Stone Temple Pilots: Core

Yell! Review:

Stone Temple Pilots, that is Scott Weiland (vocals), Dean DeLeo (guitar), Robert DeLeo (bass), and Eric Kretz (drums), hail from San Diego, but their sound is all Seattle grunge. They are another band in the long line of grunge that changed the sound of rock in the ’90s.

They formed around 1990 and their first album, Core, was released in ’92 after signing with Atlantic Records. Accused of being a rip-off of Pearl Jam or Alice in Chains, they put out three albums, starting with this one, that went multi-platinum (to date, the rest of Stone Temple Pilots’ catalog hasn’t sold more than platinum). I don’t much care for the band myself, as after listening to Nirvana and Pearl Jam I get my fill of grunge music.

I do occasionally listen to Core for the songs “Creep,” as Weiland sounds so much like Cobain it’s freaky, and “Sex Type Thing” more for the sound of the song than the hinting of a rape scenario. Otherwise, the album stays on the shelf for long periods of time.

I’ve heard other songs from their later releases, but they haven’t inspired me to purchase any more albums from the band. If your introduction to grunge was Stone Temple Pilots’ Core, then you will quite enjoy them–and Pearl Jam or other bands won’t take you away from listening to them. But, if you were like me and came to listen to the band after getting a taste of Nirvana, Soundgarden, or Pearl Jam, you will come to the conclusion that you only need so many similar-sounding bands in your music library.

Tell me what you think…

Later,