Stone Temple Pilots: The Sad History of the Band & Scott Weiland
The sad history of Stone Temple Pilots & singer Scott Weiland
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It was in the spring of 1992 STP would relocate to the san fernando valley with producer Brendan o’ brien who had already worked with the black crowes, chili peppers and pearl jam. Drummer Eric Kretz would recall the energy the band brought to the recording of their debut record telling Songfacts
There was enthusiasm and excitement and everyone was in the room and participating creatively, artistically,”It’s the most fun time to be in a band when everyone has the same ideas and everyone has the same goals. Core would be recorded in just three weeks.
Once the band was about to submit the album to their label, they soon discovered an old Chicago blues musician already had the name mighty joe young. The musician had been putting out albums since the 70’s on a local indie label, went on hiatus and decided to come back. So the band, had to come up with a new name.. It would be a car lubricant called STP Oil Treatment that inspired Mighty Joe Young’s new name. Weiland had a fascination with it since he was a kid.. Scott suggested the band come up with a new name using the letters STP. One early name they had was Shirley Temple’s Private (they had a more lude term for the letter P than what I’m saying, but i’ll leave it to your imagineation). They eventually went with Stone Temple Pilots.
Core would be released in September of 1992, during the peak of the grunge movement. The album’s first single Sex Type Thing, was a massive hit on MTV, first landing on the network’s buzz bin program, which featured up and coming bands and songs. It soon was played amongst groups like Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, and Nirvana. The song, while embraced by MTV, got a good amount of attention on alternative radio peaking at number 23, but modern rock radio didn’t really embrace it. Dean would admit the riff for sex type thing was inspired by the Led Zeppelin tune in the light. The song garnered a lot of controversy, While the band were adamant in the press that they were pro-women, the media took one look at the lyrics and made up their own minds. If you read any press interview with the band during the promotion for Core, Sex Type THing’s meaning comes up again and again. For Scott, the irony of the song was lost on everyone. Here’s the frontman explaining to mtv what the lyrics were about.
It would be the album’s second single, Plush that catapulted Stone Temple Pilots into the stratosphere. Plush topped the mainstream rock chart and alo appeared on the pop charts peaking at number 18. Any of you guys remember the Grand Theft Auto San Andreas radio station radio X? The song was written by Robert in 1989 with him telling Rolling Stone “And when I played it for Scott,”, “he didn’t like it. He said, ‘It sounds too much like Boston.’” Kind of funny, considering the song was often compared to sounding like a pearl jam song. Even at live shows, Scott jokingly introduced the song to audiences as being a song Pearl Jam wrote for them.
Plush’s popularity only increased when the band performed an acoustic version for MTV’s Headbangers Ball program. That performance almost never happened because of a feud between MTV and STP. I’ll talk a little later about that. Plush’s lyrics were loosely inspired by a story the members read about a young woman from San Diego who went missing and was later discovered to be have been murdered. Scott would also reveal on VH1’s story tellers that the song’s lyrics deal with a lost obsessive relationship.
One of my personal favourites off the album, would be the third single Wicked Garden, would peak at number 11 on the mainstream rock chart. And the album’s final single the melancholy tune Creep would peak at number 2 on the charts and would deal with alienation. I always remember the movie Black Hawk Down when Grimes finds out he is about to head out on the now infamous Oct 3rd raid. There were even a few songs including Dead and Bloated and Crackerman that were released as promotional singles, but they enver. However, b I still hear them on radio to this day and they are one of the band’s more popular son

@rnrtruestories
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
Favourite STP album? Here’s the Velvet Revolver video I referenced https://youtu.be/zcsrBlvKbBA?si=M-UwAlEcwfhUWVCP and Talk Show story I did https://youtu.be/cH-wuGNoNSs?si=Gf_az6b4DNmJRYQf
@chrislair6832
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
I unfortunately never got to see these guysI unfortunately never got to see these guys but how freaking cool is it that two of them met at a Black Flag show and then their first show together opening for Henry Rollins?
@rengoku81xx
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
All these guys – Kurt, Scott, Layne — had real tragedy as children that never left them. They gave a lot to the world despite their heartbreak. True artists.
@petelake7373
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
Grunge. Nineties. Lead singers. Drugs. Yawn.
@petelake7373
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
Best band I ever heard live was STP.
@bbgbbbg-255
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
Got lucky to see him late 2000s. Fn amazing. Just one of those singers that’s electric. Artists have a long history of not getting along. It’s not a critical piece to being brilliant.
@MAXIMUSMINIMALIST
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
Woke punks 😂😂
@TheVamp-Lestat
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
Jeff Gutts a badass, you should do a vid on him and his past bands, such as Dry Cell.
@TerribleEnglish
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
"We're not from Seattle so we're not grunge" – what a dumb thing to say. 😅
@ZoneZero-sm9jv
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
Vazleen
@nevermindrhye
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
My favorite band of all time. I miss scott
@wusaint
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
Scott spoke to me in a way that no other musician ever had. You could just feel the emotion within his voice.
@SteefPip
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
Love your channel, just discovered it recently and just subscribed as I'm typing this, but I cannot watch this video. There are few bands I dislike in this world more than STP, there's pretty much them and KISS that I absolutely cannot stand listening to and have a standing ban on both of them being played in my car. Still I want your channel to thrive so I'm commenting and liking it at the very least. Keep up the good work.
@lovethelordjesuspraisethel3286
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
He just wanted Love.. If he found Jesus? He wouldn't of been so empty inside..
@lovethelordjesuspraisethel3286
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
So sad what he went through. His Love, Fiance left after finding out his Addiction. Died not long after.. He is so missed..
@SeytonWallace
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
Short version of why they’re sad: they sucked
@hammerhead40k
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
The new STP is NOT STP ….never will be
@coctilecrocodile1293
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
Purple is one of my favourite albums of all time. RIP Scott Weiland.
@GeorgeWise-w4u
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
Saw S.T.P. three times, also saw Velvet Revolver, Scotty kicked ass ! Always a Great Show!! 😁🤟🤟👍
@floatingsidewalk1
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
Wow. Who cares?
@franksinatra2278
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
You got a fact wrong about the crow. There is a song called "Only Dying" which was slated to be used in the movie. But when Brandon Lee, passed, they felt it wasn't proper, so they used their new future single instead, Big Empty.
@mantism.d.8363
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
I never got to see STP in concert. Was just a little too young. But I did get to see Scott down the road in Velvet Revolver. They killed it. And it was cool because outside of playing their own music, they played STP and GnR hits. I will say though, they came out 2.5hrs late 😂…and Scott was very clearly stepping to the side of the stage throughout the show and doing blow off a little table he had setup.
@sassygermangal
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
I last saw them in 2008 at Jones Beach NY best show ever
@shelbylayla-n1v
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
SCOTT WASN’T SENSITIVE. The media was INSENSITIVE. What a gaslight to call out of band for sounding like every other grunge band, not paying their dues because they changed their name, and badmouthing in general and then saying he’s emotional. No shit, he’s been traumatized by the industry for doing what he loves.
@notdemscommies
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
Always likes them better than Pearl Jam.
@10ftSamsquanchy
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
I went to see these guys twice. Once at the Fox theater in Oakland in the late mid 90's. Then again at a dumpy Oklahoma Indian casino in the early 00's. Both shows started over an hour late and Scott was so fucked up he just mumbled through a shitty performance. Never saw them do a good live show.
@JoeMontuori-f9k
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
One of the best bands of all time
@JoeMontuori-f9k
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
What a talented man
@rree4551
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
💗💗💗Miss Scott to this day! I met him when I was in a STP video. He was so sweet and kind….Such a loss
@StacyStrait
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
One of my Seattle friends consistently referred to them as "Stone Temple Pearl Jam" 😂😂😂
@melissawilcoxon9913
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
Anyone here in 2025?
@Italian1-x7t
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
Watching this in awe.
Early 90’s kicked ass man.
STP was as good as it got.
Time flies… great memories, and very moving!!
@neilcook4710
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
Man, I love Gibby Haynes, but shame on him.
I'm sure he regrets it.
@georgebeck3992
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
Why do junkies make the best musicians
@Morsoul2026
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
Great video, thank you for making! 😀
@xFallN1x
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
I still like them. 90s was a great time
@davidpage968
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
A true legend what a rocker man and inspiration for many through his lyrics and poetry no one in the music business was quite like him unique and genius guy rip to one of the greatest so much emotion and pain was inside Scott thanks for expressing it and thanks for your undeniable everlasting and brilliant music my guy
@hafizsiregar6109
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
Scott weiland was my favorite Frontman
@VolkRevel-z5c
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
STP had nothing to do with the seattle sound.
And is one of the greatest bands of all time.
@greenmountaingrower4680
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
Sorry STP is way more talented and than most of those grunge bands. STP is morebtechnical than most of those bands i wouldnt even call them grunge more like just plain old rock with some stuff bordering on hard rock but def not grunge.
@jayslayton6028
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
Dude… Swallow your spit, turn the treble down, and pull the mic away from your mouth… The most disgusting narrator I've ever heard…
🤢🤮
@WhineCountrySheri
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
Really showing my age today – I thought we were talking about the gasoline additive that was ubiquitous in the 1970s!
@wendy475
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
I saw STP at Hampton Beach Casino in New Hampshire and it was amazing 💥💯. Small venue, Vaseline was the opening song and Scott comes out with a top hat.
@wendy475
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
STP and Pearl Jam DO NOT sound alike.
@pryncessAngelica1
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
Correction; STP was going to contribute their demo 'Only Dying' to The Crow soundtrack, but decided to add Big Empty instead. They are two different songs.
@ZeroWhiteGuilt001
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
12:10
Oh of course he wasn't that way. 🙄
What a simp.
@Mr.Blonde262
February 22, 2026 at 9:12 pm
I good friend of mine is an STP cover band, STP ALWAYS KICKS ASS, and my buddy band tries to match it
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