FORWARD YESTERDAY
MAKES ME WANNA STAY
WHAT THEY SAID WAS REAL
MAKES ME WANNA STEAL
Core
is the debut
studio album
by the American
rock band
released by
Atlantic Records on
September 29, 1992.
Produced by
Brendan O'Brien,
Core became a massive
commercial success,
reaching number three
on the Billboard 200
by July 1993
and has since
been certified
8× Platinum
by the Recording Industry
Association of America (RIAA).
The album spawned
three singles:
"Sex Type Thing",
"Plush",
and
"Creep".
"Plush"
reached number one
on the
Billboard
Album Rock Tracks,
with the music video
receiving heavy rotation
on MTV.
Stone Temple Pilots
would go on to win
two awards for
"Plush":
an MTV
Video Music Award
for Best New Artist
and a Grammy for
Best Hard Rock Performance.
The album initially received
poor reviews despite
its commercial success;
the band was criticized
for allegedly copying
the musical style
of other alternative acts,
particularly
Pearl Jam.
Retrospectively,
Core
has been acknowledged as a
seminal release of
the alternative rock
and grunge movement
of the early 1990s.
Core
helped propel
Stone Temple Pilots
into the mainstream
and remains their most
commercially successful record.
A 25th anniversary
deluxe edition
was released in 2017.
Background and Recording
In 1985,
Scott Weiland
and his friends
in their band
Soi-Disant
guitarist
Corey Hicock
and drummer
David Allin
first encountered
Robert DeLeo
playing live
at various gigs,
deciding to
track him down
after witnessing his shows.
Weiland and DeLeo
would both move
into an apartment
in San Diego
where they would begin
to write music together
and formed the band
Swing.
By 1989,
drummer
Eric Kretz
and
DeLeo's
older brother
who was a guitarist,
Dean
would join the band,
which was renamed
Mighty Joe Young.
The band put out a demo
in 1990
and slowly developed
a huge following
in the
alternative rock scene
of Southern California.
In the meantime,
the band members
would take on jobs
to support themselves
with Weiland working
at a modeling agency
and Robert
at a guitar shop.
Robert later said in 2017
that two would write songs
during their spare time saying,
"When either one of us had
a musical idea,
we'd call each other.
He would usually have
more time to run over
and work it out.
It was perfect because,
since I was at a guitar shop,
I could pick up a guitar right there.
Scott didn't really play
an instrument.
When he had an idea,
he would hum it to me."
When the recording sessions ended,
the band named the album
Core,
which refers to the story
of Adam and Eve
in the Bible.
This is further represented
in the album cover
which depicts Eve
stealing an apple
from the Tree of Eden.
Robert DeLeo
would record the album
with a blue
G&L L2000 Jazz Bass
played on an Ampeg SVT
with a Sennheiser 421.
Eric Kretz
would play on a
Yamaha Rock Tour
Custom drum set
while
Dean DeLeo
used a 1978
Les Paul Standard.
By August,
Core
was scheduled to be released
and the album had reached
the mastering stage
when the band's lawyer
received word that
a blues musician
had already claimed the name
Mighty Joe Young.
Weiland,
who was a fan of the
STP Motor Oil stickers
since his youth,
gave the band some ideas.
Dean even suggested the name
Stereo Temple Pirates
which eventually
would change
into the name
Stone Temple Pilots
Music and Lyrics
Stone Temple Pilots
are at their
heaviest and darkest
on Core,
a more straightforward
display of
grunge and alternative metal
than the band's
following albums.
It showcases them
mixing the hard rock approach
of the 1970's
and the
alternative rock sound,
with a diverse range
of other musical influences.
The band found inspiration
in the music of
Pink Floyd,
the Rolling Stones,
the Beatles,
Metallica,
and
Led Zeppelin
according to Weiland.
Tracks such as
"Dead & Bloated",
"Sex Type Thing",
"Piece of Pie",
and
"Crackerman"
explored a heavy edge
combined with
alternative tunings
similar to
Soundgarden
and
Alice In Chains,
while
"Wicked Garden",
"Sin",
"Creep",
and
"Plush"
shared a jazzy
and psychedelic tone
within the
chord progressions.
No comments:
Post a Comment