Stone Temple Pilots was one of the best—perhaps the best—band to come along in the second generation of Grunge. They were also the most metal, thanks to brilliant guitar work of lead guitarist Dean DeLeo. But it was really the vocal work of lead singer Scott Weiland that made the band great. Otherworldly. Exhilarating, yet chilling, all at the same time.
My favorite STP song is this one, “Plush”, which has one of the most remarkable tempo changes in the history of rock. It never fails to make the hairs stand up on the back of my neck.
And Weiland’s enormously powerful singing was, as was typical of grunge music in general, completely raw. Naked. Unguarded. This was one reason that, when I heard of his death by drug overdose in 2009, I was saddened but not really surprised. Like Kurt Cobain and Chris Cornell and so many other artists, he seemed to feel things too intensely to handle this crazy thing we call Life on Earth.
Or maybe that’s B.S. Maybe he just had an addiction and couldn’t get the right help for it. I don’t know.
Anyway, rock on…
Ash Clifton, Writer 