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Armed with a beat-up Martin, the hip-hop icon nails the grunge era classic on the Howard Stern Show

Post Malone has considerable form when it comes to rock covers. Often accompanied by (or in direct competition with) his friend and collaborator Andrew Watt, the hip-hop icon has previously performed with Slash, , and even dropped . Now, in his latest appearance on Howard Stern’s Sirius XM Show, the hip-hop star wowed the veteran DJ with a version of the Alice In Chains classic, In the performance clip Post makes effective use of both a well-worn Martin dreadnought and a full choir. Sadly, though he no doubt could if he wanted to, Post doesn't wrangle the solo from that Martin neck, but that is probably for the best in this particular version. Nonetheless, the performance leaves Stern taken aback, with the host labelling it “beautiful.” Indeed, it’s about as pretty as Post Malone – or Alice In Chains for that matter – have ever sounded. originally featured on Alice In Chains’ 1992 album, and was written by Jerry Cantrell. It features a classic Cantrell device of a shifting time signature, with a 7/8 verse that morphs into 4/4 for the chorus. “Off-time stuff is just more exciting,” . “It takes people by surprise when you shift gears like that before they even know what the hell hit 'em. “It's also effective when you slow something down and then slam 'em into the dash. A lot of Alice stuff is written that way – is a great off-time song.” The above is not by any means Post Malone’s only acoustic performance – though this one went better than . In that clip, he joked he’d messed up his chords to , because “I was playing a Van Halen solo in my mind.” Which is an excuse that – let us be clear – is going to fly with . Fortunately, as the other clips we’ve seen attest, that’s not representative of his wider playing ability. Previously, the aforementioned Watt has heaped praise on Post’s six-string talent and, having produced everyone from Ozzy Osbourne to Paul McCartney and the Rolling Stones, he should know a decent guitarist when he sees one. “Post is a great guitar player,” . “And he's just an amazing musician. He's one of those guys that can do anything, you know?” Read more