Turn That Noise Down - Stone Temple Pilots

So many well-known albums turn 30 this year and Steve Taylor-Bryant and Susan Omand travel back to 1992 to revisit some of the sounds of their youth that made parents shout "Turn that noise down!" This week, Steve gets to the Core of Stone Temple Pilots...

When you ask people about the early 1990’s in music, especially that period dubbed grunge, you always get the names Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden. On occasion you’ll get an Alice in Chains, but you’re eventually deep into the conversation before Stone Temple Pilots rears his head with a mention. I honestly don’t know why that is because Stone Temple Pilots are as good as the aforementioned bands are but, for some reason, just aren’t as up front in memory banks as maybe they should be, so it’s a good time to go back and remember them.

There’s no doubt Scott Weiland was a rock star. He lived the life like he was in a film about rockstars, and the trappings that come with that life would eventually become his demise but underneath that excessive persona was a true poet and and incredible singer. The singles that came off Core got some substantial airplay back in the day and proved that four guys located in California could stand toe to toe with the big four bands that dominated the early 90’s but there was also a throwback vibe to some of the album tracks that led you down the path of influences like Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin and The Doors. Core was more than just a grunge release, at its heart it was also a hard rock, almost glam, record that showed off the musicality of the DeLeo brothers, the technique and power of Eric Kretz on drums all wrapped up in a neat Weiland bow.

I’ll leave you with one of the more well known tracks from Core but you should also check out things like Naked Sunday and Crackerman. If you want to continue on a journey of discovery of all things Weiland also take a listen to albums by Velvet Revolver and tunes like Interstate Love Song from the STP Purple album.

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