STONE TEMPLE PILOTS
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From the beginning–which for STP was a big hit called “Plush”–the group has been called “the poor man’s Pearl Jam.” Indeed, on “Plush” that famous grunge sound was evident: guitars that echoed Alice in Chains, the soft verse/hard chorus/soft verse method made famous by Nirvana, the emotional but rather senseless Vedder-esque lyrics, and, more than anything else, STP vocalist Scott Weiland’s soulful, heavy voice, almost indistinguishable from Eddie’s. “Plush” was the song Pearl Jam would have written if they’d been able to. But rather than get credit for this perfect song, STP was charged with plagiarizing a movement. Nevermind that Pearl Jam had only been known to the mainstream for a short time when STP released its first album, Core.
Although “Plush” obviously got the most attention, the album itself is a brilliant mesh of sounds and styles, ranging from the hard-core, punk-influenced, date-rape-in-the-first-person shocker of “Sex Type Thing” to the mystic “Where the River Flows” to the wounded ballad “Creep.” The latest disc, Purple, could be Core II: just substitute “Vasoline” for “Creep,” “Big Empty” for “Plush,” and “Interstate Love Song” for “Crackerman.” They aren’t exact copies of the songs, mind you, but updates of the sound and theme and general flow.
When I hear “Plush,” I’m convinced it’s the story of a serial killer. That’s the movie I see in my head. Maybe other people don’t hear that, but they have their own version. Just like they have their own versions of “Crackerman,” “Creep,” “Interstate Love Song,” and “Big Empty”–among the best received tunes at the pavilion show. I think “Vasoline” is about an addiction to lip balm, the guy next to me thinks it’s about the struggles of life–we’re all flies in the Vasoline, man. Not surprisingly Metallica, Nirvana, and STP have all done mainly nonstory videos, relying instead on concert clips or abstract images to advertise their songs.
