10. “And So I Know”
Stone Temple Pilots released Tiny Music…Songs From the Vatican Gift Shop less than four years after their debut album, but they were already a band in complete disarray. Scott Weiland was arrested for possession of cocaine and heroin a year before its release, causing a deep rift in the band that led to the three other members forming a whole new group, which eventually became Talk Show.
It was the first of many temporary separations, but when the group got back together in late 1995, they somehow overcame their differences and took their long-awaited third album. One of the standout tracks is “And So I Know,” a sad ballad that showcases Weiland’s vocal range. The song has never been a favorite at live performances, and the band last played it at a show in Arizona in 2002.
9. “Sex Type Thing”
In the early ’90s, it was easy to get away with a song like “Sex Type Thing.” Nowadays he would be a little, well, problematic. Let’s take a look at some of the lines: “I am a man, a man/I’ll give ya somethin’ that ya won’t forget/I said ya shouldn’t have worn that dress/I said ya shouldn’t have worn that dress…You wouldn’t want me to have to hurt you too, hurt you too?”
Weiland said the song was written from the perspective of a disturbed character, but he would probably still be heavily criticized for it today. But 1992 was a different world. The song remained a central part of his live shows for years, whether with Velvet Revolver, STP or his various solo bands.
8. “Vasoline”
Some cynical rock critics labeled Stone Temple Pilots grunge copycats when they debuted in late 1992 and believed they would quickly disappear. By the time they released “Purple” in the summer of 1994, it was clear that this wasn’t going to happen any time soon. It was an even stronger collection of songs that spawned numerous hit singles, including “Vasoline.”
“It’s about being stuck in the same position over and over again,” Weiland wrote in his memoir “Not Dead & Not for Sale.” “It’s about me becoming a junkie. It’s about [meine Freundin] Lying to Janina and lying to the band about my heroin addiction.”
7. Velvet Revolver: “Fall to Pieces”
In one of the most honest moments of his memoir, Not Dead & Not for Sale, Scott Weiland reveals his true feelings about Velvet Revolver’s debut album. “I liked our first record, but I can’t call it the music of my soul,” he wrote. “There was a certain commercial calculation behind it. We wanted hits.”
They landed one of them with “Fall to Pieces,” which started out as a riff that Slash wrote at the very end of his time with Guns N’ Roses. Weiland turned it into a finished song with the help of bassist Duff McKagan. “[Es geht] about dealing with my heroin addiction – or not,” he said. “It was also about my relationship with [meiner Frau] Mary and how she fell apart.” When Mary published her memoir in 2009, she called it Fall to Pieces.
6. “Creep”
Radiohead, TLC and Stone Temple Pilots each had big hits between 1992 and 1994 with a song called “Creep.” Oddly enough, Radiohead’s single “Creep” was released the same week in 1992 that STP released “Core.” Neither song initially gained much attention until they hit heavy rotation on MTV and rock radio the following year.
The STP “Creep” is an intense story of self-loathing that some listeners initially thought was a Nirvana song. (Weiland sounds a lot like Kurt Cobain when he sings “This I feel as the dawn fades” in the chorus.) TLC went in a different direction with “Creep.” Her song is about getting revenge on an unfaithful husband by starting an affair yourself.
5. “Sour Girl”
By the fall of 1999, not many people were paying attention to Stone Temple Pilots. It was the era of Eminem, Kid Rock, the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears, and many rock bands of the early 1990s suddenly seemed outdated. But STP weren’t ready to call it a day, and their new album No. 4 was impossible to ignore. The second single “Sour Girl” gets stuck in your head from the first listen and brought the band back to MTV for the first time in many years.
The bitter lyrics were inspired by Scott’s separation from his wife Jannina Castaneda. “The ransom note, of course, was the fortune that our divorce cost me,” Weiland said. “And the happy state that I assumed was Jannina’s mood came from finally freeing her life from a man who had never been faithful.”
4. “Still Remains”
Many of Scott Weiland’s best-known songs are bitter breakup songs or confessional tales of drug abuse, but this “Purple” deep cut is a sweet love song full of hopeless devotion.
“Our bed we live, our bed we sleep,” sings Weiland. “Making love and I become you/Flesh is warm with naked feet/Stabbing thorns and you become me.” The song was never a single, and “Vasoline” and “Interstate Love Song” received most of the attention from “Purple,” but die-hard STP fans recognize “Still Remains” as a hidden gem.
3. “Big Empty”
Stone Temple Pilots recorded their MTV Unplugged special seven months before the release of “Purple” and used the opportunity to premiere their new song “Big Empty.” It became the first single from the album and reached number 7 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart.
Kurt Cobain committed suicide just weeks before the song’s release and grunge was on the decline, but STP proved they still had a lot to say.
2. “Interstate Love Song”
One of the hardest parts about being a junkie is the constant stream of lies you end up telling everyone you love. Scott Weiland wrote STP’s 1994 hit “Interstate Love Song” over phone calls with his wife while on tour.
“She asked how I was,” he wrote in “Not Dead & Not for Sale.” “I lied and said I was fine. I probably just shot myself before I called her.” The song peaked at number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart.
1. “Plush”
“Is that Pearl Jam?” Beavis asked as the video for his and Butt-Head’s “Plush” played on TV. “Yes,” replied his companion. “Eddie Vedder dyed his hair red.” Eventually they realized what was going on. “I heard these guys were there first,” Butt-Head said. “And they copied Pearl Jam.” Variations of this conversation took place on many television screens in 1993. Looking back, it’s clear that the bands had little in common and there was more than enough room for both.
“Plush” is the song that first introduced STP to the world, and it remains their signature song. The group will almost certainly continue with another lead singer, but no one will ever hear the lines “Where ya going with that mask I found?” perform like Scott Weiland. He was a completely unique and irreplaceable talent.
