The Stone Temple Pilots were formed in a very strange way. In San Diego at a Black Flag concert Scott Weiland bumped into Robert DeLeo. After talking briefly they discovered that they were dating the same women. Instead of killing each other they discovered that they had the same musical taste and decided to form a band with Scott on vocals and Robert on bass. They went on to recruit drummer Eric Kretz and Robert’s brother Dean for guitar. They played at clubs and other local shows under the name Mighty Joe Young. A year later they signed to a record company and changed their name to the Stone Temple Pilots. The bands 1992 debut album “Core” was a hit. It was quite grungy sounding and in fact, STP was heavily ragged on for copying Pearl Jam. Anyone who knows music would agree that they have similarities but STP did and does not copy Pearl Jam. The album “Core” had several radio hits, the controversial “Sex Type Thing”, the mellow “Creep” and what most would argue is STP’s best song ever, and one of the best songs of the 90’s; the infamous “Plush”. The album eventually went on to sell over 7 million copies. Even with their success they weren’t taken seriously by critics until the release of their next album “Purple” in 1994. The sound of this album was different than “Core” it was a bit mellower and toned down. This album spawned a couple radio hits as well; the songs “Vasoline”, “Interstate Love Song” and “The Big Empty”. After the release of this album something huge came out of the closet; Scott Weiland’s very serious heroin addiction, which seemed to be a fad those days, considering many other artists of the same genre were also addicted to heroin. Layne Staley of Alice in Chains, Kurt Cobain of Nirvana and Shannon Hoon of Blind Melon just to name a few of Weiland'd fellow addicts. Scott was constantly getting in trouble with law and actually spent some time in Jail. After he got out the band went on to record their next album which was then released in 1996. The album called “Tiny Music…Song for the Vatican…”. It is often regarded as their best album considering it was the most original and contained some very deep lyrics. As opposed to doing their usual Alice in Pearls formula they had established their own style. I personally still prefer “Core” but “TMSFTV” is still a solid album. Shortly after the release of that album STP announced that Weiland had entered a drug rehabilitation center, therefore canceling their summer tour. STP then went on to recruit a new singer, Dave Coutts and went under the name Talk Show. It wasn’t very successful. STP then got back together in 1999 to release their fourth album entitled “No.4”. It was even more mellowed down than there previous release, and is regarded as the beginning of the end for STP. Weiland then was sentenced to one year in Jail and STP was sent into hiatus. Then, all of the sudden 2001 STP shocked everyone with the release of Shangri-La-Dee-Da. It was definitely their worst album considering it had taken a poppy sound and the grunge roots were completely gone. That basically marks the end for STP. You could say, like many great bands on the 90’s drugs got in the way and ruined the band. None the less, Weiland is now in a new band with all the ex Guns N’ Roses members, with the exception of Axl. The band is called Velvet Revolver. So now STP is no more, but who knows, maybe we’ll see a new album from them in a couple years.
Bio written by: AIC4LIFE |
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