About
Out of San Diego in the late '80s, Stone Temple Pilots carved out one of the most distinctive sounds of the grunge era without ever quite fitting the Seattle mold. The classic lineup — vocalist Scott Weiland, guitarist Dean DeLeo, bassist Robert DeLeo, and drummer Eric Kretz — had a chemistry that was hard to argue with, blending heavy riffs with an almost classic rock swagger that set them apart from their flannel-clad contemporaries. Weiland's chameleonic vocal style could swing from menacing growl to delicate croon within a single track, giving the band a dynamic range most of their peers couldn't touch. Their 1992 debut Core was a commercial juggernaut, but Purple in 1994 showed real artistic ambition, debuting at number one and proving the band had serious staying power. Tiny Music... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop pushed them into even weirder, more adventurous territory. Despite persistent battles with Weiland's well-documented personal demons leading to breakups and reunions throughout the 2000s, STP's influence on '90s alternative rock is undeniable. They were the band critics loved to underestimate and fans refused to quit.
