#WONDERFUL STONE TEMPLE PILOTS LYRICS SERIAL#
When I hear “Plush,” I’m convinced it’s the story of a serial killer.
But when 10,000 people sang along at the UIC Pavilion–every single word, not just the chorus–you knew it meant something to them. What is it they were trying to say in “Plush”? “Where ya going to tomorrow? / Where ya going with the mask I found? / And I feel, and I feel / When the dogs begin to smell her / Will she smell alone?” Literally, it makes no sense. Like Metallica does, like Nirvana did, Stone Temple Pilots write ambiguous lyrics about obscure topics–and the songs become whatever you want them to be. Is “Fade to Black” about succumbing to suicide or triumphing over it? It all depends on your state of mind. To one person “The Unforgiven” is the story of an abused child to another it’s about the battle between Generation X and the baby-boomers. Each of their songs, no matter what its intended meaning, is interpreted by each listener differently it becomes the song you write with James Hetfield in your head. Metallica do it, too–and they were even better at it before they became superstars. He seemed to be thinking exactly what you were thinking garbled as his lyrics came out, their meaning was perfectly clear, and they were backed up with this perfect, pissed-off music that punctuated the emotion. Even if it was just a chorus of “yeah-ah-ah,” you’d find yourself singing along with it with all the conviction in the world. Kurt Cobain was probably best at it: no one knew what the hell he was really singing about, but when you heard it you could relate. It may be a simple concept, but it’s one few bands achieve. But what’s been overlooked more than anything else, what makes this band powerful enough to sell some four million albums and enthrall thousands in concert, is a simple concept: When they say “I,” they mean “we.” It’s an injustice not only to the band but to the fans, who see STP as a viable, creative, wonderful band. Nevermind that Pearl Jam had only been known to the mainstream for a short time when STP released its first album, Core.Īlthough “Plush” obviously got the most attention, the album itself is a brilliant mesh of sounds and styles, ranging from the hard-core, punk-influenced, date-rape-in-the-first-person shocker of “Sex Type Thing” to the mystic “Where the River Flows” to the wounded ballad “Creep.” The latest disc, Purple, could be Core II: just substitute “Vasoline” for “Creep,” “Big Empty” for “Plush,” and “Interstate Love Song” for “Crackerman.” They aren’t exact copies of the songs, mind you, but updates of the sound and theme and general flow.Įven so, the labels “poseurs” and “‘copycats” have followed STP through both their albums and their live shows. But rather than get credit for this perfect song, STP was charged with plagiarizing a movement. “Plush” was the song Pearl Jam would have written if they’d been able to. Despite the reality–that STP’s sound combines grunge, acoustic guitars, heavy percussion, a punkish lead singer, and the kind of moody lyrics that sound like a pot smoker’s crank calls–the band has been dissed from day one for one reason: it sounds too much like commercially successful, critically acceptable Pearl Jam.įrom the beginning–which for STP was a big hit called “Plush”–the group has been called “the poor man’s Pearl Jam.” Indeed, on “Plush” that famous grunge sound was evident: guitars that echoed Alice in Chains, the soft verse/hard chorus/soft verse method made famous by Nirvana, the emotional but rather senseless Vedder-esque lyrics, and, more than anything else, STP vocalist Scott Weiland’s soulful, heavy voice, almost indistinguishable from Eddie’s. With the exception of Michael Bolton, Stone Temple Pilots are perhaps the most commercially successful critically reviled pop act of the new decade.
#WONDERFUL STONE TEMPLE PILOTS LYRICS SERIES#
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