Heart's Ann Wilson was one of many musicians who participated in the 2020 MoPOP Founders Award ceremony, which celebrated fellow-Seattle natives Alice in Chains. She covered the iconic Dirt anthem "Rooster," and now she's released a video for it.
The video is an amalgamation of different types of footage, including military images and clips, insects and an animated version of Wilson wailing the lyrics. The project was apparently made specifically for the MoPOP event, but they decided to show footage of Wilson performing the song instead.
"I wanted to remain true to the song as much as possible, but I wanted to make it my own. But really, honoring the original spirit of the song, which is cockroaches and flies and all this kind of stuff," Wilson told the Seattle Times of covering "Rooster" back in December of 2020.
"Before I knew what form the MoPOP thing was gonna take with the live performances, I made a video for 'Rooster' that was really dark. They decided not to use it because they wanted it to be a bunch of live performances. But sometime I’ll put that video out because it’s really cool. It’s just maggots and war stuff and darkness and insanity."
Check out the video below. Additionally, the song is also now available as a B-side on her Sawheat 8 EP, which is available on her website.
Alice in Chains and Heart have a longstanding relationship. Wilson sang guest vocals on AIC's 1992 EP Sap, along with Chris Cornell and Mudhoney's Mark Arm. The band also recorded their 1995 album Alice in Chains at Bad Animals Studio [now Studio X] in Seattle, which Wilson and her sister Nancy Wilson owned from 1991 until 1997.
“The most powerful voice I’ve ever heard is Ann Wilson,” Alice in Chains' Jerry Cantrell told The Aquarian in 2006. “Hands down. And the guitar work and the singing that Nancy does is incredible too. It’s an amazing thing. They’re legends in my mind.”