Stone Temple Pilots

1985–1992: Formation and early years as Mighty Joe Young

In 1985, Scott Weiland and his friends in their band Soi-Disant — guitarist Corey Hickok and drummer David Allin — first encountered Robert DeLeo playing live at various gigs, deciding to track him down after witnessing his shows. Weiland, DeLeo, Hickok and Allin would eventually form a band called Swing. Allin left after a few years. The remaining members saw drummer Eric Kretz play in a Long Beach club and convinced him to join them. Guitarist Hickok eventually left the band in 1989; in need of a replacement and auditioning many guitarists, Robert suggested his older brother, Dean. At the time, Dean was a successful businessman who had left behind his previous musical career but still played guitar as a hobby. The band managed to...

Musical style

Stone Temple Pilots' musical style is a blend of alternative rock and grunge of the 1990s, with the hard rock and psychedelic rock of the 1970s. The band is known for making each of their albums possess a unique sound, despite all having the "sonic blueprint" of the band, as Robert DeLeo describes. Stone Temple Pilots, while considered part of the first wave of alternative metal and ranked as one of the heaviest grunge bands, alongside Alice in Chains, have a softer side. Steven Hyden of UPROXX described them as a "melodic power-pop band in hard-rock clothing," inspired by glam rock, psychedelia and soft rock, as opposed to the punk and indie influences of most alternative bands.

Legacy

Core, certified 8× platinum by the RIAA, drove the band to popularity. Stone Temple Pilots went on to become one of the most commercially successful rock bands of the 1990s, selling 40 million records worldwide, including 17.5 million units in the United States, before their dissolution in 2003. The band has had 16 top ten singles on the Billboard rock charts, eight of which peaked at No. 1, and one No. 1 album for Purple in 1994. That same year, the band won a Grammy for "Best Hard Rock Performance" for the song "Plush" from the album Core. Stone Temple Pilots were also ranked No. 40 on VH1's The 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock.

Plush

"Plush" is a song by the American rock band Stone Temple Pilots from their debut studio album, Core (1992). The song was serviced to US radio on February 15, 1993, through Atlantic Records.

Composition and lyrics

"Plush" is a slow and steady grunge, alternative rock and hard rock song, combining a country riff and ragtime chords from Robert DeLeo's guitar exercises, with "metal stylings." According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Universal Music Publishing Group, the song is written in the key of G major, and is set in time signature of common time with a tempo of 116 beats per minute. Weiland's vocal range spans two octaves, from E4 to G5.

Release

Stone Temple Pilots knew that "Plush" was probably going to get attention, as did Atlantic Records, who suggested the song be the album's lead single. While the band respected the label for giving them full creative control, they also understood their main goal was to turn a profit. As a result, the band instead released the song as Core's second single, not wanting to be a one-hit wonder. For the same reason, the song was buried at track nine on the album, with Robert DeLeo adding: "We did that intentionally. We didn't want to be that band that had a huge hit and then it was like, 'What next?' We wanted to have a career. We didn't want to be the kind of band that came out with a big song and then went away."

Music video

The music video was directed by Josh Taft, who explained the story behind the clip in the 2016 book Scott Weiland: Memories of a Rock Star. He previously directed the "Sex Type Thing" video and disclosed that "the second videos are always a more dynamic story – especially when the first ones are hits," with the record label and management having more input. This made recording "somewhat of a painful process." He tried to represent the ideas of "Plush" in a metaphoric way, combining a visual interpretation of the song's lyrics with footage of Weiland singing with the band as a lounge act in an empty bar.

Legacy

Stone Temple Pilots had a steady rise to mainstream success. Early on, the band played in rooms that held 80 to 120 people, and bars with as few as 10 people, but after recording Core, they played to a crowd of about 800 people at a club in San Diego called Club 860. This was the moment Robert DeLeo sensed the band was getting big. Their debut single, "Sex Type Thing", was released on March 15, 1993, to heavy rotation on MTV and across radio, but "Plush" was their commercial breakthrough, and according to DeLeo, "changed everything" for the band. Reportedly, arenas they played at went from a third full to full. "People were there to see the band, people wanted to hear 'Plush.' They wanted to see that guy with red hair singing that song."...