Stone Temple Pilots

The 1990s alternative rock surge was widely cast as a victory for raw sincerity, with grunge displacing the glossy excess of 1980s hair metal and ushering in a period of visceral, unfiltered guitar music. Stone Temple Pilots muddied that storyline in meaningful ways. The lineup of Scott Weiland, Dean and Robert DeLeo, and Eric Kretz straddled two apparently incompatible worlds, having sharpened their skills on the late-1980s Southern California hard-rock scene while maintaining a close working relationship with Brendan O'Brien, the producer behind several Pearl Jam releases. For a stretch, the quartet generated more consecutive rock-radio and MTV staples than most peers, logging heavy rotation with “Plush,” “Creep,” “Big Empty,” “Vasoline,” “Interstate Love Song,” and “Big Bang Baby.” Those signature tracks fused muscular classic-rock riffs, psychedelic flourishes, and sugary pop hooks, a mixture that kept them in circulation well after the decade closed. Offstage, persistent personal difficulties—chiefly Weiland’s struggles with substance abuse—eventually prompted the group’s 2002 dissolution. A partial reunion yielded a 2010 comeback record, yet Weiland succumbed to an accidental overdose in 2015, after which the remaining members continued with substitute frontmen, among them late Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington and The X Factor alum Jeff Gutt.

The quartet coalesced in the late 1980s under the name Mighty Joe Young. After building a regional following through San Diego club dates, the DeLeo brothers, Weiland, and Kretz entered the studio with O’Brien. Legal pressure forced a name change; they adopted the STP motor-oil logo and ultimately expanded the initials into Stone Temple Pilots. Atlantic signed them in 1992, and Core appeared before year’s end. Balancing seedy swagger with inward-looking lyricism, the debut climbed quickly and produced multiple hits, among them the mainstream-rock chart-topper “Plush.” An MTV Unplugged set followed in 1993, spawning the radio favorite “Big Empty,” which also featured on The Crow soundtrack. Capitalizing on that momentum, the band issued Purple in 1994. Their lone Billboard 200 number-one album, the multi-platinum worldwide success contained their most durable single, “Interstate Love Song.”

Once the Purple touring cycle ended, the group paused while Weiland developed a heroin habit. Spring 1995 brought his arrest on heroin-and-cocaine charges and a subsequent court-ordered stay in rehab. After completing treatment, Stone Temple Pilots tracked their third album. Tiny Music…Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop arrived in spring 1996, debuting at number four and showcasing an assertive glam-rock palette; three of its singles reached number one on the mainstream-rock chart. Shortly after release, the band disclosed Weiland’s relapse and another rehab stint, scuttling summer-tour plans. The absence of live support and Weiland’s ongoing issues prevented the record from matching earlier sales; by late summer it had slipped from the Top 50 and ultimately earned only platinum certification, well below the totals of Core and Purple.

While still wrestling with addiction, Weiland cut the solo album 12 Bar Blues in 1998; the remaining members recruited vocalist Dave Coutts of Ten Inch Men for a self-titled Talk Show project. Unexpectedly, Stone Temple Pilots reconvened to finish 1999’s No. 4, a brooding set that gave them their first Billboard Hot 100 entry via the reflective “Sour Girl.” Weeks after its arrival, Weiland received a one-year sentence in Los Angeles County jail for violating probation tied to an earlier heroin conviction. Despite these obstacles, a revitalized and sober lineup greeted the new millennium with renewed focus. They stripped things back on Shangri-La Dee Da, released in summer 2001; “Days of the Week” reached the rock-chart Top Five, yet the album stalled at gold and posted one of their lowest chart peaks. Two years later the greatest-hits collection Thank You appeared, its audio version containing fifteen tracks—thirteen career-spanning hits, a 1992 acoustic “Plush,” and the new song “All in the Suit That You Wear”—while the CD/DVD edition added three hours of videos, live material, and documentary footage.

Another hiatus stretched from 2003 to 2008, during which the DeLeo brothers formed Army of Anyone with Filter’s Richard Patrick and Korn’s Ray Luzier, and Weiland achieved fresh success fronting Velvet Revolver alongside Slash, Matt Sorum, and Duff McKagan of Guns N’ Roses. After internal friction prompted his departure from that supergroup, Weiland rejoined STP for a triumphant 2008 reunion tour. The band returned to the studio the next year, issuing the self-titled sixth album in 2010; it peaked at number two on the U.S. charts and was later documented on the 2011 concert video Alive in the Windy City. Plans for further touring, possibly including full performances of Core, collapsed, and on 27 February 2013 the group announced Weiland’s dismissal.

The following day Weiland dismissed the split as a ploy to sell tickets and predicted legal resolution, yet the remaining members pressed ahead without him, guesting unannounced at KROQ’s Weenie Roast that May with new vocalist Chester Bennington of Linkin Park. Billing themselves Stone Temple Pilots with Chester Bennington, the configuration released the single “Out of Time,” which appeared on their only joint EP, High Rise. Bennington toured with the band through 2015 before refocusing on Linkin Park. Later that year, on 3 December, Weiland was discovered dead in Bloomington, Minnesota, while touring with his band the Wildabouts. After Bennington exited, STP sought a permanent replacement through open online auditions. Before a decision could be announced, Bennington himself died on 20 July 2017.

Amid the decade’s turbulence and losses, the band marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of Core with a Super Deluxe Edition issued in September 2017. Shortly thereafter they recruited Jeff Gutt, previously a contestant on the U.S. edition of The X Factor, as lead singer. This configuration delivered the group’s second self-titled album in March 2018; Stone Temple Pilots (Rhino) entered the Billboard 200 at number twenty-four. The decade closed with another Super Deluxe anniversary package, this time honoring Purple.

In 2020 the band pivoted stylistically for their eighth studio album—and second with Gutt—Perdida. The largely acoustic effort incorporated atypical instrumentation including flute, strings, saxophone, and marxophone, and featured the single “Fare Thee Well.” It reached number twenty-one on Billboard’s Top Alternative Albums chart.