"Leave Me Alone" is the first solo song by American rock musician

Jerry Cantrell Jerry Fulton Cantrell Jr. (born March 18, 1966) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is best known as the founder, lead guitarist, co-lead vocalist, and main songwriter of the rock band Alice in Chains. The band rose to internation ...

, the guitarist/vocalist of the band

Alice in Chains Alice in Chains (often abbreviated as AIC) is an American rock band from Seattle, Washington, formed in 1987 by guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell and drummer Sean Kinney, who later recruited bassist Mike Starr and lead vocalist Layne ...

. It was originally featured on the soundtrack to the 1996 film ''

The Cable Guy ''The Cable Guy'' is a 1996 American black comedy film directed by Ben Stiller, written by Lou Holtz Jr. and starring Jim Carrey and Matthew Broderick. It was released in the United States on June 14, 1996. The film co-stars Leslie Mann, Jack Bl ...

'' and was also the film's closing track. The song was released as a single and peaked at No. 14 on

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in Ma ...

chart. A remixed version of the song was included on Jerry Cantrell's 2016 digital EP '' My Song''.

Origin

talked about the song to ''Guitar School'' magazine in August 1996:

Reception

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

wrote: "Jerry Cantrell's contribution 'Leave Me Alone''rocks as hard as any Alice in Chains track".

Music video

A black and white music video directed by

Rocky Morton Rocky Morton (born 1955) is an English director. He is the co-creator of the TV series ''Max Headroom'' and co-director of the 1993 Hollywood Pictures film ''Super Mario Bros''. Various music videos by Tom Tom Club, Talking Heads, Gravity Kills, ...

was released in June 1996 to accompany the single. It features

and drummer

Sean Kinney Sean Howard Kinney (born May 27, 1966) is an American musician, best known as the drummer and co-founder of the rock band Alice in Chains. Kinney also founded the short-lived supergroup Spys4Darwin, and has collaborated with other artists such a ...

performing while footage from ''The Cable Guy'' is displayed on a screen behind them.

Jim Carrey James Eugene Carrey (; born January 17, 1962) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian and artist. Known for his energetic slapstick performances, Carrey first gained recognition in 1990, after landing a role in the American sketch comedy te ...

also appears in the video coming out of a television screen haunting Jerry Cantrell. The music video was included as a bonus feature on the 15th-anniversary edition

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

of ''The Cable Guy'' in 2011.

Chart positions

Track listing

Personnel

– vocals, guitar and bass *

– drums Production * Produced by Jerry Cantrell,

Toby Wright Toby Wright is an American record producer and mixing engineer who has worked with artists such as Alice in Chains, Metallica, Sevendust and Korn. Credits Producer * 3rd Strike - '' Lost Angel'' *8stops7 - ''In Moderation'' *Alice in Chains - ...

* Engineered by Darrell Peters, David Bryant * Mixed by Toby Wright

References

External links

* * {{authority control 1996 songs 1996 debut singles Jerry Cantrell songs Songs written by Jerry Cantrell Film theme songs Sony BMG singles Song recordings produced by Jerry Cantrell