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Stone Temple Pilots

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Stone Temple Pilots

Stone Temple Pilots is an American rock band consisting of Scott Weiland (vocals), brothers Robert (bass guitar, vocals) and Dean DeLeo (guitar), and Eric Kretz (drums, percussion). The band ran from 1986 to 2003, when they went on hiatus, and reunited in 2008.[1]

The band's five albums have sold over 17.5 million copies in the United States alone and nearly 40 million albums worldwide.[2] The band have had fifteen top ten singles on the Billboard rock charts, including six number ones, and one number one album on the pop charts (1994's Purple). In 1994, the band won a Grammy for "Best Hard Rock Performance" for their song "Plush". Stone Temple Pilots were also ranked at number 40 on VH1's The 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock.[3] In 2003, the band released the greatest hits compilation Thank You. Around this time, band members began going their separate ways. After the band's break-up in 2003, Weiland became the frontman of Velvet Revolver with former members of Guns N' Roses. The DeLeo brothers formed the band Army of Anyone with Richard Patrick of the band Filter. Kretz founded Bomb Shelter Studios in Los Angeles. [4] The band reunited for a tour in 2008, and plans to head into the studio in November to record their sixth album.

History

Formation and Mighty Joe Young Era: 1986-1991

Stone Temple Pilots can trace its beginnings to a Black Flag concert in Long Beach in 1986, where Scott Weiland met Robert DeLeo. They both dated the same woman, and bonded through the situation. When the girl left town, Weiland and DeLeo moved into her vacated apartment. Immediately, Weiland and DeLeo formed a band with Scott's friend Corey Hicock on lead guitar initially, calling it Swing. [5] Seeing the band's potential, drummer Eric Kretz joined the band. Soon after, Robert DeLeo's brother, Dean DeLeo, decided to play guitar in the band replacing Hicock, completing the quartet. They then changed their name to Mighty Joe Young. The band recorded a demo tape that was completed around 1990. Gold Mountain President Danny Goldberg was played a Mighty Joe Young demo by Steve Stewart in early 1992 that included "Plush," "Sex Type Thing," and "Dead and Bloated," after Goldberg quit Gold Mountain and became President of Atlantic Records he signed Mighty Joe Young to a record deal on April Fool's Day 1992 and Steve Stewart was appointed as the manager of the band.

The group then began to work on their debut album with Brendan O'Brien. During the recording, they received a call from their lawyer who informed them that there was a blues man who had already claimed the name Mighty Joe Young. They changed the band's name to Shirley Temple's Pussy and performed under this name for a short time, but then changed the name again due to record label pressure.[6] They liked the initials STP and eventually settled on the name Stereo Temple Pirates, but just prior to their first record it was suggested to change Stereo to Stone, and Pirates (which sounded imposing) to Pilots, and they became officially Stone Temple Pilots in 1992 towards the end of the Core sessions, using the STP motor oil logo plastered over Shirley Temple's trademark Gold Ship Lollipop as their logo.[7]

Core: 1992-1993

Stone Temple Pilots built a fan base in San Diego strip clubs in order to steer clear of the Los Angeles corporate music scene and build up their technique and following in the clubs. In 1992, Stone Temple Pilots signed with Atlantic Records. Their first album, Core, was released in September 1992, producing several big hits including "Sex Type Thing," "Plush," and "Creep."

In spite of often hostile reviews from critics, Stone Temple Pilots continued to gain fans. Bringing their music to the people, they toured for four weeks opening for Rage Against the Machine, then played a forty-date tour supporting heavy metal band Megadeth. 1993 brought continued success on the road, with the band headlining a two-and-a-half-month American tour. Around this time, Stone Temple Pilots also performed at benefits for pro-choice organizations. Also in 1993, the band filmed an episode of MTV Unplugged.

Despite commercial success, the music press criticized the band as grunge imitators.[8] Jon Pareles of The New York Times wrote in a 1993 concert review, "The San Diego band has climbed onto the Seattle grunge bandwagon. Its slow songs, with heaving riffs and half-speed vocals, are second-rate Pearl Jam; for variety, there are some midtempo groans that imitate Nirvana."[9] Weiland told Entertainment Weekly in 2008, "It was really painful in the beginning because I just assumed that the critics would understand where we were coming from, that these just weren't dumb rock songs." In a January 1994 Rolling Stone poll, the band was simultaneously voted Best New Band by Rolling Stone's readers and Worst New Band by the magazine's music critics.[8] The following month the group won Favorite Pop/Rock New Artist and Heavy Metal/Hard Rock New Artist at the American Music Awards. In March 1994, the group won a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance.[10]

Purple: 1994-1995

In the spring of 1994, Stone Temple Pilots returned to the studio to work on their second album, Purple. Completed in less than a month, Purple debuted at number one in the United States upon its release in June 1994. The radio-friendly "Interstate Love Song" quickly became a big hit, spending a record-setting fifteen weeks atop the album rock tracks chart. Other hits from the album included "Vasoline" and "Big Empty" (the latter also being featured on the soundtrack to the film The Crow). By October, just four months after its release, Purple had sold three million copies.

Although the band's success continued into 1995, it would not be a good year for the band. Two weeks of recording session work had to be scrapped in February, and in May, Weiland was arrested for possession of heroin and cocaine in Pasadena, California, when police found the illegal drugs in his wallet. Facing up to three years in prison, Weiland pled not guilty, and a trial date was set the next year.

Following Weiland's arrest, the Pilots separated. Weiland formed a temporary side unit called the Magnificent Bastards, which contributed a song to the movie soundtrack of Tank Girl and a cover song to a John Lennon tribute album. By October 1995, however, the band regrouped with Weiland to begin recording its third album.

Tiny Music... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop: 1996-1997

Stone Temple Pilots released their third album, Tiny Music... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop, in April 1996. Fans again showed their support of the band when the album debuted at number four on the U.S. charts. Critical reception, however, was mostly negative. David Browne of Entertainment Weekly wrote: "None of it ... has a distinct personality." Rolling Stone was surprised at "the clattering, upbeat character of the music" given Weiland's much-publicized run-ins with drugs and the law.

However, Weiland's drug addiction again became a serious obstacle to the band's success. The band was unsuccessful in being able to fully tour in support of Tiny Music.... A short tour in the fall of 1996 ensued in the U.S. but final dates at the end of December in Hawaii had to be cancelled. The band issued a statement saying that: "[Weiland] has become unable to rehearse or appear for these shows due to his dependency on drugs. He is currently under a doctor's care in a medical facility."

Weiland's entry into a drug rehabilitation program was not voluntary. In April 1996, he was ordered by a Pasadena judge to spend up to six months under 24/7 medical supervision. After Weiland completed five months in a drug treatment program, the charges of cocaine and heroin possession were dropped in October 1996. Weiland's 1996 stay in a rehabilitation center proved unsuccessful and in January 1997 he checked himself into another drug treatment center. This resulted in another canceled tour.

Hiatus, No.4 and Shangri-La Dee Da: 1997-2002

In September 1997, while Stone Temple Pilots were on hiatus, Weiland began recording a solo album, 12 Bar Blues, which was released in March 1998. While Scott worked on and promoted his solo album, the remaining members of Stone Temple Pilots formed the short-lived band Talk Show, with former Ten Inch Men singer Dave Coutts. Neither release did well commercially, but both received some critical acclaim.

Stone Temple Pilots soon reunited, releasing No.4 in 1999. Singles released from the album included "Down" and "No Way Out", but they scored one of their biggest hits since the success of Core and Purple with the single "Sour Girl". "Sour Girl" was inspired by Weiland's failing relationship with his then wife, and peaked at number 78 on the Billboard Hot 100. The popular music video for "Sour Girl" featured actress Sarah Michelle Gellar. Shortly after No.4's completion, Weiland was sentenced to a year in a Los Angeles county jail for violating probation.

During the summer of 2001, the band released their fifth album, Shangri-La Dee Da, which produced two modest rock radio hits, including "Days of the Week" and "Hollywood Bitch". The band began work on a sixth studio album in 2002 that reportedly would go back to their Core era sound and planned on finishing it in January 2003, but when Dean DeLeo and Scott Weiland nearly got into a fist fight during the last show of STP's fall 2002 tour[11], it marked the end of Stone Temple Pilots. On November 11, 2003, Atlantic released a greatest hits album, Thank You, with a bonus DVD. The compilation included a previously unreleased single called "All in the Suit That You Wear".

Break-up and reunion: 2003-present

Stone Temple Pilots broke up in 2003. The DeLeo brothers' most recent band, Army of Anyone, released its debut album on November 14, 2006. It features Ray Luzier, a session drummer, and Richard Patrick of the industrial rock band Filter. Army of Anyone went on indefinite hiatus in May 2007 after Richard Patrick announced he was working on a new Filter album, meaning that the band could possibly be defunct. Weiland joined the successful supergroup Velvet Revolver along with former Wasted Youth guitarist Dave Kushner, and former Guns N' Roses members Slash, Matt Sorum, and Duff McKagan. The band released two albums, Contraband (2004) and Libertad (2007).

According to Dean DeLeo, steps toward a reunion started with a simple phone call from Weiland's wife, Mary Forsberg. She invited the DeLeo brothers to play at a private beach party, which led to the reconciliation of Weiland and the DeLeo brothers.[2] In 2007 Dean DeLeo discussed with Weiland an offer from a concert promoter to headline several summer festivals. Weiland accepted and said he had cleared the brief tour with his Velvet Revolver bandmates. The singer said "everything was cool. Then it wasn't", and stated that the rest of the band stopped talking to him. As a result, Weiland announced in the middle of a Velvet Revolver show on March 21, 2008 that it would be his last performance with the group.[8] The following month the members of Stone Temple Pilots announced they were reuniting for a 65-date North American tour.[12] Prior to tour's start, Weiland was ordered by a court to serve an eight-day jail sentence stemming from charges the previous year for driving while intoxicated.[13]

In June 2008, Atlantic Records filed a lawsuit against Weiland and Kretz for trying to end their contract to the label early (the DeLeo brothers had been released from their contract in late 2003). While the band has fulfilled its six-album obligation to the label, Atlantic stated in its suit that it wants Stone Temple Pilots to record another album, in addition to two more albums if the label decides to release the records.[14]

Discography

Main article: Stone Temple Pilots discography

Awards

References

  1. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Stone Temple Pilots". All Music Guide. Retrieved 2005-06-13.
  2. ^ a b Harris, Chris. "Stone Temple Pilots Reunite To Continue 'Legacy,' Thanks To Scott Weiland's Wife". MTV.com. April 8, 2008. Retrieved on June 19, 2008.
  3. ^ Rock On The Net: VH1: 100 Greatest Hard Rock Artists
  4. ^ BOMB SHELTER STUDIOS, Los Angeles
  5. ^ [1]
  6. ^ Ticket Specialists Biography Last Accessed June 10, 2008.
  7. ^ Stone Temple Pilots on MSN Music
  8. ^ a b c Greenblatt, Leah. "Rebuilding the Temple". Entertainment Weekly. May 9, 2008.
  9. ^ Pareles, Jon. "Review/Rock; The Barrage Method of Tweaking Taboos". The New York Times. August 10, 1993. Retrieved on June 21, 2008.
  10. ^ Pareles, Jon. "Top Grammy to Houston; 5 for 'Aladdin'." The New York Times. March 4, 1994. Retrieved on June 21, 2008.
  11. ^ The Recorder
  12. ^ Van Gelder, Lawerence. "Stone Temple Pilots to Rock Again". The New York Times. April 9, 2008. Retrieved on June 21, 2008.
  13. ^ Chinen, Nate. "Lead Singer Back in the Fold, Not Back From the Edge". The New York Times. June 2, 2008. Retrieved on June 19, 2008.
  14. ^ Chasan, Emily. "Record label sues two Stone Temple Pilots". Reuters.com. June 12, 2008. Retrieved on June 19, 2008.
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