Stone Temple Pilots, commonly abbreviated as STP, are an American rock band formed in San Diego, California, in 1989. Originally consisting of lead vocalist Scott Weiland, drummer Eric Kretz, and brothers Dean (guitar) and Robert DeLeo (bass), the band's lineup remained unchanged from its formation until the firing of Weiland in February 2013. Linkin Park vocalist Chester Bennington joined the band in May 2013 but left amicably in November 2015. Weiland died that December, while Bennington died two years later. In 2016, the band launched an online audition for a new lead vocalist; Jeff Gutt was ultimately announced as their new lead singer on November 14, 2017.
After forming under the name Swing (later Mighty Joe Young), the band signed with Atlantic Records and changed its name to Stone Temple Pilots. Their debut album, Core, released in 1992, was a major commercial hit and proved instrumental in the popularization of grunge in the early 1990s. STP released four more studio albums – Purple (1994), Tiny Music... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop (1996), No. 4 (1999), and Shangri-La Dee Da (2001) – before separating acrimoniously in 2003. The band members then partook in various projects, most notably Velvet Revolver and Army of Anyone, before reconvening in 2008 for a reunion tour. They then released their self-titled sixth album in 2010. In 2013, the band released the EP High Rise, which was their only release ever recorded with Bennington as lead vocalist. STP has since released two albums with Gutt on vocals: a second self-titled album in 2018, and Perdida in 2020.
While initially rising to fame as part of the grunge movement of the early 1990s, further releases from the band have explored a variety of styles, including psychedelic rock, bossa nova, and country. Stone Temple Pilots are regarded as one of the most successful rock bands of the 1990s, having sold more than 17.5 million albums in the United States and 40 million worldwide that decade.
History 1985–1992: Formation and early years as Mighty Joe Young In 1985, Scott Weiland and his friends in their band Soi-Disant — guitarist Corey Hickok and drummer David Allin — first encountered Robert DeLeo playing live at various gigs, deciding to track him down after witnessing his shows. Weiland, DeLeo, Hickok and Allin would eventually form a band called Swing. Allin left after a few years. The remaining members saw drummer Eric Kretz play in a Long Beach club and convinced him to join them. Guitarist Hickok eventually left the band in 1989; in need of a replacement and auditioning many guitarists, Robert suggested his older brother, Dean. At the time, Dean was a successful businessman who had left behind his previous musical career but still played guitar as a hobby. The band managed to convince Dean to play for Swing, completing the original lineup. Shortly afterwards, the band changed its name to Mighty Joe Young. They recorded a demo tape around 1990. The Mighty Joe Young demo features tracks that would go on to be re-recorded for the band's first studio album, as well as some musical styles that would not be featured on any of the band's studio albums, such as funk and yodeling.
Mighty Joe Young played several gigs in the San Diego area, building up a fanbase. Their first show was supporting Henry Rollins at the Whisky a Go Go in West Hollywood. The group then began to work on their debut album with Brendan O'Brien. During the recording, they received a call from their lawyer who informed them that there was a bluesman who had already claimed the name Mighty Joe Young.Ticket Specialists Biography Last Accessed June 10, 2008. Inspired by the STP Motor Oil stickers that the band members were fans of in their youth, various ideas on the initials "STP" were shared by the band before they settled on the name "Stone Temple Pilots".
1992–1995: Core and Purple
Stone Temple Pilots developed a fan base in San Diego clubs and in 1992 signed with Atlantic Records. Their first album, Core, was released on September 29, 1992, and peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Albums Chart. Core was a big success, producing hits "Sex Type Thing", "Plush", "Creep", and "Wicked Garden". While the album was a major commercial success, some in the music press criticized the band as "grunge imitators".Strauss, Neil "CRITIC'S CHOICE/Pop CD's;Pushing Beyond Grunge." The New York Times. March 26, 1996 The same year, Scott Weiland and Dean DeLeo played an acoustic version of "Plush" on the MTV show Headbangers Ball. This is considered one of Weiland's greatest vocal performances.Greenblatt, Leah. "Rebuilding the Temple." Entertainment Weekly. May 9, 2008.Pareles, Jon. "Review/Rock; The Barrage Method of Tweaking Taboos." The New York Times. August 10, 1993. Retrieved on June 21, 2008. Despite negative reviews from some critics, Stone Temple Pilots continued to gain fans and toured, opening for bands such as Rage Against the Machine and Megadeth. 1993 brought continued success on the road, with the band headlining a two-and-a-half-month American tour.
In 1993, the band filmed an episode of MTV Unplugged, where they debuted the song "Big Empty". In a January 1994 Rolling Stone poll, the band was simultaneously voted Best New Band by Rolling Stones readers and Worst New Band by the magazine's music critics. The following month the group won Favorite Pop/Rock New Artist and Heavy Metal/Hard Rock New Artist at the American Music Awards. In March 1994, the group won a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance for the song "Plush".Pareles, Jon. "Top Grammy to Houston; 5 for 'Aladdin'." The New York Times. March 4, 1994. Retrieved on June 21, 2008. In the spring of 1994, Stone Temple Pilots returned to the studio to work on their second album, Purple. Completed in less than a month, Purple debuted at number one in the United States upon its release on June 7, 1994. The radio-friendly "Interstate Love Song" quickly became a big hit, spending a record-setting fifteen weeks atop the album rock tracks chart. Other hits from the album included "Vasoline" and "Big Empty" (the latter also being featured on the soundtrack to the film The Crow). By October, just four months after its release, Purple had sold three million copies.
1995–2003: Tiny Music, No. 4, and Shangri-La Dee Da
In October 1995, the band regrouped to begin recording its third album, renting out a mansion in Santa Barbara, California, for the band to live together during the recording process. Stone Temple Pilots released the album Tiny Music... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop on March 5, 1996. The album's sound marked a drastic change from their previous outings, oriented more in the direction of glam rock and psychedelic music than that of the hard rock/grunge sound that propelled them to popularity; critical reception, at the time, was mixed. Rolling Stone, a magazine known for its initial dismissal of the band's music, held a favorable opinion of the album, regarding the release as the group's best effort to date. They expressed surprise, however, at "the clattering, upbeat character of the music" given Weiland's much-publicized run-ins with drugs and the law. Stone Temple Pilots were also featured on the cover of issue No. 753 in February 1997.
The band was only partially successful in being able to tour in support of Tiny Music... and pulled out of a support slot on Kiss' reunion tour. A short tour in the fall of 1996 ensued in the U.S. but final dates at the end of December in Hawaii and some dates in 1997 had to be cancelled in order for Weiland to go to rehab. The band then decided to take a break to work on other projects. Kiss drummer Peter Criss remarked, "I can't call the kettle black. I just pray for the guy and hope that he gets himself better because they really are a great band."Kitts, Jeff: 'Back in black (and white)', Guitar World, September 1996, p80 With Weiland absent, the band recruited Dave Coutts, frontman of Ten Inch Men, and performed under the moniker Talk Show. Talk Show released one eponymous album in 1997 before dissolving. Meanwhile, pursuing his own musical interests, Weiland released his first solo album, 12 Bar Blues, in 1998. Although both albums received moderate critical praise, neither was commercially successful.
In late 1998, the band regrouped and began work on a fourth Stone Temple Pilots album. Released in 1999, No. 4 was conceived as a "back-to-basics" rock album in the vein of Core or Purple. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic compared the album's sound to contemporary alternative metal bands and wrote in his review "it's as if STP decided to compete directly with the new generation of alt-metal bands who prize aggression over hooks or riffs.""No. 4 – Stone Temple Pilots". AllMusic (October 26, 1999). Retrieved on August 25, 2013. STP scored one of its biggest hits since the success of Core and Purple with the single "Sour Girl", fueled by a popular music video starring Sarah Michelle Gellar of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame. The band also recorded an episode of VH1 Storytellers, and went on a summer tour with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. No. 4 would eventually be certified platinum by the RIAA.
During the summer of 2001, the band released its fifth album, Shangri-La Dee Da, which produced one modest rock radio hit in "Days of the Week". Despite promotion of the album by going on tour with Linkin Park on the Family Values Tour, Shangri-La Dee Da was a commercial disappointment. The band recorded "All in the Suit That You Wear", a song intended to be the lead single on the soundtrack for the 2002 film Spider-Man. However, Chad Kroeger's song "Hero" was ultimately chosen as the lead single.
2003–2008: Separation and members' other projects Despite reports that the band had begun work on a sixth studio album in 2002, the band went quiet by the end of that year after reports of an altercation between Dean DeLeo and Weiland after the last show of Stone Temple Pilots' fall 2002 tour. As a capstone to the band's career, Atlantic Records released a greatest hits album, Thank You, with a bonus DVD of archive material and music videos, in 2003. Five days after Thank You was released, the DeLeo brothers revealed in an interview with Guitar One that the band was officially done. Following the band's dissolution, Weiland was recruited to join Velvet Revolver—a successful supergroup—where they released two albums, Contraband in 2004 and Libertad in 2007 before breaking up in 2008. Likewise, the DeLeo brothers formed the supergroup Army of Anyone with vocalist Richard Patrick of the industrial rock band Filter and session drummer Ray Luzier. The band released its self-titled album in 2006 before going on "indefinite hiatus" in 2007. Eric Kretz kept a lower profile during this time, operating his own studio, Bomb Shelter Studios, and drumming for the band Spiralarms.
2008–2011: Reunion and self-titled album
According to Dean DeLeo, steps toward a Stone Temple Pilots reformation started with a phone call from Weiland's wife, Mary Forsberg. She invited the DeLeo brothers to play at a private beach party, which led to the reconciliation of Weiland and the DeLeo brothers. In 2007, Dean DeLeo and Weiland discussed a concert promoter's offer to headline several summer festivals. Weiland subsequently left Velvet Revolver in April 2008 and the following month, Stone Temple Pilots announced they were reuniting for a 65-date North American tour. The group officially reunited for a private gig at the Houdini Mansion and held their first public show on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on May 1. Stone Temple Pilots toured throughout the summer and fall, headlining the Virgin Mobile Festival in Baltimore in August of that year as well as the 10th annual Voodoo Experience in New Orleans. The band's six-month reunion tour wrapped up on Halloween 2008 in Pelham, Alabama.