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91. ‘Purple’ - Stone Temple Pilots (1994)
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At the height of Grunge's mainstream popularity, Stone Temple Pilots sought to transcend and expand on the perfected formula - adding in elements of psychedelia, blues and classic rock to bridge the gap from Grunge to Post-Grunge. Their second album, ‘Purple’, focussed on higher production value, a more melodic approach and a groove-oriented sound to elevate Grunge to the next level of mainstream appeal and widespread accessibility.
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Transcript
00:00:01
Speaker
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Long Live Rock and Roll Podcast. At the height of Grunge's mainstream popularity, Stone Temple pilots sought to transcend and expand on the perfected formula, adding in elements of psychedelia, blues and classic rock to bridge the gap from grunge to post-grunge. Their second album, Purple,
00:00:21
Speaker
focused on higher production value, a more melodic approach and a groove-oriented sound to elevate grunge to the next level of mainstream appeal and widespread accessibility. Joining me to discuss this album is my co-host, Mr. Felipe Amorim. How you doing, bro? Doing great, man, and you? Good, yeah, very well. Thank you. All good here. Another day, and another week, another podcast. Exactly. We've been on fire because as listeners and viewers, I hope you've noticed that we've actually been putting them out once a week now.
00:00:47
Speaker
um We made the switch. you know We just thought it's about time. you know Just get get on it. Stick a date um in the week and just get them out. And it's been great, man. like I just feel we've constantly had this cycle of new great albums to listen to and to check out that are just a bit different to what we're normally used to, isn't it? Well, for me, it's great because it forces me to listen to to stuff that is not a set list.
00:01:09
Speaker
Normally I'm listening to bands repair to our ah instead of ah ah stuff that I want to listen to and and everything we we talk about here is either so something that I like or you like. Yeah. And it's it's good. It's good to just sit down and listen without having to learn songs. Yeah. Have a little break. Exactly. Cool. Right. Well, I'll fire off some of the quick album information. So Purple by Stone Temple Pilots was released 7th of June 1994.
00:01:34
Speaker
Now, the album as a whole was kind of recorded in March of 1994, but two songs were recorded the year before. They were Big Empty and Loungefly. The studio it was recorded at was Southern Tracks in Atlanta, Georgia. Again, those two that were recorded earlier were done in different studios. And the genre, again, another interesting one.
00:01:53
Speaker
grunge, hard rock, alt rock, psychedelic rock, even alt metal I've read. So we can have discussion about that. ah the length the specialist but we'll see ah the The length of the just under 47 minutes and it was released on the Atlantic label and produced by Brendan O'Brien. So before we kick off, because I think Felipe chose this album, so he's going to lead this episode. That's my question. Why did you choose the album?
00:02:16
Speaker
ah Because of a song, because of the ah they didn't this the hit single of the album, Interstate Love Song. um You know it, or you played it, or you had to learn it. I just love that song. I think it's such a brilliant piece of music. I have to share with you that I've never heard any Stone Temple Pilots song until this week. Even the famous one.
00:02:37
Speaker
when you know When we've been to download festival, ye they've played at that festival. You probably were not there at that stage at that time. I was probably probably listening to some death metal band. I'm going to check those guys out. Obviously, those was that was like more recent so with the new singer who who did a phenomenal job.
00:02:57
Speaker
And I just realized at that gig how good they were. I was like, oh my God, I need to check some of their songs out. Because I knew the classics. I knew a couple of songs from Core and a couple of songs from this album. And I was expecting to see them playing those songs. And then everything they played was just so well executed, so well played. And there's a consistency in quality as well. So I thought, well, I need to check those guys out.
00:03:23
Speaker
So maybe the first album is kind of an an obvious choice um because it's more grunge. It's more like it's it it it does reflect more the sound of the 90s. Yeah. And this album, I think it's just more unique. It's is's got a sound of its own. But there's reasons for that. Yeah, but there's reasons for that. And actually what it does is actually plays an important part in rock music history, which we're going to get into. So ah the members of um of Stone Temple Pilots. You've got Robert DeLeo and his brother, Dean DeLeo. um And then you have Jeff. Well, Jeff Gart is the lead vocalist now because Scott Weyland passed away. um But then you have Eric Kretz on drums. um And obviously the singer is the renowned famous Scott Weyland, or Weyland, however you want to say it. um
00:04:16
Speaker
Yeah. So that's, that's about the band and the album a bit of detail. So should we kick off with some background stuff? Yeah, exactly. Cool. Right. Do you want to crack on? Yeah. So the interesting thing is they are, so we're going to talk about the first album quickly. It was released in September, 1992. So as you said, they spent another year working on, like in and out working on, on, on purple. And basically we're going to talk about how the recording happened, but so they released the first one, 1992. And it peaked at number three are the Billboard albums chart. pretty good right yeah for the amount of bands you had at the time, releasing great albums. yeah ah and But he was like hated by by critics. So the media didn't like them. They didn't like them. They thought they were just like a copy of everything that was going on at the time. Maybe they were a little bit. It doesn't mean doesn't mean they were not doing it well. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
00:05:05
Speaker
Then um they started you could compare them to the other bands. That's something we're going to talk about later as well. But um they started touring like and getting bigger and with time like the songs were starting to play more on the radio. So ah plush was a big hit. Crete was a big hit. And they're touring with. Can you pause one second? Just the normal terms and conditions. yeah Guys, anyone who's listening or watching to this this episode, any song we mentioned is in a dedicated playlist in the show notes.
00:05:35
Speaker
So you're gonna go down, scroll down if you're on YouTube or on your Spotify and your Apple and your Amazon. In the show notes, it will say episode playlist and it contains the full album that we're talking about and any songs that Felipe's mentioned. ah So what did you say? They were plush and there was one more. and creep Plush and Creep by Stone Temple Pilots. So they'll all be in the playlist. From the album Core. That's fine. They'll all be in the playlist. And any other song we mentioned today will be in there. So you can listen along with the episode. sleep Yeah. And if you don't have the time to listen to the whole of the first album, listen to those two songs and maybe a couple of more, they're really good songs. So they started to to be the support act for bands like Rage Against the Machine and Megadeth. So wow and how yeah, there's different different styles there, isn't it? It shows that they can play
00:06:17
Speaker
with, um they can share this day to share the bill with a variety of rock sub-genres if you want to call it like that. And yeah, so that so that that's where they were coming from. Now they had ah much more money and time to get to to to get into the the second album. They were starting to get like recognized by bad people, so they kind of ah have some hit songs. They they did like an acoustic um set on MTV, so there some some of the the songs, are I think you can find on Spotify or YouTube, some of the acoustic versions of Plush is definitely there. And
00:06:58
Speaker
Yeah, so they had a name at that point, but still for the mainstream media, they were not good enough. Are you talking about the band name or the album name? Well, but the the band had a name, had a reputation. Oh, sorry, sorry. Basically what I'm saying is like they were So know i get what you mean i slow moment from but they they had they built a reputation that by that time. ah So they were well known amongst Brock fans, and the fans actually loved them, but the the media didn't. So now we're going to move on into our next ah section, which is the the production of the second album. because
00:07:31
Speaker
um with all that background. So they had the the the money and the time to invest into the second album. They start investing on on better stage production for the tours so people would perceive them as as a famous and as a big band. ah But Even though they had the time, they didn't waste time at all recording the album, isn't it? They went to the to Brandon O'Brien's studio, ah which they said is just like behind his house or something like that. And they were staying in a place only about three miles away. So ah the producer insisted that they didn't
00:08:04
Speaker
getting to the l LA traffic to get to his place like I need you guys to be in an accommodation like not far from the studio because I i like to work fast. And that is the key thing about the production of this album is the yeah why is the yeah the efficiency of that producer.
00:08:22
Speaker
ah okay yeah ah the um What's his name? ah zi Dean De Leo, one of the top there. so he he said that he was tracking like the last guitar track in the summer and um the guy from the other band that was about to start another album the studio was already there with his gear so the producer like gotta to finish your guitar today there's another album starting tomorrow or today right like slide just do it get out of my way and also they said the drummer said in in the same interview that uh he he was like more about getting things done quicker than getting to the technicalities of recording. So when I said, Oh, which microphone do you have like in front of that guitar? um It was like ah the nearest one.
00:09:02
Speaker
I found a mic and put it there. I don't even know. It's like guitar plays are really picky with sound. That one specific microphone in front, like a few inches, you certain like the the right amount of inches away from the speaker. It was like, I just put a mic in there. The first one I found, I don't care. like Let's get this done.
00:09:20
Speaker
so um So basically, um what's the name? robert Robert De Leo, isn't it? The bassist. Yeah. ah yes So he's a phenomenal musician, by the way, with a lot of jazz and and and Boston over background, which is interesting. He said with these words, the producer gave us the incentive to be creative quickly.
00:09:40
Speaker
Because you know how rock bands like, to you know, I want to be creative and shit, you know, take my time. So yeah, I got to be creative now. ah Get stuff done. And apparently, yeah, that's hilarious, because my notes on production.
00:09:55
Speaker
I have brighter, polished, more eclectic. um we Later on we're going to do but a key part of this episode is establishing what Stone Temple Pilots did for Grunge and how they progressed Grunge on compared to the other contemporaries like Soundgarden, Nirvana, Alison Chains, Pearl Jam.
00:10:13
Speaker
So compared to their grunge contemporaries, it was more eclectic, just a bit. It had a bit more had a bit more life in it. And I'm just so surprised you're telling me this, that they were rushed because I'd expect a rushed album. Well, let's not say rushed. I'd say an album that was made quickly and with urgency. I'd expect that to be more on the raw and ah yeah raw and dirty side of things but to hear that they were rushed but it still sounds bright and polished that's very confusing because i think the producer like is doing that kind of uh how can i put it like a mass production of albums in his studio he knows how to get a sound yeah
00:10:51
Speaker
So to the point, the microphone doesn't matter. says say He knows how to get a sound and probably he has always sound. It's like, come here, press record, done. But that for that to happen, the band needs to know the direction they're taking. You can't rely on the producer che to help you out if you if you don't have the songs really ah well arranged by the time you get into studio, which I believe they had because they had it like like a year and a half to go through those things whilst they were touring.
00:11:18
Speaker
And apparently um they started doing some demos on the road and recording and and arranging. Apparently the only thing that wasn't quite ready was some of the lyrics. So Scott Whelan was kind of um are struggling to finish some of some of the lyrics and some of them were rushed, some of them which might explain why some of the lyrics don't don't make too much sense, or at least at least to me. Are you a listener? What is going on about it? Maybe it's too personal, maybe it's too American, maybe it's just nonsense because he had to finish the lyrics, even though he did an amazing job with the lyrics and melodies of course. So 11 days to track all those songs, and you mentioned the one song or the two songs they've done before,
00:12:04
Speaker
And ah the first, I think the first one, Loungefly was definitely the first song they recorded. And it has a completely different style from the the first album. So if you listen to that, it starts with that like ah that drum beat. It's completely different, right? So I think it stands out. Yeah, so apparently what they said in in several different interviews is they they already knew the direction they they wanted to take. So that's that's one of the reasons why the album didn't take that long to to get recorded.
00:12:35
Speaker
because they had they had the feel they had it already. I just want to say in terms of the production um it is so crisp it is it is wonderful and this is the the starting point obviously of our conversation as to how this sort of differed from the other contemporary grunge bands the the the part that excels and um typifies it for me is the lead guitar in the chorus of Still Remains, because there is this beautiful little melodic guitar sat in the chorus of it, but it's it's buried away. It's not obvious. Obviously, when the chorus comes in and you get everything together, it makes up that chorus. But it's only when you start listening and picking out, you hear it in the back and you're like, oh, yeah, that's there. I feel like little moments like that would have got lost in some Nirvana sound guard and Alice in Chain albums, um just that it's so
00:13:23
Speaker
Yeah, masterfully produced, really crisp and polished. That is a really great production. And also, I think, well, again, we're talking about working ah that quickly. You've got to be good to do that. you know You've got to be confident about how you produce a band to get that sound. Also, again, as I said,
00:13:39
Speaker
the band needs to know what they're doing. They need to be playing every single part and playing the transitions between verses and choruses really well. yeah It's not something you can just like jam in the studio and and and get done in in in one take. You need to know what you're doing. so yeah So they clearly wanted to, I don't know if if if I could say prove a point, but they really wanted to show it in the face of the critics. Like we have an album that doesn't sound like everything else has been done in the 90s.
00:14:06
Speaker
Well, that's ah absolutely in and in my notes before before we moved on to production. I had in my background notes, there was pressure on the band to prove themselves, because as you said, they were, they were you know, in 1994, Grunge was, it was it it was almost at its peak. It was actually beginning to wane. It was beginning to start going downhill. So all of the the the key moments um had been done. You know, Nirvana's Nevermind, Soundguard, all their key albums had been done.
00:14:33
Speaker
Stone Temple Pilots came along and were almost treated just as, oh, they're another band. You know, they're just copying what Nirvana did or Alice in Chains or something. So you're right. They had to prove it. And in doing so. they moved They actually moved the genre on with this album. They played a crucial part in linking grunge to what we call now post-grunge, which is like Creed, Foo Fighters. you know for um For listeners and viewers, we did an episode. What was Foo Fighters first album called? i Was it The Crawl Under Shape? Not the first, that's the second one. No, sorry. yeah Yeah, but we did um we did ah Foo Fighters, The Colour in the Shape, maybe 10 episodes ago, which is which we said was one of the establishing post-grunge albums.
00:15:10
Speaker
So you've come from nevermind, bad motor finger to the colour and the shape with purple. There's a little stop off in the middle. So um it played a massive part. but But part of the reason it played a massive part is because of several iconic songs. Shall we talk about them? Yes. yeah song Let's talk about the most famous one and the one that you said to me before we started recording is the reason that you um sort of discovered this band, Interstate Love Song, which is is their hit, isn't it? That is their song.
00:15:40
Speaker
Yeah, um I mean, i want I want you to say something about the song. Tell me about the bass line, please. No, I wanted to tell me what you think about the bass line of the song. There's so much movement in the bass. It's just like it's not he's not doing the same thing over and over. If you listen to like, when it goes from verse to chorus, you're gonna hear that. And it's yeah it doesn't sound like overplaying at all, but it's not basic, really. No, what what it is, um And what I'm going to get to this in our next section as well is that a lot of this album or a lot of moments in this album, unlike your typical grunge, is groove oriented. I hear lots of grooviness in the whole album.
00:16:24
Speaker
sometimes songs there'll be a song that's actually an obvious grunge song but there'll just be a little section where it grooves and this is it the interstate love song the chorus where it grooves it's like ban ah ba but band but band but but bam but then in the verses it's just smooth one note held for a couple of bars or a couple of beats or something And I think that transition, you know, with grunge, we're used to the bass providing a rhythmic backup for the guitar. And so often with bands like Soundgarden, you'd hear the bass mirroring what the guitars doing, or if the guitar
00:16:57
Speaker
is playing something a bit atmospheric or a little lead line in the chorus, the bass will be playing the original riff um to sort of keep the foundation of that grunginess to it. But here, we hear the bass doing what I think nine out of 10 people would say is the bass player's job, grooving along with the drummer, marrying the relationship between the harmonies of the guitar and the vocals and the rhythm of the drums.
00:17:21
Speaker
and it's beautiful. There's lots of great bass playing in here, but yeah, in interstate interstate love song. Brilliant. No, no, it's brilliant. because's There's something about this song ah which I find really remarkable. It's like there's some elements throughout the album. There's some elements of like acoustic vibes and quieter sections. yeah ah Still kind of groovy. You have a little bit a little bit of funk. You have a little bit of like heavy rock.
00:17:48
Speaker
And you have some some moments where this live guitar is the main thing. yeah this song lose the element yes This song has got all of it in the first, I don't know, eight bars. It starts quiet, starts kind of acoustic and builds up and you have the the slide guitar riff at the beginning and it goes into a heavy or kind of hard rock riff. And then you have the, I would say pop melody for the vocals because it's not it's not really rock. the way he's saying so So it's basically a radio friendly hit.
00:18:23
Speaker
yeah im well You know there is this played by rock musicians without losing any element of rock blues and and ah an acoustic rock. I completely agree with you and it's funny you say that because I listened to the song and i' knowing what I know, what I just said about where this album sits in rock history and what it was doing, I listened to it And I don't think, oh, this is one of the first examples of a post grunge ah song or the first examples of a pop rock song. It's still, for me, sits in the grunge department. Yeah. But there's just tiny little bit sprinkled on like things as simple as vocal harmonies in the chorus, isn't it? Doesn't it? it I think that obviously I haven't listened to it in an hour or so. um
00:19:09
Speaker
I think there's like one or two words in the chorus. The the vocal harmonies only come in for one or two words. Yeah, so it's not like littering harmonies everywhere like a pop song may do, but it's just sprinkling. Anything that falls outside of what you would call typical grunge in those days never overdoes it.
00:19:32
Speaker
Yeah, just sprinkles, little examples of it on. It's fantastic it's he's just it's just brilliant. And one thing I want to say about the the lyrics of that song is like, OK, everyone. And i I definitely don't want this episode ah to be about it. Everyone talks about, you know, the ah Scott Whelan's addiction that ultimately took his life. But he he is talking about that and the song. But it's brilliant because the person that is like delivering those words is his wife. So basically that's he wrote the lyrics under the point of view of his wife telling him that she's tired of the lies that he was promising to stop doing drugs. So how I imagine how painful it is to recognize that you causing someone some but someone else a lot of pain. Yeah. And you can
00:20:22
Speaker
recognize that person's a struggle with you, being in a relationship with you and then you write the lyrics about how they're feeling about you. it's That is a brilliant way to write a love song. And again another unusual element that you probably wouldn't have expected here when you hear nirvana lyrics you often you know that's often coming straight from kurt cabain's heart himself i feel again yeah you know talking about himself yeah get get in touch with us if i've got it wrong if there is a specific song that nirvana did that he wrote from the point of view of his wife or his mother let me know but in general
00:20:57
Speaker
in general most songwriters do that this is yeah yeah yeah so i'm talking about myself then when you say okay i'm not only talking about someone else's feelings i'm talking about someone else's feelings on that person is you know in a relationship with me and i'm actually not being good to that person so it's it's it's a really really cool way of of of telling a story and not very radio friendly when you think about it because the lyrics are not that obvious they're not like in your face. The choruses and the melodies are really like a punch in your face. But the lyrics are a bit cryptic, isn't it? it's not But yeah, it became their radio song. It became the number one as well as another song that we're going to move on to called Big Empty, which is another one of their sort of hits. Now this song featured in the movie The Crow, which I think is why it probably got a bit of its wipe, you know, and acclaim. um But the the thing that strikes me about this song
00:21:50
Speaker
is for everything interstate love song does that's how can I say this nicely in your face big loud chorus harmonies to exemplify that how good the vocals are really cool guitar work great bass line this is definitely an example of less is more the band are playing a much more atmospheric you know way um the chorus is nice and loud obviously but when it drops down when they're playing with dynamics it's really nice and atmospheric and really brings you into the mood of the song Yeah, it does. it does and And it's like, the kind in in a certain way, the opposite of Interstate Love Song. That's what yes so I meant, yeah. Whatever Interstate Love Song is showing off, Big Empty is kind of like pulling back. And it's a great balance but between acoustic acoustic and electric, in my opinion. And the slide guitar also plays a big role in that one. so it's it's
00:22:43
Speaker
Yeah, ah the the guitars maybe are my favorite part of that song. All the guitar layers, everything just displayed there. And it's interesting to to notice that they there's two brothers who are guitarists in the band because the other bassist was actually initially a guitar player.
00:22:59
Speaker
And he played in clubs like in L.A., I think in L.A., or definitely in California. He played ah with prog rock bands. He played Russian. Yes, his background is quite diverse. wow ah But he was playing the bass, right? But he would also write guitar parts, I believe, with his brother. So he'd got two brothers who would guitar players with slightly different styles writing stuff together. That is one of maybe one of the reasons why the the guitar ah parts are so creative and and they blend well together. That's a great point yeah um and another one of the iconic tracks that again you know there's a few of them from this album is and never became um stone temple pilot hits that are still played you know at concerts that are still played on radio stations that are still put into the
00:23:44
Speaker
best of 90s rock playlists Vaseline and I really enjoyed this one and this is the first time for me the cryptic lyrics there they are very odd but I love that again we're going to come onto to this in a bit Stone Temple pi Pilots um input inputted a certain level of humor amongst this album we'll touch on it a bit later but The first time i heard it I heard it, and I'm not saying I laughed out loud when I heard the lyrics, but it just made me kind of smile a bit. Flies in your Vaseline. like Just that that that little that lyric, so simple, but I heard it and I just kind of had a little giggle. I was like, okay, that's a little unusual, but it's a little tongue-in-cheek as well, I think. yeah
00:24:26
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. And and it's it's I think there's also reference to to his drug use, alike but not maybe not so so clear. you know And and what what else about the song, man? Because I think one one thing I want to say is the the drum beat, because it starts with like the ah guitar feedback, right? Yeah. That's like that's typical from the late 60s and 70s. Hendrix would do a lot of that. yeah And they certainly love Hendrix, I know that.
00:24:53
Speaker
so So they had their guitar feedback for a while and the drum beat just builds up, starts really quiet, probably not done ah naturally by playing just like ah you know you go on the mixing desk and and you yeah just you bring it up. So you have that drum beat building up and the song, in my opinion, the guitar riff, it's a little bit like Red Hot Chili Peppers, but heavier. So it's not that funky. It's a little bit like more distorted.
00:25:21
Speaker
it's a little bit like can't stop isn't it yes although this song was written before can't stop it has a great point yeah red hot chili peppers vibe to it but the drums are a little bit more towards john bonham i would say yeah so it is it is funky but it's more for me it's more hard rock than funk and And it's a relentless groove that pretty much doesn't change throughout the whole song. So the drums are really driving the song here. And I think it's it's the best drum track in the album. Great point. really In terms of drum moments, it's funny because I've got iconic tracks and I know army ants isn't an iconic track, but there's an iconic moment for me.
00:26:00
Speaker
the drum fell into the solo wow oh yeah my favorite moment of the album um unbelievable just so much power and then when the solo kicks in it's just outrageous with all this power and you can't help but bang your head and just shake up and downll it's brilliant um Fly again, it's ah it's a drum based kind of song because yeah and it's it's a tribal beat played on the drums rad rather than cymbals like most of the time. And it's a really, really nice vibe. but just Again, just like Vaseline, it keeps going like and it doesn't change much throughout the song. Yeah, excellent.
00:26:36
Speaker
Cool. Shall we move on? Yes. Is there any other songs you want to talk about? I want to make one comment about production choices. All I'll say quickly is whatever songs I haven't mentioned in my comic songs, I've kind of scheduled them to talk about later in the next section. So I've given most songs they're due.
00:26:56
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Go for it. Tell us that production thing. Yeah, a couple of interesting, well, the humor in the album, right, you're talking about. I think one of my favorite bits is Supergun Superman. At the end, there's an overdub drum track playing completely different beats. There's nothing to do with the song. And they do that kind of, the song is fading out and that drum loop is just getting louder. It's just like mixing two tracks. They have nothing to do with each other and you can hear them laughing at the end.
00:27:25
Speaker
And it's what it what a good joke. And I got a note, I got a little note for that song that says, um almost sounds a bit progressive. um And you said the bass player was a pro, had a prog background, right? So there's a little bit there. But it's funny that that wasn't even it's not like the drummer started playing it. You said they just lay it over. They overdubbed. It's different. is what it was You can still hear the drum beat from the song. And it's like a weird thing. There's nothing to do with it. But does it work? Just a little, I know it's only 10 seconds, but it's kind of, it's proggy. I'm not saying it's it's lovely, but it's like, oh, hold on. I could imagine someone like, yes. It's free jazz. Yeah, free jazz. Nice.
00:28:01
Speaker
ah with If you ever watch the jazz club, you gotta watch the jazz club. You gotta check it out. Excellent. Do you want to introduce the next section in the sense, because you said you had a direction you wanted to take this next section in? Yes. So basically I want to talk about, well, Stone Temple Pilots versus The Rest.
00:28:20
Speaker
yes like and no and not And not in a sense of who's better, in the sense of what did they do differently. It's just direction, right? yeah Well, ah I think most of the grunge bands were based in Seattle, am I right? That was the kind of grunge, yeah. And they are in South California, if I'm not wrong. So that's the that's the first difference there.
00:28:39
Speaker
And if you look at the way you look at the picture behind me, they don't dress like the ah the grunge guys and not like I have this feeling that the grunge thing is more like you got to look like you haven't had a shower for two weeks and and you got to have some some some um clothes that you borrowed from someone.
00:28:57
Speaker
That's what I think. I'm not criticizing. I love that kind of music. I love the the style as well. I love the way people dress. But it's a bit like the attitude. Rock and roll. I don't give a fuck. That's how I dress. Baggy trousers, yeah you know hoodies. like They look like they just came out of school or something. they like you know yeah Especially that sweater that he's wearing, the yellow one. Yeah, exactly. Don't say they're well-behaved kids, but they didn't dress like ah rock and roll stars. And that's one thing. well um yeah there's There's a few. I mean, I've got three sections here that I want to talk about in terms of this this discussion. But to to go off what you've said in terms of the vibe and the feel that this band are giving off, I think in terms of the the the sound of the album, there is generally just a lighter, more optimistic tone through the album, even though they're tackling issues like addiction, alienation, ah societal issues within. It doesn't feel
00:29:54
Speaker
dark or heavy like a Nirvana album for you. It doesn't bring you down for sure. No, it doesn't. It doesn't suffocate you. You know, I love Nirvana as much as the next guy, but you can get to the end of a Nirvana album and not just them, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam. They all have this dark undertone to their music because they were tackling things like, you know, drugs, you know, Pearl Jam taught politics a lot. Alice in Chains often had quite sort of uh dark imagery in their lyrics and you'd get to the end of an album and you'd be there like wow which Jesus like I've got to go listen to some Michael Buble now because it's like it's like that's just taken me down a bit but this is in spite of the fact I only say that since December and it's almost Christmas and Michael Buble Michael Buble's come out of his cave um once a year so and Mariah and Mariah as well yeah exactly but yeah so
00:30:49
Speaker
this definitely, although they're tackling some of the same issues lyrically, the music just on the whole feels a little bit more positive, doesn't it? Yeah, it and yeah, so I go, I would give credit to to to the riffs and grooves. You know, that's what I believe is that is the way the songs are arranged that make ah makes the idea of, let's say the negative feelings that present in some of the lyrics. Yeah, it makes them feel a little bit I don't know, they they're not heavy, they're mild. kind of you know It's kind of sad, but you know, it's groovy. I think that the there was such a seriousness around grunge, as you've just we just discussed the last few minutes, that as we mentioned before, the humour
00:31:31
Speaker
and the whimsical little playful nature of this band had to had to, that's probably what made the difference of this band becoming a success and not just being another one of those grunge bands that were trying to copy what Nirvana did. Because if you look look, take a look behind me, hold on, let me do my normal thing, I'm going to close off my camera, that's the cover art.
00:31:50
Speaker
And I know it's not the full album, but there was that they were they were messing around when they when they did this art. And I've read stuff about this, like, the you know, they've got a little baby riding a dragon and even the word that the the word purple on the album cover, it's in Chinese or Mandarin. it's um It's weird. It's not written purple. And it's just like they're kind of playing with the audience a bit. They're kind of um having a laugh with us. And I just i just think When you look at how serious Nirvana and Soundgarden were, you see stone temple pilots do this and then a few years later you see Foo Fighters doing the video forever long. I just see this progression of not taking it so seriously.
00:32:34
Speaker
because being serious in music is absolutely fine and it's needed. But I think Nirvana's Soundgarden and Pearl Jam were serious enough that Stone Temple Pilots said, let's do something a little different, make this a little lighthearted. And then you've got the album cover, you've got the um the Chinese writing.
00:32:52
Speaker
You've got that part you said about the overlaying the drums and then how about the ending of the album, right? That's where I was going to song. One of my favorite moments. One of my favorite moments, bro. Yeah, I looked at that. That's a track called My Second Album by a gentleman called Richard Peterson. I know the story. I do know the story.
00:33:13
Speaker
Richard Peterson was this superfan of Johnny Mathis. who And Johnny Mathis was like this drug with this um this jazz singer. um you you prop He's got one of the Christmas songs. I think, do you hear what I hear? I think that's Johnny Mathis. I'll put one of his songs in the playlist anyway. But yeah, this guy was like a superfan and he he followed Johnny Mathis round on tour.
00:33:38
Speaker
um I know it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas is the famous Johnny Mathis one. um So I'll put that in the playlist just so you guys can hear his his vocals. And so anyway, and so this guy released a song called My Second Album, and the band loved it. And they just thought, what a brilliant way to summarize. The story was like the I think was ah Dean DeLeo. He was in a he was doing an interview in a radio station in Washington, in a small town. And he saw this picture of the singer right alongside the Mathis, the famous singer was like, who's that guy?
00:34:13
Speaker
Oh, so how is it guys like a local guy here and he's got his second album out is is great and this and that. And then he got a tape of that album that showed it to the band. And it was like, this is brilliant. It's like a brilliant stuff. And I started to listen to it before gigs and it became there like inner joke and like ah They loved it. They loved the album, apparently. And as I said, we're going to stick the song the first song of the album is my second album. And the interesting thing is, so they release in their second album with eleven songs. But if you add that one to the list, so it's twelve songs. And the song, the my second album but says it's like twelve, ah you know, beautiful pieces of music, whatever precious melodies, twelve, of the twelve gracious melodies.
00:34:59
Speaker
Imagine starting your album saying, look, um i've I've written 12. gracious melodies. It's like you're about to listen to the best thing that's out there. 12 great tunes playing on your stereo and the key the key lyric, this album cover looks similar like Johnny Mathis. For Mathis lovers, this album has his style. This is outrageously because this band have nothing to do with Johnny Mathis. I was gonna say drugs. Why did I say drugs? Jazz or um Richard Peterson. Yeah. But just the fact that they've
00:35:33
Speaker
taken this song because they loved it, because it kind of exemplified the process they'd been through for recording their second album, they just thought, fuck it, why not? We'll put it in at the end of our album. And it just works so well. And it just in an album full of lyrics, like we said, that deal with addiction, alienation, some depressing issues.
00:35:54
Speaker
to end it on a high like this. I thought it was a genius move. It's just brilliant. But if that song can't cheer you up, I don't know. Yeah, exactly. It's just is's just hilarious the way they put it in the album. Yeah. it Yeah. It comes out of nowhere at the end. They're like, what the hell is this? It's clearly not them. You know that, yeah you know, but straight away. But knowing this story just makes it even even funnier. Yeah. that' yeah so um So now let's talk about the music comparisons between Stone Table Pilots and the other Grunjax.
00:36:24
Speaker
You touched on it earlier, I'm just going to sort of summarise my thoughts on it now. Genre blending, and as we said earlier, they then it's not apart from the part from my second album, they don't do a song in another genre, they just sprinkle little bits on.
00:36:39
Speaker
And I think compared to their first album, which was just kind of like an out and out grunge, grunge album, you're getting a lot of diversity and a lot of different styles bleeding into their overall grunge base. Psychedelic rock, you've got quite a hazy atmosphere where they use dynamics and um ah to create ambience and sort of feelings of, you know, mysticism, songs like Pretty Penny and the intro of Army Ants, I think exemplify that really well.
00:37:05
Speaker
um classic rock. And what I mean by this is your sort of your standard classic rock song. We've obviously done an episode, one of our first ever episodes of what is classic rock. Go back and listen to that. I think that's episode eight and nine. Maybe we did a two parter. I think driving drums, simple riffs, power chords, nothing crazy, good old rock. And I think you hear that in unglued and kitchenware and candy bars. You also got, as you mentioned earlier, the little blues influence with slide guitar.
00:37:34
Speaker
The guitar solos in general, which is like, if you listen to Guns N' Roses, like Slash always does like a composition for his solos. And in this album, I think it sounds like it's improvised, even if it's not, it sounds like a new solo. Yeah, you're absolutely right. And I hear that in songs like Pretty Penny and Big Empathy, just that the acoustics in it, the southern feel that you get to it.
00:37:57
Speaker
ah Funk, you've already mentioned, syncopated upbeat rhythms, which I hear in Vaseline, an interstate love song, but already elements of post grunge where you're hearing the easy going rock music, like the chorus of Still Remains. I think, um I think it's like Foo Fires. It really reminds me of that. And then the verse of Still Remains, um almost, well, maybe this is Scott, which is Scott Whelan's vocals. This is almost like country.
00:38:26
Speaker
good just that but do you know the pi mean yeah the verse Just the verse of Still Remains. I don't hear country anywhere else on the album, but just that Still Remains verse. Well, one thing about country music is like loads of of country songwriters, they don't take themselves very seriously. There's a lot of humor in their songs. There you go, that links again.
00:38:46
Speaker
um And yeah, so just in general, the but you know, in terms of actual songwriting, Purple emphasizes melody over heaviness. And I think that's the key difference, apart from obviously all those styles I just mentioned, you know, Nirvana, I don't think Nirvana ever put any funk in their music. I don't think Soundgarden ever put any sort of blues. it Well, actually, that's that's not true. That's another conversation for another day, Soundgarden and blues. um But generally, Purple emphasises melody over heaviness. And whilst Nirvana might have been focusing on raw production, dissonant, you know, I think of the song Negative Creep by Nirvana, which is just, it's akin to heavy metal.
00:39:20
Speaker
um And I hear that, and I think, God, Stone Temple Pilots is so far away from that, but obviously still being in the same bracket. We get a lot of melody, we've got more rhythm, more groove, you know, listen to songs like Unglued and Vaseline, catchy, rhythmic riffs that differ from the sluggier, less dynamic heaviness of the other bands.
00:39:40
Speaker
Yeah, that that that makes a lot of sense. I think the whole vibe is different in many ways. Like the song, you've mentioned a Pretty Penny, that song is completely different from the rest of the album and let alone the genre, right? yeah So it's just is' different from the album. It's 100% acoustic, like huge contrast between verse and chorus. So there they were actually trying to to do something.
00:40:03
Speaker
like ah really new, really different. And um I think if you listen to their song Creep from from Core, you could say that even the vocals, ah is they sound a lot like Nirvana, that song, right? Even the vocals, the vibe, the groove, everything. ah Maybe Plush could have been, um I might be stretching a little bit here because I'm not ah i'm not a specialist in grunge, but it could have been ah a sound garden song could have been a pro jam song right but no songs in this album could have been written or sound anything like the other grand bands that's what i believe if you listen to if you're listening to your plush that could be that song could be played by any of the bands in the 90s i just listened to five seconds of it and that's pearl jam you know the vocals very much the you know the and crazy the are
00:40:57
Speaker
A lot like Kurt Cobain, like a lot of it. The vocals and this, I'm not i'm not at all, we're not comparing the talents here. when So when I say the vocals on this album feel much more varied than Chris Cornell, Kurt Cobain or Eddie Vedder.
00:41:12
Speaker
not a slight on the others it's just saying like I said I hear that he's when he sings like this in the country song lacking still remains like that you know I know I know I'm over exaggerating but you get country in the still remains verse and then throughout the other songs you've got different elements he's he's kind of mellow and soulful in soul in the yeah softer songs but then when he needs to bring it for the harder rock songs you hear the projection in his voice and so it's like you know he's just covering loads of basses. It sounds to me like a man going through constant change you know his outfits his you know his persona and then the vocals day but changing from one song to another or from the verse to the chorus that's a skill
00:41:51
Speaker
It changes vocal style inside the same song. you know it's not it's It's brilliant, really. yeah Unlike any of the other singers you've mentioned, who are all really good really good singers. you know but just But doesn't it just feel that his versatility, along with everything else we've mentioned today in this episode so far, just kind of gave Grunge the push to be a little bit more accessible, isn't it? Brilliant. Yeah, for sure. Do you have any anything else about this section or do you want to move on the so to the legacy of the album? Let's talk about the legacy. of cool right well The album debuted straight away at number one on the billboard and stayed there for three weeks which is massive because if I'm not mistaken
00:42:32
Speaker
I think Bad Motorfinger came out on in 1994 as well and that was a massive... ah Oh no, no, that was 1991. I think it's no, Super Unknown is the Soundgarden one that came later and that was 1994. So to compete with that and other you know big albums that were coming out of that time that were still grunge through and through,
00:42:55
Speaker
I think he did a massive job to do that. um Critics who criticized the first album started to come around and recognize Stone Temple Pilots as probably recognize their place in Grunge for the same reason we're doing now, as the band that now Grunge has had its heyday, now Grunge has peaked. Let's see where we can take this. And I think critics started looking at Stone Temple Pilots and saying actually you guys are onto something here.
00:43:19
Speaker
It went on to achieve multi-platinum statness and is a defining album of the 90s, showcasing creative possibilities within Grunge and moving it to the post-Grunge era that we became so familiar with in the later of the 90s. The iconic songs that we mentioned have endured over the decades. We hear them still daily on rock radios, best of 90s playlists, and they're great songs. Yeah, they're great songs. They're great songs. And I would say that Interstate Love Song is probably one of the best songs of the 90s.
00:43:48
Speaker
I would say that. That's a fair shout. Just said it, yeah just said it. There you go, whether or not. um Awesome. Anything else about the reception, impact and legacy of the album? No, no. not next one i told Would you know, I'll just say ah two or three words before you do your monologue. um I've really enjoyed the album, man. and And it's funny because this kind of music, this I know we're still 10 years or you know five or six years away from pop rock at this stage, but I don't really listen to this kind of music. And if I was in the car and someone said, well, do you want to listen to, I wouldn't say Purple by Stone Temple Pilots. You know me, I've got a bunch of other albums I'd rather listen to. But listen after listen. So I listened to it, I think five times.
00:44:29
Speaker
each song really does grow on you and it is because it has those little psychedelic elements in there, because although you get the first three songs which are essentially they are grunge songs, although as we've said they sprinkle little bits here and there. The songwriting, yeah. Yeah, but then when they arranged it. Exactly, yeah, but then when song four comes in, I think that's the right one, um it just changes that. Yeah, what Interstate Love Song is song four, so from when Interstate Love Song comes on,
00:44:54
Speaker
And then you get Still Remains After That, which has a little, the weird country stuff I said. And then After That You Get Pretty Penny, which is, that's the one that's completely acoustic. Yeah, pychedelic one it's just it just gets your interest because you think you're going in a certain direction with the first three songs, and then suddenly, song after song after song, you get something new. And having listened to that five times, this album five times over the last week, I've been sat there going, this is a bloody good album.
00:45:22
Speaker
You know, it deserves its credit, man. You know, like I said, it might it might not be my favourite all the time. and you know i don't I don't love it. I think it's really good. but My God, it deserves its place in in the Grunge Annals, doesn't it? Oh, yeah, it does. it does yeah i mean it's it's It's probably my favorite because it's not a style that I listen to ah very often. it's so Again, I like it. Some good stuff in there. It's just not my cup of tea anyways. It is the same like when we're talking about Britpop. I'm not a Britpop fan, but there's so many good albums and good songs that were recorded by those bands. So I think with music, with rock music especially,
00:45:57
Speaker
We've got to understand that rock is not meant to be predictable. It's not meant to be all Always the same and you never know what you're gonna get so I don't think I try not to have any sort of prejudice against any ah Subgenre of rock because you never know what you're gonna get this album if you don't listen to grunge You still should give this album a go because it's hundred percent. Yeah, it's different something else. I with your monologue? Yeah, I want to wrap it up. um Go for it. I need to give you my terms and conditions of real simple, my disclaimer at the beginning. um So if there's any English mistakes, forgive my English. And if there's any swearing, forgive my French. The swearing, that's absolutely fine. Don't worry about the swearing. But also, bro, don't worry about your your English mistakes, man. It's fine with the monologue. Felipe's monologue. Here we go.
00:46:53
Speaker
Purple is not the predictable rock album from the 90s. After a solid debut with Core, the Stone Temple Pilots were loved by their followers but still hated by the mainstream rock media. Geographically and musically distant from their grunge peers,
00:47:10
Speaker
They've refused to go with the flow and release another album like Core. Instead, they've mixed all their musical influences into a style of their own, including psychedelic rock, classic rock, punk, pop. And if you pay close attention to it, you might even find some jazz, prog, rock and bossa nova.
00:47:28
Speaker
Scott Whelan's melodies and lyrics translate his frustration with his own erratic behavior into a melancholic form of poetry that doesn't necessarily bring sadness to the listener, maybe thanks to the energetic grooves and riffs that keep coming song after song.
00:47:45
Speaker
And when you think you've heard everything from them, acoustic guitars and percussion take over and change the mood of the album. Even if you don't like grunge or 90s rock in general, Purple can surprise you with its incredible collection of great melodies and riffs, a truly unique product of the 90s.
00:48:04
Speaker
Bro, the best thing for me personally and selfishly was bringing the monologue onto the episodes because I get to, you know me, I get to put all my thoughts into one paragraph. The best thing for the show was getting you doing monologues as well because you articulated that amazingly, bro. And that was so perfect. Yeah, amazing, man. Beautifully so. It's just trying to convince people to listen to the stuff that we listen to, isn't it? Yeah, that's it. And we listen to so much. We're not even making any money out of you listening to those albums, right?
00:48:32
Speaker
we We don't have some writing credits. of that yeah but what You're right, we try to sell it to people. Go and give them some money. yeah They deserve my money. They should deserve yours. Yeah, really cool stuff. Cool. Yeah, excellent stuff. Well, thank you for joining us again for another Long Live Rock and Roll podcast episode. Next week, we're going to do a really fun episode. and I'm not going to spoil it now. You'll have to see it on the day, but then we're going to take a little break for Christmas.
00:48:58
Speaker
He doesn't even know, well you do but you forget things so I'll tell you once we've finished recording. So yeah, last episode next week before we take a little break for Christmas and we should be back around mid-January so that we can take a little break and enjoy some time with our family over the holidays. um But yeah, thank you for joining us and we'll see you next time. Yeah, thanks for being with us. Once again, thanks for all the support. Thanks for listening to us. Hope you enjoyed the episode. Keep on rocking everyone and don't do anything I wouldn't do.
00:49:26
Speaker
And as you guys take care and long live rock and roll.