Interesting read!

walkthamile wrote:

http://www.columbusalive.com/?sec=music&story=alive/2008/0508/m-range.html

Can't STP the rock
By Chris DeVille
blog I e-mail


With Stone Temple Pilots set to headline the second-annual Rock on the Range fest at Crew Stadium next weekend — STP's first show in six years — it's time for a critical reappraisal of one of rock's most underrated bands.

Scott Weiland, Eric Kretz and the DeLeo brothers blended glam, pop and hard rock into a cocktail that still has radio programmers drunk 15 years later. They made no bones about striking rock-star poses, appealing to the masses and, you know, enjoying themselves.

And unlike many radio staples from The Doors to Nickelback, STP was actually responsible for some of the best music of their era. As Steve Hyden pointed out in an excellent piece for The Onion A.V. Club's blog, "STP's B-level status in '90s rock history has practically nothing to do with the music and almost everything to do with the misfortune of coming out during one of the most annoyingly cred-conscious periods in the history of mainstream rock."

Although he went on to espouse a bizarre theory that Weiland developed his heroin addiction to gain artistic credibility, on his main point Hyden is correct. The Pilots' highly melodic, hugely powerful rock should have earned them widespread acclaim. Instead, they were decried for not taking themselves too seriously in an era that fetishized "important" music by miserable artists.

Nirvana and Pearl Jam wrote hooky, stadium-ready rock anthems too, but those bands are more or less respected (as always, Nirvana more so than Pearl Jam). The most legitimate reason is lyrics. Weiland was no poet, and while Kurt Cobain and Eddie Vedder probably get more credit than they deserve in this category, at least their Gen-X babbling mostly made sense.

But rock music doesn't have to make sense. It just has to rock. Nirvana and Pearl Jam rocked, but they felt self-conscious about it. Nirvana emerged from the underground, where the rules of rock stardom are different. Pearl Jam fancied themselves indie rockers too, even though they were basically populists through and through.

Stone Temple Pilots made no bones about being full-blooded mainstream rock stars. For this, they were tarred and feathered by rock critics. They deserve better.

There is a lingering impression that STP was ripping off Pearl Jam. Yes, Weiland went overboard with his Eddie Vedder impression on 1992 debut Core. But by the time Purple came out in 1994, STP had established an identity of its own. The record boasted some of alt-rock's most enduringly awesome singles — "Vaseline," "Interstate Love Song" — and superb deep cuts like surprisingly heartbreaking "Still Remains" and the frantic, tuneful "Unglued."

1996's Tiny Music ... Songs From the Vatican Gift Shop was even better — sometimes jangly, sometimes gracefully subdued. In "Big Bang Baby," "Lady Picture Show" and "Trippin' On a Hole in a Paper Heart," the band produced three of the decade's finest hits.

Even latter-day STP had something to offer. No. 4 was a hard-hitting collection with better songwriting and production than Core. And at least the goofy Shangri-La Dee Da had glorious pop nugget "Days of the Week."

These achievements have been obscured by the perception of STP as imitators, hacks and cock-rockers. In some ways, the band fits all those descriptions, but a good song is a good song, context be damned.

Perhaps now, as the reunited STP headlines Rock on the Range over a slate of bands it clearly has outclassed, we can finally step out from the oppressive shadow of grunge-era legalism and appreciate this band's stellar body of work.

MapleTea wrote:

Oh please, Ten was released in August 91 and Core in Sept 92! That's over a year between the releases, and Weiland and co exploited the shit out of grunge from vocals all the way down to facial expressions. STP are a joke!