A request that this article title be changed to Core (album) is under discussion . Please do not move this article until the discussion is closed. |
Core | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | September 29, 1992 | |||
Recorded | May 1992 [1] | |||
Studio | Rumbo Recorders (Los Angeles) | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 53:39 | |||
Label | Atlantic | |||
Producer | Brendan O'Brien | |||
Stone Temple Pilots chronology | ||||
| ||||
Singles from Core | ||||
Core is the debut studio album by the American rock band Stone Temple Pilots, released by Atlantic Records on September 29, 1992. [7]
Produced by Brendan O'Brien, Core became a massive commercial success, reaching number three on the Billboard 200 by July 1993 and has since been certified 8× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). [8] The album spawned four hit singles including "Sex Type Thing", "Wicked Garden", "Creep", and "Plush": "Plush" would reach number one on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks and the music video received heavy rotation on MTV. [9] Stone Temple Pilots would go on to win two awards for "Plush": an MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist and a Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance. [10]
The album initially received poor reviews despite its commercial success; the band was criticized for allegedly copying the musical style of other alternative acts, particularly Pearl Jam. [11] Retrospectively, Core has been acknowledged as a seminal release of the alternative rock and grunge movement of the early 1990s. Core helped propel Stone Temple Pilots into the mainstream and remains their most commercially successful record. [12] A 25th anniversary deluxe edition was released in 2017.
In 1985, Scott Weiland and his friends in their band Soi Disant – guitarist Corey Hicock and drummer David Allin – first encountered Robert Deleo playing live at various gigs, deciding to track him down after witnessing his shows. [13] Weiland and DeLeo would both move into an apartment in San Diego where they would begin to write music together and formed the band Swing. By 1989, drummer Eric Kretz and DeLeo's older brother who was a guitarist, Dean would join the band, which was renamed Mighty Joe Young. The band put out a demo in 1990 and slowly developed a huge following in the alternative rock scene of Southern California.
In the meantime, the band members would take on jobs to support themselves with Weiland working at a modeling agency and Robert at a guitar shop. Robert later said in 2017 that two would write songs during their spare time saying, "When either one of us had a musical idea, we'd call each other. He would usually have more time to run over and work it out. It was perfect because, since I was at a guitar shop, I could pick up a guitar right there. Scott didn't really play an instrument. When he had an idea, he would hum it to me." [14]
By the beginning of 1992, Mighty Joe Young had earned a reputation in the San Diego and Hollywood club scene. The band caught the attention of A&R executive Tom Carolan who worked at Atlantic Records during their show at the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles on April 1. Mighty Joe Young and producer Brendan O'Brien, who recently mixed Blood Sugar Sex Magik by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, entered Rumbo Recorders the next month where they finished recording in a three-week period. Dean said of the recording process, "It was an amazing time, man. It was so beautiful. And that was some of my greatest memories of Scott. He was so on his game and he was so healthy. He was electric and vibrant. There was an innocence, yet a determination with all of us.” [1]
When the recording sessions ended, the band named the album Core, which refers to the story of Adam and Eve in the Bible. This is further represented in the album cover which depicts Eve stealing an apple from the Tree of Eden. Robert DeLeo would record the album with a blue G&L L2000 Jazz Bass played on an Ampeg SVT with a Sennheiser 421. [15] Eric Kretz would play on a Yamaha Rock Tour Custom drumset while Dean DeLeo used a 1978 Les Paul Standard. [16] By August, Core was scheduled to be released and the album had reached the mastering stage when the band's lawyer received word that a blues musician had already claimed the name Mighty Joe Young. [17] Weiland, who was a fan of the STP Motor Oil stickers since his youth gave the band some ideas. Dean even suggested the name Stereo Temple Pirates which eventually would change into the name Stone Temple Pilots. [18]
Core displayed the determination the band had to mix the hard rock approach of the 1970s and the alternative rock sound with a diverse range of other musical influences. According to Weiland, the band was found inspiration in the music of Pink Floyd, the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Metallica, and Led Zeppelin. Tracks such as "Dead & Bloated", "Sex Type Thing", "Piece of Pie", and "Crackerman" explored a heavy edge combined with alternative tunings similar to Soundgarden and Alice In Chains, while "Wicked Garden", "Sin", "Creep", and "Plush" shared a jazzy and psychedelic tone within the chord progressions. [19]
"You know how when you listen to a Led Zeppelin album, you listen to the entire album, not just the odd song? We wanted to make a record like that. We wanted to create a vibe which would run right through the whole album"
The lyrical theme of the album is confusion within humanity. Weiland would further elaborate saying, "I guess I tend to find the darker shades of life more attractive than the yellows and oranges. I know it's something that I relate to when I listen to music. There's no way you can plan anything that happens. It would be hard for me to make an assessment of what it is people are attracted to. We're in a really shaky sort of social climate with all these different variables coming into play. So much racial discontent, so much anger from groups that have been discriminating against for so many years. There's a handful of people who are making music with a sort of public conscience, and I think it's just something that people relate to because of discontent." [20]
"Sex Type Thing" was an anti-rape song written about abuse of power and control. [21] "Wicked Garden" dealt with lost innocence, "Sin" focused on confusion, and "Naked Sunday" was about organized religion. Weiland stated, "They switch off people's minds and control the masses. It gives me a feeling of isolation, when I think about it. Organized religion does not view everyone as equals." "Creep", which reflected on alienation had different verses when it was released as a single. [22]
"Piece of Pie" originated from a demo called "Only Dying". It was supposed to be the band's contribution to the soundtrack of The Crow but was later pulled in the aftermath of actor Brandon Lee's death. "Big Empty", which was the first single to their second album Purple , was used as its replacement. [23] The lyrics for "Plush" were written in a hot tub and used a real life story about a woman who was kidnapped and later found dead in the early 90s, which acts as a metaphor for a lost relationship. Kretz even mentioned the Day of the Dead festival as an inspiration, as well as the band's uncertainty about their future. [24]
Core was released on September 29, 1992. It would be certified gold on April 20, 1993, and certified platinum on June 9, 1993: the album has since gone platinum eight times. [25] The album peaked at number 3 on the Billboard 200 on July 3, 1993. [8] Stone Temple Pilots would set out on a tour, opening for Rage Against the Machine and Megadeth. The lead single "Sex Type Thing" would be released in December 1992, preceding the tour and would receive medium rotation on MTV. "Plush" was the band's breakthrough single, reaching number 1 on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks and the music video would see the band win both an MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist in 1993 and a Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance in March 1994. [26]
"Creep" would be the third single and would peak at number 2 on the Billboard Album Rock Charts. The band would also promote Core with an American and European tour. In November 1993, the band appeared on a MTV Unplugged episode which aired in January 1994. The performance was never released as a standalone album and was only available in bootleg form for many years, until it was featured on the deluxe reissue of Core in 2017. [27]
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [28] |
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal | 7/10 [29] |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [30] |
Entertainment Weekly | B [31] |
Kerrang! | [32] |
Q | [33] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [34] |
Select | [35] |
The Village Voice | B− [36] |
Core was initially ignored by critics upon its release. However, the band would start to gain notoriety as the album began receiving heavy airplay. Critics accused the band of allegedly stealing the musical sound of other popular alternative rock acts, primarily Pearl Jam. The lead single "Sex Type Thing" also garnered controversy with many claiming the lyrics as being supportive of date-rape. Deborah Frost of Entertainment Weekly stated that the song was, "Mike Tyson's rape defense transcribed into grunge rock. It's unclear whether STP, which sounds like it has crash-landed Pearl Jam into Alice in Chains, is condemning or identifying with its narrator. With a real point of view, this band could be bigger than an accident." [31]
Paul Evans of Rolling Stone concluded that the "inner child of Stone Temple Pilots is Iron Maiden, and that kid just won't quit howling." Don Kaye of Kerrang! praised the band's "confidence and identity," unusual in debut albums. Jeremy Clarke of Select also gave a positive review saying, "Core is the real thing - a tough, loaded and listenable set with enough identity to pre-empt accusations of copycat tail-chasing. What makes STP matter isn't just their sound, but that they're a respectable attempt at metal with brains." [37]
The increasing divide between the band's critics and fans was shown in a Rolling Stone issue in January 1994 in which the magazine's critics and readers labeled Stone Temple Pilots as the Worst and Best New Band respectively. [38] During the band's reunion in 2008, Weiland reflected on the initial mixed reviews of Core, saying to Entertainment Weekly , "It was really painful in the beginning because I just assumed that the critics would understand where we were coming from, and that these just weren't dumb rock songs. [39]
In the years since its release, Core has experienced a positive reevaluation. Several publications have considered Core as a standout and one of the seminal albums of the alternative rock scene of the early 1990s such as Ric Albano of Classic Rock Review who stated that, "the very fact that so many of the songs on Core have held up over the past two decades is testament to the quality of this material." [40] Writing for Classic Rock , Emma Johnston wrote, "STP always encouraged their own hype, so this fully-stocked monument to their introduction to the world is a fitting one." [41]
The singles "Sex Type Thing", "Wicked Garden", "Creep", and "Plush" continue to be rock radio staples in the United States. Core was ranked number ten (preceded by Eric Clapton's acoustic live album Unplugged ) on Guitar World magazine's top ten list of guitar albums of 1992. [42] Rolling Stone ranked the album at No. 11 on its list of the "50 Greatest Grunge Albums" in 2019 [43]
Core helped propel Stone Temple Pilots into the mainstream. A 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of Core which has a remastered version of the album, previously unreleased demos and b-sides, in addition to parts of three live performances from 1993 (Castaic Lake Natural Amphitheater, Reading Festival, and MTV Unplugged ) was released on September 29, 2017. [44] Core remains Stone Temple Pilots' best-selling album. [45]
All lyrics written by Scott Weiland, except "Creep" (written with Robert DeLeo) and "Plush" (written with Eric Kretz).
No. | Title | Music | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Dead & Bloated" | R. DeLeo, Weiland | 5:11 |
2. | "Sex Type Thing" | Dean DeLeo, Kretz, Weiland | 3:38 |
3. | "Wicked Garden" | R. DeLeo, D. DeLeo, Weiland | 4:05 |
4. | "No Memory" (instrumental) | D. DeLeo | 1:21 |
5. | "Sin" | R. DeLeo | 6:05 |
6. | "Naked Sunday" | R. DeLeo, D. DeLeo, Kretz, Weiland | 3:50 |
7. | "Creep" | R. DeLeo | 5:02 |
8. | "Piece of Pie" | R. DeLeo | 5:25 |
9. | "Plush" | R. DeLeo, Kretz, Weiland | 5:14 |
10. | "Wet My Bed" | R. DeLeo | 1:37 |
11. | "Crackerman" | R. DeLeo, Kretz | 3:15 |
12. | "Where the River Goes" | D. DeLeo, Kretz | 8:31 |
Total length: | 53:37 |
Credits adapted from liner notes [46]
Stone Temple Pilots
Additional personnel
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
Decade-end charts
|
Title | Year | Peak chart positions | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
US Pop [63] | US Air [64] | US Alt. [65] | US Main. Rock [66] | AUS [67] | CAN [68] | NLD [69] | NZ [70] | SWE [71] | UK [72] | |||||
"Sex Type Thing" | 1992 | — | — | — | 23 | — | — | — | — | — | 60 | |||
"Plush" | 1993 | 18 | 39 | 9 | 1 | 47 | 21 | 15 | 23 | 18 | 23 | |||
"Wicked Garden" | — | — | 21 | 11 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
"Creep" | — | 59 | 12 | 2 | 76 | 45 | — | 24 | — | — | ||||
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Australia (ARIA) [73] | Platinum | 70,000^ |
Canada (Music Canada) [74] | 2× Platinum | 200,000^ |
New Zealand (RMNZ) [75] | Gold | 7,500^ |
United Kingdom (BPI) [76] | Silver | 60,000^ |
United States (RIAA) [77] | 8× Platinum | 8,000,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
Stone Temple Pilots is an American rock band formed in San Diego, California, in 1989. Originally consisting of lead vocalist Scott Weiland, guitarist Dean DeLeo, bassist Robert DeLeo, and drummer Eric Kretz, the band's lineup remained unchanged from its formation until the firing of Weiland in February 2013. Vocalist Chester Bennington joined the band in May 2013 but left amicably in November 2015. In 2016, STP launched an online audition for a new lead vocalist; Jeff Gutt was announced as STP's new lead singer on November 14, 2017.
Purple is the second studio album by the American rock band Stone Temple Pilots, released on June 7, 1994, by Atlantic Records. The album, building on the foundation laid by the band's debut album Core (1992), was a major commercial success, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 252,000 copies sold in its first week. It remained at the top of the chart for three weeks, eventually selling over six million copies. It spawned a number of successful singles; "Vasoline" and "Interstate Love Song" both topped the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and reached number 2 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart, while "Big Empty" also reached the top ten on both charts. Lesser known album cuts "Pretty Penny" and "Unglued" were released as promotional radio singles.
Tiny Music... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop is the third studio album by the American rock band Stone Temple Pilots, released on March 26, 1996, through Atlantic Records. After a brief hiatus throughout 1995, the band regrouped to record the album together at Westerly Ranch in Santa Ynez, California, where they also lived at the time. Like all of the band's albums up to that point, production was handled by Brendan O'Brien.
No. 4 is the fourth studio album by the American rock band Stone Temple Pilots, released on October 26, 1999, by Atlantic Records. The album was a return to the band's earlier hard rock roots, while also blending elements of heavy metal, psychedelic rock, and alternative rock. Despite the lack of promotion due to singer Scott Weiland's one-year jail sentence shortly before the album's release, No. 4 was certified Platinum by the RIAA on August 7, 2000, and by the CRIA in August 2001. The song "Down" was nominated for Best Hard Rock Performance at the Grammy Awards. The album also produced one of STP's biggest hits, "Sour Girl", which charted at No. 78 on the Billboard Hot 100, their only song to appear on that chart. The CD was originally released as a digipak, then later changed to a standard jewel case.
Shangri-La Dee Da is the fifth studio album by the American rock band Stone Temple Pilots. It was released on June 19, 2001, through Atlantic Records. Recording took place throughout the winter and spring of 2001 in a Malibu villa. It was the band's fifth and final album to be produced by Brendan O'Brien and their last before breaking up in 2003.
Thank You is a greatest hits collection released by the American rock band Stone Temple Pilots on November 11, 2003 on Atlantic Records. The album has sold over 500,000 copies.
Robert Emile DeLeo is an American musician, best known as the bassist for rock band Stone Temple Pilots. He is part of Delta Deep and he has also played in Talk Show and Army of Anyone. He is the younger brother of Stone Temple Pilots guitarist Dean DeLeo. He is also the former bass player for the supergroup Hollywood Vampires.
Scott Richard Weiland was an American singer and songwriter. He was best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Stone Temple Pilots from 1989 to 2003 and again from 2008 to 2013, recording six albums with them. Weiland is also known for being the lead vocalist of the rock supergroup Velvet Revolver from 2003 to 2008. He also released one album with rock supergroup Art of Anarchy in 2015, as well as four solo studio albums and several collaborations with other musicians throughout his career.
Contraband is the debut studio album by American hard rock band Velvet Revolver, released on June 8, 2004, by RCA Records. A commercial success, Contraband debuted at number one on the American Billboard 200 chart and was certified double platinum by the RIAA.
Libertad is the second and final studio album by American hard rock band Velvet Revolver, released on July 3, 2007. The name is Spanish and translates to "Liberty" or "freedom" in English. According to a 2007 interview with Rolling Stone, along with the Stone Temple Pilots albums Core and the self-titled 2010 album, Libertad is one of only three albums lead singer Scott Weiland wrote while sober.
"Sex Type Thing" is the debut single of American rock band Stone Temple Pilots, released from their debut studio album, Core, in March 1993. "Sex Type Thing" also appears on the greatest hits compilation album Thank You. The song spawned a music video which received moderate rotation on MTV. The single peaked at number 23 on the US Album Rock Tracks chart.
"Plush" is a 1992 song by American rock band Stone Temple Pilots, released in August 1993 as the second single from their debut album, Core. It became their first single to top the US Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart; it went on to become that listing's number-one song of 1993.
"Creep" is a ballad by the American rock band Stone Temple Pilots, appearing as the seventh track off the band's debut album, Core and later released as the third and final single. The song also appears on the band's greatest hits album, Thank You. A live version featuring Aaron Lewis is included on The Family Values 2001 Tour release.
The discography of Stone Temple Pilots, an American rock band, consists of 8 studio albums, 3 compilation albums, 2 live albums, 1 extended play, 34 singles and 22 music videos.
Stone Temple Pilots is the sixth studio album by the American rock band Stone Temple Pilots. The album was released between May 21 and May 27, 2010 worldwide, and is the band's first album since 2001's Shangri-La Dee Da. The album is the result of the band's reunion, which occurred in April 2008 with their North American tour. After Stone Temple Pilots had begun playing together, the band decided to record again, but a lawsuit filed by Atlantic Records on June 12, 2008, made the sixth album an uncertainty. Atlantic eventually withdrew the lawsuit, and the band's attorney called the legal situation a "misunderstanding". The album is also the band's final release with the full original lineup, as vocalist Scott Weiland was dismissed from Stone Temple Pilots in 2013, and died in 2015. It is also their last to be released through Atlantic.
"Between the Lines" is the first single from the American rock band Stone Temple Pilots's sixth studio album, Stone Temple Pilots. The single was released on March 22, 2010. The song set the record for largest positional gain on Billboard's Rock Songs chart, jumping from number 40 to 2, later reaching number 1. "Between the Lines" was nominated for Best Hard Rock Performance at the 53rd Grammy Awards, an award the band previously won for "Plush" in 1994.
High Rise is an EP by the American rock band Stone Temple Pilots, released on October 8, 2013 through their self-record label Play Pen, LLC. It is the first release by the band without former lead vocalist Scott Weiland, who was fired from the band in February 2013, and the only release to feature Chester Bennington of Linkin Park on lead vocals. Bennington later departed the band in 2015 and died in 2017. Two singles were released to promote the EP; "Out of Time" and "Black Heart". The EP received generally mixed reviews from critics.
"Meadow" is a song by American rock band Stone Temple Pilots. It is their debut single off their eponymous seventh studio album. The song is the first released by the band to feature new singer Jeff Gutt after the departure and deaths of prior vocalists Scott Weiland and Chester Bennington. It peaked at number 6 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs chart in 2018.
Stone Temple Pilots is the seventh studio album by the American rock band Stone Temple Pilots, released on March 16, 2018, through Rhino. It is the band's first with lead singer Jeff Gutt, who joined the band in 2017, and the second self-titled studio album released by the band, following their 2010 album.
Perdida is the eighth studio album by the American rock band Stone Temple Pilots, released through Rhino on February 7, 2020. It is the band's second album with Jeff Gutt as lead singer and is "an acoustic record largely recorded on vintage instruments." The first single "Fare Thee Well" was released on December 2, 2019.