Stone Temple Pilots

The story of the legendary rock band started in 1986, when Scott Weiland and Robert DeLeo met at the Black Flag show in California. They started talking, and while discussing their girlfriends they found out that they were dating the same girl. They immediately created a plan: Scott and Robert simultaneously broke up with her, and she left the city. Later the young men moved into her vacated apartment. Soon they created a band with two Scott’s friends: Corey Hicock and David Allin. When Allin quitted the band, his place was taken by the drummer Eric Kretz. Later Robert’s brother Dean joined the band, substituted Corey. The quartet was completed, and it got the name Mighty Joe Young. By 1990 the band recorded the demo. After that the musicians started to work on their debut album with the producer Brendan O'Brien. During the record they were informed that the name Mighty Joe Young had been already used by some blues man. They changed the name to Shirley Temple's Pussy, but they had to change it because of the label’s request. The musicians liked the initials STP though, and somehow the name Stone Temple Pilots was born.

Stone Temple Pilots’ debut album Core was released in 1992, and pretty soon it peaked at number 3 of the Billboard chart. Due to such songs as Sex Type Thing, Plush and Wicked Garden the band gained the fans, who did not actually pay attention to hostile reviews from critics. In no time Stone Temple Pilots opened for such famous bands as Rage Against the Machine and Megadeth. Curiously enough, the more music experts criticized the band, the more fans the band got. According to Rolling Stone poll, the band was voted Best New Band by Rolling Stone's readers and at the same time it was voted the Worst New Band by the magazine's music critics. In 1994 Stone Temple Pilots won the Favorite Pop/Rock New Artist and Heavy Metal/Hard Rock New Artist at the American Music Awards, and later the band from San-Diego won a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance for their composition Plush.

In the spring of 1994, Stone Temple Pilots started to work on their second studio album, which was recorded within a month. The album was titled Purple, and it turned out to be very strong. Due to such songs as Vasoline and Big Empty, after four months since the release, more than three million copies were sold. In 1995 Scott Weiland was arrested for the possession of heroin, and that fact spoiled the atmosphere in the band. The next year the musicians released their third album Tiny Music... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop (1996). Stone Temple Pilots toured a lot, but Scott’s problems with drugs were again evident. Some shows of the tour were cancelled, and Weiland started the drug rehabilitation program.

In 1999 the band issued their album No. 4, which included such hits as Down, No Way Out and famous Sour Girl. In 2001 Stone Temple Pilots released their fifth album Shangri-La Dee Da. Days of the Week and Hollywood Bitch were among the tracks of that record. During the 2002 tour Scott and Dean nearly had a fight. The atmosphere in the band was very intense, and it meant the end of Stone Temple Pilots. In the period between 2003 and 2008 the musicians were busy with their solo and other projects: Weiland joined the super-band Velvet Revolver, DeLeo brothers formed the group Army of Anyone, and the drummer Eric Kretz worked in his studio and played in the band named Spiralarms.

In 2008 the musicians reunited in order to perform at several festivals. In 2009 they started recording the new album, which was titled Stone Temple Pilots and it was released in 2010. The long-waited album, which had been expected for 9 years, debuted at number 2 of Billboard 200. There is no doubt that Stone Temple Pilots’ sixth album already attracted attention of music lovers all over the world: the legendary band is reunited and ready to rock.