Core (Stone Temple Pilots album)

Core
Studio album by Stone Temple Pilots
Released	September 29, 1992
Recorded	1991-1992
Genre	Grunge, hard rock
Length	53:37
Label	Atlantic
Producer	Brendan O'Brien
Stone Temple Pilots chronology
Core (1992) Purple (1994)
Singles from Core
"Sex Type Thing" Released: December 1992 "Plush" Released: April 1993 "Wicked Garden" Released: 1993 (promo only) "Creep" Released: 1993

Core is the debut album by the American rock band Stone Temple Pilots, released on September 29, 1992 through Atlantic Records. The album, which peaked at #1 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart and #3 on the Billboard 200,^[1] was certified 8x platinum by the RIAA on December 18, 2001,^[2] making it the band's best-selling album.

Background

Stone Temple Pilots can trace its beginnings to a Black Flag concert in Long Beach, California in 1986, where Scott Weiland met Robert DeLeo. They began discussing their girlfriends, and, after realizing they were dating the same woman, developed a bond. They each subsequently broke it off with the girl, who left town, whereupon Weiland and DeLeo moved into her vacated apartment. Immediately, Weiland and DeLeo formed a band with two of Scott's friends from Edison High School, Corey Hickok (guitar) and David Allin (drums). After Allin's departure, drummer Eric Kretz joined the band. Soon after, Robert DeLeo's brother, Dean DeLeo, decided to play guitar in the band replacing Hicock, completing the quartet. They then named their band Mighty Joe Young. The band recorded a demo tape that was completed around 1990.

Mighty Joe Young's demo contained original versions of the songs "Wicked Garden", "Where the River Goes", and "Naked Sunday", which would all later be re-recorded for Core. The band built up a fanbase in San Diego, and eventually landed a deal with Atlantic Records based on the strength of the demo and their live reputation. During the mixing of the record the band learned from their lawyer that there was a Chicago blues singer by the same name. Forced to change their name, they eventually settled on Stone Temple Pilots, a play off STP.

Release and critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[3]
Entertainment Weekly	B[4]
Robert Christgau	B-[5]
Rolling Stone	(mixed)[6]
Kerrang!	[7]

The album was released on September 29, 1992 on Atlantic, the same day Alice in Chains released Dirt, another important album of the grunge era. Despite high sales, the album received mixed to negative reviews. Critics blasted the band as "rip-offs" of grunge bands such as Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains.^[3] Entertainment Weekly gave the album a B rating, saying "Stone Temple Pilots' hit 'Sex Type Thing' could be Mike Tyson's rape defense transcribed into grunge rock. It's unclear whether STP, which sounds like it has crash-landed Pearl Jam into Alice in Chains, is condemning or identifying with its narrator. With a real point of view, this band could be bigger than an accident." Regarding the album's initial reception, Weiland told Entertainment Weekly in 2008, "It was really painful in the beginning because I just assumed that the critics would understand where we were coming from, that these just weren't dumb rock songs". Don Kaye of Kerrang! also praised the band's "confidence and identity", unusual in debut albums.^[7]

"Plush" won the 1994 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance. Stone Temple Pilots also won the MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist award at the 1993 MTV Music Video Awards. In the midst of the album's success, the band was simultaneously voted Best New Band by Rolling Stone's readers and Worst New Band by the magazine's music critics in January 1994.^[8] Several of the album's songs remain rock radio staples in the United States.^[9]

In October 2011, 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.^[10]

Music and lyrical content

Weiland has said that the main theme of the album is that humanity is confused, with songs like "Sex Type Thing", "Piece of Pie", and "Naked Sunday" dealing with social issues. "Sex Type Thing", according to Weiland, deals with abuse of power, "macho" behavior, and humanity's attitude toward women, treating them as sex objects. "Naked Sunday" is an attack on government and organized religion, with Weiland stating "the song is about organized religion. About people who tell others what to do and what to believe. They switch off people's minds and control the masses. It gives me a feeling of isolation, when I think about it. Organized religion does not view everyone as equals."^[11] "Sin" continues this theme, as the lyrics focus on rage and violence in a relationship.

"Dead & Bloated" is the opening track of the album. Although it was never released as a single, "Dead & Bloated" has received substantial radio airplay and is known as one of STP's heaviest songs. "Dead & Bloated" is frequently performed live by the band and is known by Weiland's use of a bullhorn to sing the intro, occasionally bringing up an audience member to perform it. However, during the recording of the album, Weiland sang the intro through an electric guitar pick-up. STP has been known to play this song live as a part of the set list's encore. In addition, Velvet Revolver and Army of Anyone, both of which consisted of former STP members, have performed "Dead & Bloated" in concert.

"Crackerman" is the eleventh track of the album. Like "Dead & Bloated", it was never released as a single, but still received a fair amount of radio airplay. Both "Dead & Bloated" and "Crackerman" were lambasted as "really bad Alice in Chains parodies" by Allmusic.^[3] "Crackerman" is frequently played in STP concerts and was the band's opening song during their 1993 performance on MTV Unplugged. "Crackerman" also contains a lyrical reference to Shel Silverstein's song "A Boy Named Sue", at the beginning of the second verse: "trippin', as I'm thinkin' 'bout a boy, his name was Sue".

In a 2007 interview with Rolling Stone, Weiland stated that Core and Velvet Revolver's Libertad are the only albums he has written sober.

Track listing

All lyrics written by Scott Weiland, except where noted.

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
1.	"Dead & Bloated"		Weiland, R. DeLeo	5:10
2.	"Sex Type Thing"		D. DeLeo, Kretz	3:38
3.	"Wicked Garden"		R. DeLeo, D. DeLeo	4:05
4.	"No Memory" (instrumental)		D. DeLeo	1:20
5.	"Sin"		R. DeLeo	6:05
6.	"Naked Sunday"		Weiland, R. DeLeo, D. DeLeo, Kretz	3:49
7.	"Creep"	Weiland, R. DeLeo	R. DeLeo	5:33
8.	"Piece of Pie"		R. DeLeo	5:24
9.	"Plush"	Weiland, Kretz	R. DeLeo	5:14
10.	"Wet My Bed"		R. DeLeo	1:36
11.	"Crackerman"		R. DeLeo, Kretz	3:14
12.	"Where the River Goes"		D. DeLeo, Kretz	8:25
Total length:				53:37

Some Korean copies of the album omit "Crackerman" and add an acoustic version of "Plush" at the end.

Personnel

• Scott Weiland (credited only as "Weiland") – vocals
• Dean DeLeo – guitar
• Robert DeLeo – bass
• Eric Kretz – drums

Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1992	Heatseekers	1
1993	The Billboard 200	3
	UK Albums Chart	27
	Canadian RPM Albums Chart	8

End of decade charts

Chart (1990–1999)	Position
U.S. Billboard 200[12]	93

Charting songs

Year	Song	Chart	Position
1993	"Sex Type Thing"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	23
	"Plush"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	1
		Modern Rock Tracks	9
		Top 40 Mainstream	18
		UK Singles Chart	23
	"Wicked Garden"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	11
		Modern Rock Tracks	21
	"Creep"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	2
		Modern Rock Tracks	12

References

1. ^ "Core Billboard Charts". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r54192/charts-awards. Retrieved 9 February 2010. 
2. ^ "Gold and Platinum". http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?resultpage=1&table=SEARCH_RESULTS&artist=Stone%20Temple%20Pilots&startMonth=1&endMonth=1&startYear=1991&endYear=2010&sort=Artist&perPage=25. Retrieved 2010-01-23. 
3. ^ ^{a b c} Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Core Review". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r54192. Retrieved 9 February 2010. 
4. ^ Frost, Deborah (12 March 1993). "Core (1993) Music Review". Entertainment Weekly (#161). http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,305836,00.html. Retrieved 9 February 2010. 
5. ^ Christgau, Robert. "Core (Atlantic, 1993) Review". Robert Christgau.com. http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=stone+temple+pilots. Retrieved 9 February 2010. 
6. ^ Evans, Paul (23 December 1993). "Core Album Review". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/stonetemplepilots/albums/album/107434/review/5944163/core. Retrieved 9 February 2010. 
7. ^ ^{a b} Kaye, Don (14 November 1992). "Stone Temple Pilot 'Core'". Kerrang!. 418. London, UK: EMAP. 
8. ^ Greenblatt, Leah. "Rebuilding the Temple". Entertainment Weekly. May 9, 2008.
9. ^ Peters, Mitchell (2 April 2010). "Stone Temple Pilots: The Billboard Cover Story". Billboard.com. Billboard. http://www.billboard.com/news/stone-temple-pilots-the-billboard-cover-1004080343.story#/news/stone-temple-pilots-the-billboard-cover-1004080343.story?page=2. Retrieved 2011-11-15. 
10. ^ Grassi, Tony. "Photo Gallery: The Top 10 Guitar Albums of 1992". GuitarWorld.com. http://www.guitarworld.com/photo-gallery-top-10-guitar-albums-1992. Retrieved 2011-10-24. 
11. ^ "Stone Temple Pilots". June 1, 1993. http://www.belowempty.com/articles.php?s=story&id=117. Retrieved April 17, 2010. 
12. ^ Geoff Mayfield (December 25, 1999). 1999 The Year in Music Totally '90s: Diary of a Decade - The listing of Top Pop Albums of the '90s & Hot 100 Singles of the '90s. Billboard. http://books.google.co.kr/books?id=9w0EAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PP1&lr&rview=1&pg=RA1-PA4#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved October 15, 2010.