Since the moment they appeared on the scene in the early 90’s Stone Temple Pilots have dominated the decade, racking up 15 singles on the Billboard Top Ten, winning a “Best Hard Rock Performance” GRAMMY in 1994 for “Plush,” and having their five albums sell more than 35 million copies worldwide. Of all their peers, only STP has sustained commercial success, earning greater critical acclaim with each release and building a body of work that remains popular. Its enduring acclaim has only highlighted the absence of the band, whose members quietly went their separate ways after the turn of the millennium release of Shangri-La Dee Da. Despite the release of the greatest hits album Thank You in 2003, there has been a generation that has never witnessed the live power of vocalist Scott Weiland, guitarist Dean DeLeo, bassist Robert DeLeo and drummer Eric Kretz together in concert, a situation that will be remedied this summer when the band reunites for a long-awaited and highly anticipated tour.
A dominant force in rock music since their inception, the group’s impressively extensive and top-selling music has cemented their standing as one of the most successful rock groups of all time. Scott Weiland and Robert DeLeo met at a Black Flag concert in Long Beach, California, discovering in the course of their conversation that the two were dating the same girl. Instead of sparking a rivalry, this common ground was the foundation of a friendship, with the pair moving into the girl’s apartment after she left town. Weiland and DeLeo formed a band called Mighty Joe Young, with drummer Eric Kretz joining the lineup soon afterward and with Robert’s brother Dean coming aboard not long after that. Soon the group established themselves as a draw in San Diego, eventually gaining the attention of Atlantic Records, who signed them in 1991. After hearing that there was a blues singer calling himself Mighty Joe Young, the group changed their name to Stone Temple Pilots during the recording of their 1992 debut album, Core.
Core was a bracing blend of grunge guitars, classic rock moves and big pop hooks. At first the ironic swagger of “Sex Type Thing” brought them into MTV and radio, but it was “Plush” that blew the doors wide open for the band, establishing them as a multi-platinum act in 1993. A pair of subsequent singles was released from Core – “Wicked Garden” and the spooky, acoustic “Creep” – before they delivered Purple in 1994. A large, eager fan base snatched Purple up in its opening week, sending it to No. 1, but Purple wasn’t a one-week wonder; it grew as the record spun off hit after hit. First there was the majestic, cryptic “Big Empty,” taken from The Crow soundtrack, then there was “Vasoline,” which was followed by the modern rock classic “Interstate Love Song,” a radio smash that stayed on the top of Billboard’s Album Rock charts for 15 weeks, besting the record set by the Rolling Stones’ “Start Me Up.”
Not content to continue to replicate the heavy hooks of their first two albums, Stone Temple Pilots dug deep into glam and Beatle-esque psychedelia on their third album, 1996’s Tiny Music . . . Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop, which produced hits in the stomping “Big Bang Baby,” tightly wound “Trippin’ on a Hole in a Paper Heart” and beautiful “Lady Picture Show.” The band then regrouped for 1999’s tough, muscular No. 4, a hard rock album that nevertheless had a wistful highlight in “Sour Girl,” which turned in to one of STP’s biggest hits. Two years later, the group released Shangri-La Dee Da, which achieved a perfect blend of their thick riffs and candy melodies, typified by the hit “Days of the Week.”
Stone Temple Pilots went their separate ways after Shangri-La Dee Da, leaving the question of a reunion hanging in the air. A greatest hits album, Thank You, in 2003 only reminded fans that all great bands have a certain magic that is attained when the original lineup comes together to play, something Stone Temple Pilots will prove this summer when they reunite for this long-awaited tour.
In Spring 2008 STP officially revealed that the band will be reuniting and will launch a massive 2008 concert tour encompassing more than 65 dates and hitting all corners of North America. Marking the first national tour for Stone Temple Pilots in almost eight years, the 65-date stretch will bring the iconic band’s charismatic musicianship and exhilarating live shows to amphitheatres across North America.
