It is the anniversary of Scott Weiland’s death today.
Stone Temple Pilots How Scott Weiland & The Band Became So Hated By Critics
Stone Temple Pilots roots date back to the city of Los Angeles where they formed in 1989 under the monicker Mighty Joe Young. They gained a pretty big following, but soon changed their name after a blues musician was found to already own the rights to their moniker. They would eventually settle on the name Stone Temple Pilots and they signed to Atlantic Records. The band quickly got to work on their debut album Core, which happened to be produced by Brendan O’Brien who coincidentally enough, would work with grunge acts Pearl Jam and Soundgarden. The members of Stone Temple Pilots tempered their expectations with drummer Eric Kretz telling classic rock “Since we’d signed to Atlantic Records, which was one of the greatest labels in the world, I was like: ‘If we fail and get dropped, there was no coming back from getting dropped from the top, That was my biggest fear” he’d say Released in September of 1992, Core spawned six huge songs, only three of which were released as singles that are still staples of rock radio to this day including “Sex Type Thing”, “Creep”, “Dead and Bloated”, “Plush” “Wicked Garden,” and “Crackerman”. The album would peak at number 3 on the billboard charts, selling over 8 million copies and became the band’s most successful album of their career. The album was also helped by MTV who heavily promoted the videos for sex type thing and plush. While the band had a lot to celebrate, critics were split over the group. While the album did garner some good reviews, the band also received some pretty harsh criticism. Music journalists claimed the band “ripped off” of grunge acts which were popular at the time most notably Pearl Jam. Others contended the band was a creation of the record label to cash in on the popularity of the alternative rock scene, which was spurred by bands from the Pacific Northwest. The members of Stone Temple Pilots weren’t even from Seattle as they all hailed from different parts of the US and eventually met in California The band was also slammed by some critics who accused them of glorifying rape with their song “Sex Type Thing” which was released as the first single from the album. It was ironic given that according to Weiland, the song deals with abuse of power, “macho” behavior, and society’s attitude toward women, often treating them as objects he’d claim. Entertainment Weekly’s Deborah Frost wrote in her review of Core that the “Stone Temple Pilots’ hit ‘Sex Type Thing’ could be Mike Tyson’s rape defense transcribed into grunge rock. It’s unclear whether STP, which sounds like it has crash-landed Pearl Jam into Alice in Chains, is condemning or identifying with its narrator. With a real point of view, this band could be bigger than an accident” she’d claim. while the Village Voice, claimed the band didn’t stand out from their peers, despite their best power chords. Even the hit MTV show Beavis and Butthead had one episode where both of the shows characters are watching the video for the song Plush and mistake it for Pearl Jam. They would go on to compare Scott Weiland to Eddie Vedder, with Butthead concluding, “both bands suck” with Beavis firing back saying “Pearl Jam doesn’t suck. They’re from Seattle” Even Saturday Night Live got in on the ribbing as you can see David Spade discussing the band on his old segment Hollywood minute here. And in music Stone Temple Pilots were on tour. They were great the first time i saw them when they were called Pearl Jam. It wasn’t just critics who threw mud at the band as even their tourmates The Butthole Surfers also thew some shade their way. During an appearance on Headbanger’s Ball in 1993, Butthole Surfers Gibby Haynes poked fun at the band’s sound and host Rikki Rachtman made some remarks that angered Scott Weiland. Here’s a clip discussing what happened.Stone Temple Pilots were on Headbangers Ball. When you hear the acoustic version of Plush that was done on our show. That was the last time things went smoothly with the Stone Temple Pilots. One time the Butthole Surfers were on the Headbangers Ball and we were introducing a Stone Temple Pilots video and Gibby says Stone Temple Pilots who does that band reminem in Land that got squashe
Grunge Graveyard 