Core (Stone Temple Pilots album)
Core is the debut studio album by the American rock band Stone Temple Pilots, released by Atlantic Records on September 29, 1992.[8]
Core
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 8x Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[9] The album would have four hit singles including "Sex Type Thing", "Wicked Garden", "Creep", and "Plush": "Plush" would reach number one on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks and the music video received heavy rotation on MTV.[10] 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.[11]
The album initially received poor reviews despite its commercial succcess; the band was criticized for allegedly copying the musical style of other alternative acts, particularly Pearl Jam and Nirvana.[12] 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.[13] A 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition was released in 2017.[14]
Background and recording[edit]
Stone Temple Pilots formed in 1986 when lead vocalist Scott Weiland and bassist Robert Deleo met at a Black Flag concert in Long Beach, California. The two were discussing their relationships when it became clear they were dating the same girlfriend. Scott and Robert would both in an apartment in San Diego where they would begin to write music together and formed the band Swing. By 1989, drummer Eric Kretz and Robert's older brother who was a guitarist, Dean would join the band which was renamed Mighty Joe Young.[15] The band put out a demo in 1990 and slowly developed a huge following in the alternative rock scene of Southern California.[16]
In the meantime, the band members would take on jobs to support themselves with Scott 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."[17]
By the beginning of 1992, Mighty Joe Young had earned a reputation in the San Diego and Hollywood club scene. The band caught the attention of A&R executive Tom Carolan who worked at Atlantic Records during their show at the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles on April 1.[15] Mighty Joe Young and producer Brendan O'Brien, who recently mixed Ten by Pearl Jam and Blood Sugar Sex Magik by Red Hot Chili Peppers, entered Rumbo Recorders the next month where they finished recording in a three week period. Dean said of the recording process, "It was an amazing time, man. It was so beautiful. And that was some of my greatest memories of Scott. He was so on his game and he was so healthy. He was electric and vibrant. There was an innocence, yet a determination with all of us.”[18]
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 a Ampeg SVT with a Sennheiser 421.[19] Eric Kretz would play on a Yamaha Rock Tour Custom drumset while Dean DeLeo used a 1978 Les Paul Standard.[20] 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.[21] 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.[22]
Release[edit]
Core was released on September 29, 1992. It would be certified gold on April 20, 1993, and certfied platnium on June 9, 1993: the album has since gone platnium eight times.[29] The album peaked at number 3 on the Billboard 200 on July 3, 1993.[9] Stone Temple Pilots would set out on a tour, opening for Rage Against the Machine and Megadeth. The lead single "Sex Type Thing" would be released in December 1992, preceding the tour and would receive medium rotation on MTV. "Plush" was the band's breakthrough single, reaching number 1 on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks and the music video would see the band win both an MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist in 1993 and a Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance in March 1994.[30]
"Creep" would be the third single and would peak at number 2 on the Billboard Album Rock Charts. The band would also promote Core with an American and European tour. In November 1993, the band appeared on a MTV Unplugged episode which aired in January 1994. The performance was never released as a standalone album and was only available in bootleg form for many years, until it was featured on the deluxe reissue of Core in 2017.[31] Despite never seeing an official release, "Wicked Garden" would reach number 11 on the Billboard charts and continues to receive regular airplay.[32]
Legacy[edit]
In the years since its release, Core has experienced a positive reevaluation. Several publications have considered Core as a standout and one of the seminal albums of the alternative rock scene of the early 1990s such as Ric Albano of Classic Rock Review who stated that, "the very fact that so many of the songs on Core have held up over the past two decades is testament to the quality of this material."[45] Writing for Classic Rock, Emma Johnston wrote, "STP always encouraged their own hype, so this fully-stocked monument to their introduction to the world is a fitting one."[46]
The singles "Sex Type Thing", "Wicked Garden", "Creep", and "Plush" continue to be rock radio staples in the United States. Core was ranked number ten (preceded by Eric Clapton's acoustic live album Unplugged) on Guitar World magazine's top ten list of guitar albums of 1992.[47] Rolling Stone ranked the album at No. 11 on its list of the "50 Greatest Grunge Albums" in 2019[48]
Core helped propel Stone Temple Pilots into the mainstream. A 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of Core which has a remastered version of the album, previously unreleased demos and b-sides, in addition to parts of three live performances from 1993 (Castaic Lake Natural Amphitheater, Reading Festival, and MTV Unplugged) was released on September 29, 2017.[49] Core remains Stone Temple Pilots' best-selling album.[50]
Credits adapted from liner notes[51]
Stone Temple Pilots
Additional personnel