Forced to change their name for legal reasons, they latched onto the STP motor oil brand and eventually decided to flesh the initials out as Stone Temple Pilots. Gigging around San Diego, the DeLeo brothers, Weiland, and Kretz built a local audience before entering the studio with O'Brien. After a few years, the group reunited long enough to deliver a comeback album in 2010, but Weiland died of an accidental overdose in 2015, leaving the surviving members to carry on with replacement lead singers, including late Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington and The X Factor competitor Jeff Gutt.įormed in the late '80s, the band was originally dubbed Mighty Joe Young. Behind the scenes, Stone Temple Pilots were plagued with personal problems, many stemming from Weiland's troubles with addiction, and the weight of these battles led to the band's breakup in 2002. For a while, STP outpaced their contemporaries at least in terms of hit singles, racking up constant plays on MTV and rock radio with "Plush," "Creep," "Big Empty," "Vasoline," "Interstate Love Song," and "Big Bang Baby." Each of their signature hits boasted a canny blend of crunching classic rock riffs, psychedelic flair, and candied pop melodies, a combination that helped the songs endure beyond the band's '90s heyday. The quartet of Scott Weiland, Dean and Robert DeLeo, and Eric Kretz had a foot planted in two seemingly opposed camps, cutting their teeth on the Southern California hard rock circuit of the late '80s yet working steadily with Brendan O'Brien, who also produced albums by Pearl Jam, one of the biggest bands to hail from Seattle, the birthplace of grunge. Stone Temple Pilots complicated this narrative considerably. The alternative rock explosion of the 1990s was framed as a triumph of authenticity: grunge wiped out the sleazy hair metal of the '80s and ushered in an era of real, dangerous rock.
For a while, STP outpaced their contemporaries at least in terms of hit singles, racking up constant plays on MTV and rock radio with "Plush," "Creep," "Big Empty," "Vasoline," "Interstate Love Song," and "Big Bang Baby." Each of their signature. The band picked up again with vocalist Jeff Gutt and experiments like 2020’s all-acoustic Perdida, but they’ve already long cemented their legacy in the rock-god pantheon.The alternative rock explosion of the 1990s was framed as a triumph of authenticity: grunge wiped out the sleazy hair metal of the '80s and ushered in an era of real, dangerous rock. Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington took over the mic in 2013 then departed in 2015, just before STP and their fans experienced a crushing blow with the death of Weiland. The band dissolved in 2003 but reunited again in 2010 for their self-titled sixth album-their final release with Weiland. Heading into the 21st century, the cracks began to show, though. The band went on to rule the ‘90s, defining “alternative” on their own terms: They flexed hard on heavy hitters “Vasoline” and “Interstate Love Song,” stripped down with devastating power ballads like “Big Empty,” glammed up on “Big Bang Baby,” and tossed in elements of psychedelic rock, shoegaze, jazz, and metal in between. Otherwise, STP oozed sex and swagger-far more than any of their contemporaries-and their 1992 debut album, Core, came loaded with blistering guitars (“Sex Type Thing”), decade-defining riffs (“Plush”), and Weiland’s distinctive wail, which teetered between menacing and melancholic (“Creep”). Together, they were “alternative rock”-if only in their angst. Brothers Dean (guitar) and Robert DeLeo (bass) slipped in hints of ragtime and rhythm and blues, while drummer Eric Kretz kicked up the speed with John Bonham-influenced footwork. Led by the mercurial, magnetic Scott Weiland, the San Diego quartet formed in 1989 and began crafting a sound-and fashion sense-inspired by rock idols The Doors, David Bowie, and Aerosmith. While grunge’s vanguard was attempting to topple the rock-god myth in the early ‘90s, Stone Temple Pilots came along to assume the mantle.