Saturday, February 10, 2018

Song Of The Week: 2/11/18







Song: "Regeneration"

Artist: Stone Temple Pilots

Album: "Shangri-La Dee Da"

Year: 2001

Place Of Origin: San Diego, California

Years Active: 1989 - present



WHAT I THINK THE SONG IS ABOUT:

"Regeneration" is a song that appears to be about media lies. Specifically, STP frontman Scott Weiland is calling out media outlets for basically declaring him dead, or soon to be dead, most likely because of his past drug abuse. At the time STP were writing "Shangri-La Dee Da", Weiland was done serving prison time do to drugs, had sobered up, created a family and was ready to record new music and tour with his bandmates. The irony of the song is that eventually, the media turned out to be right and Weiland died of a mixture of alcohol, pills and cocaine in 2015.

STONE TEMPLE PILOTS DISCOGRAPHY (Full length albums only):

1992 - Core (Atlantic Records)
1994 - Purple (Atlantic Records)
1996 - Tiny Music...Songs From The Vatican Gift Shop (Atlantic Records)
1999 - No. 4 (Atlantic Records)
2001 - Shangri-La Dee Da (Atlantic Records)
2010 - Stone Temple Pilots (Atlantic Records)
2018 - Stone Temple Pilots (Altantic Records) *March release date

CURRENT STATUS OF STONE TEMPLE PILOTS:

Originally called Mighty Joe Young, Stone Temple Pilots formed as a band back in 1989. Featuring vocalist Scott Weiland, bassist Robert DeLeo, guitarist Dean DeLeo and drummer Eric Kretz, the band began trying to be heard in the San Diego music scene. With the Seattle grunge movement on the verge of exploding, Atlantic Records was quick to sign STP. In 1992, they released their debut album "Core". Behind the hit singles "Plush", "Wicked Garden", "Sex Type Thing" and "Creep", this album would go on to achieve 8X Platinum status! The band's next album, 1994's "Purple" was another juggernaut, achieving 6X Platinum status and featuring the singles "Interstate Love Song", "Vasoline" and "Big Empty". You also felt that frontman Scott Weiland was really finding his voice on this album. I always felt "Core" was the band trying their best to be "grunge" when in reality, they were not grunge. In fact, they were more L.A. glam rock than grunge. Their third album, "Tiny Music...Songs From The Vatican Gift Shop", proved this even more. Another platinum selling album featuring songs like "Big Bang Baby", "Lady Picture Show" and "Trippin' On A Hole In A Paper Heart". In 1999, the band dropped an album that brought back some of that heavier edge of "Core" with the release of "No. 4". This would be the band's last platinum album. 2001's "Shangri-La Dee Da" saw a dramatic drop in record sales compared to the band's previous four efforts. There were also heightening tensions in the band, mostly related to the on again off again drug problems of Weiland that always seemed to cause instability within the band. This began a six year hiatus for STP from 2002 till 2008. During those years, Weiland went on to form a supergroup with members of Guns N' Roses called Velvet Revolver and the DeLeo brothers formed a short-lived group with Filter frontman Richard Patrick called Army Of Anyone. In 2008, Velvet Revolver and Army Of Anyone pretty much dissolved and the members of STP decided to give it another shot. After playing some festival shows, the band recorded their sixth studio album, "Stone Temple Pilots" and released it in 2010. The band had big plans for the 10th anniversary of "Core" including reissues, coffee books and a possible DVD, but tensions again started to frustrate the band. In 2013, things came to a head and Scott Weiland was fired from the band. This in turn led to several lawsuits as to who actually owned the name of the band, eventually settling with the DeLeo brothers and Kretz maintaining the moniker. Weiland in turn formed a new band called The Wildabouts and basically did his own 10 year anniversary of "Core" tour to celebrate that album. Meanwhile, Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington joined STP for the recording of a new EP, called "High Rise" and a subsequent tour. On November 9, 2015, Bennington announced he was leaving STP in order to focus on his main project Linkin Park. A little less than a month later, on December 3, 2015, Scott Weiland was found dead on his tour bus while on tour with The Wildabouts. Give it to the remaining three members of STP, these guys are resilient. They've been through a lot in their musical career and they keep moving forward. In 2017, Chester Bennington committed suicide. You would think the DeLeo brothers and Kretz would just throw their hands up and feel like this band was just not meant to sustain but eventually they brought in Jeff Gutt to be their new vocalist, winning the spot after the band received a slew of tryouts. The band, with their new singer, released their first song together called "Meadow" which will be featured on the band's upcoming second self-titled album which will hit stores in March of 2018. Stone Temple Pilots are a rock solid band. They got some slack early on for being grunge rip offs but make no mistake, they are their own band and they are far from rip offs. They weren't as gloomy as their grunge contemporaries. In fact, they were much more glam and progressive. Their influences show in many of their songs. You could hear The Doors, David Bowie, Sex Pistols, Aerosmith, Cheap Trick and Nirvana in their sound. Obviously, Scott Weiland is a huge part of the band's sound and style. While Bennington and now Gutt are good, Weiland was and is the voice of this band. It's going to be tough for the remaining guys to contribute lyrically to this band now that Scott is gone because his lyrics are such a big part of who Stone Temple Pilots are. But i'm willing to give the new guy a shot because musically, the sound is still there. The STP sound is unescapable when these guys get together. Gutt's vocals are eerily similar to that of Scott's. Hopefully, the lyrics can at least come close.

TEN STONE TEMPLE PILOTS SONGS YOU SHOULD CHECK OUT:

1. Interstate Love Song
2. Plush
3. Trippin' On A Hole In A Paper Heart
4. Big Bang Baby
5. Sour Girl
6. Big Empty
7. Down
8. Out Of Time
9. Hollywood Bitch
10. Between The Lines

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