, play the MoPOP Founders Award album” in the Amazon app for iOS and Android and on Alexa-enabled devices. Amazon Music listeners are always able to access hundreds of Amazon Originals featuring both emerging and established artists across numerous genres, available to stream only on the service.

This year’s celebration was broadcast virtually on Amazon Music’s Twitch Channel and featured performances by award recipients Alice In Chains, as well as tribute performances from Chris Chaney (Jane’s Addiction), Billy Corgan (The Smashing Pumpkins), Dallas Green (City and Colour), Fishbone, Taylor Hawkins (Foo Fighters), KORN, Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees, Mad Season), Ann Wilson, Duff McKagan (Guns n’ Roses), Mastodon, Metallica, Dave Navarro, Krist Novoselic (Nirvana, Giants in the Trees), Corey Taylor (Slipknot), Kim Thayil (Soundgarden), Matt Cameron (Soundgarden/Pearl Jam), Nancy Wilson, and the debut musical performance of Lily Cornell Silver (daughter of Chris Cornell and Susan Silver), among many others. The event also featured appearances from members of Pearl Jam, Sammy Hagar, Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine, Audioslave), Les Claypool, Robert Downey Jr., and many more.

The event also featured performances by artists from MoPOP’s 21-and-under music showcase and competition Sound Off!, including Katyrose Jordan, The Human Missile Crisis, David’s Van, and Talaya.

The full show is available to view on MoPOP’s YouTube channel and contributions to support the museum’s exhibitions, programs, and educational work can still be made at www.MoPOP.org/FoundersDonation.

TRACK LIST
1. ‘Your Decision’ – Alice In Chains
2. ‘Rooster’ – Ann Wilson
3. ‘Down In A Hole’ – Duff McKagan, Shooter Jennings, Ayron Jones, Martin Feveyear
4. ‘Would?’ – Korn
5. ‘Rain When I Die’ – City and Colour
6. ‘Put You Down’ – Liv Warfield
7. ‘Again’ – Mastodon
8. ‘Would? (Acoustic)’ – Metallica
9. ‘Black Gives Way To Blue’ –  Lily Cornell Silver with Chris Degarmo
10. ‘Nutshell’ – Mark Lanegan, Maggie Bjorklund
11. ‘Man In the Box’ – Dave Navarro, Taylor Hawkins, Corey Taylor, Chris Chaney
12. ‘No Excuses’ – Alice In Chains
13. ‘Heaven Beside You’ – Aryon Jones
14. ‘Check My Brain’ – Billy Corgan
15. ‘Them Bones’ – Fishbone
16. ‘Drone’ – Kim Thayil with Krist Novoselic, Giants in the Trees
17. ‘Brother’ – Nancy Wilson, Mark Lanegan and Liv Warfield
18. ‘Angry Chair’ – Members of Soundgarden with Tad Doyle, Mike McCready and Meagan Grandall
19. ‘Black Gives Way to Blue’ – Eric & Encarnación
20. ‘It Ain’t Like That’ – Kim Thayil with Shaina Shepherd, Bubba Dupree, Bill Herzog, Nathan Yaccino

ABOUT ALICE IN CHAINS
Over the course of their remarkable career, Alice In Chains: vocalist/guitarist Jerry Cantrell, drummer Sean Kinney, bassist Mike Inez and vocalist/guitarist William DuVall and posthumously, original lead singer, Layne Staley and bassist, Mike Starr have sold more than 30 million albums worldwide, toured to sold out audiences and earned multiple Grammy Award nominations. They have amassed a diehard international fanbase numbering in the millions and are a household name worldwide.

Alice In Chains discography features some of the biggest and most important albums in rock history, including 1992’s quadruple-platinum-certified Dirt, 1994’s triple-platinum-certified EP Jar of Flies, which was the first EP in music history to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 and 1995’s self-titled double-platinum-certified Alice In Chains, which also entered the Billboard Top 200 at No. 1.

They returned in grand style in 2009 with the critically acclaimed Black Gives Way to Blue, which hit No. 1 across the rock and alternative charts, earned a Grammy nomination, was certified Gold and hailed by Vice as “a record that’s as powerful as anything the band has done.”  The band’s latest album released in 2018, Rainier Fog, hit No. 1 across Billboard’s Rock, Alternative and Hard Music Charts and No. 1 on the iTunes Rock Album Chart and earned them a Grammy nod for Best Rock Album. Alice in Chains remains one of the most successful and influential American rock bands of all time.

ABOUT THE MUSEUM OF POP CULTURE (MoPOP)
Now in its 20th year, MoPOP is a leading-edge nonprofit museum in Seattle, dedicated to the ideas and risk-taking that fuel contemporary pop culture. With a mission to make creative expression a life-changing force by offering experiences that inspire and connect our communities, MoPOP reaches multigenerational audiences through our collections, exhibitions, and educational programs. At MoPOP, artists, audiences, and ideas converge, bringing understanding, interpretation, and scholarship to the pop culture of our time. For more information, visit MoPOP.org.