Core (1992)

Core is the debut studio album by the American rock band Stone Temple Pilots, 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 drumset 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 1970s 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.

"Piece of Pie" originated from a demo called "Only Dying". It was supposed to be the band's contribution to the soundtrack of The Crow but was later pulled in the aftermath of actor Brandon Lee's death. "Big Empty", which was the first single to their second album Purple, was used as its replacement. The lyrics for "Plush" were written in a hot tub and used a real life story about a woman who was kidnapped and later found dead in the early 90s, which acts as a metaphor for a lost relationship. Kretz even mentioned the Day of the Dead festival as an inspiration, as well as the band's uncertainty about their future.