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Rating: It is not difficult to understand how the Stone Temple Pilots hit the target on their first try: in the height of the grunge era, the Californian quartet offers music that summarizes with modest personality and decent skill the art of the "sum tetrarchy" of Seattle, composed of Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam and Alice In Chains, without neglecting the precursors Jane's Addiction (and it couldn't be otherwise, having inspired grunge in the first place).
"Core", the debut album released in 1992, inevitably sells millions of copies and hoists the Stone Temple Pilots on the winners' wagon. Upon careful analysis, "Core" turns out to be more of a collection of songs that could have been written by any of the groups mentioned above: Dead & Bloated and Piece Of Pie could be from Soundgarden, Wicked Garden from the early Alice In Chains, Plush seems to come from 'Ten' by Pearl Jam, and in the ballad Creep, Nirvana-esque memories surface. But that's not all. They also amuse themselves with mixing various styles, performing, as in multi-factor additions, the maximum possible permutations: Nirvana + Pearl Jam (Sex Type Thing), Pearl Jam + Alice In Chains (Sin), Soundgarden + Alice In Chains (Where The River Goes) and so on. Only the rock'n'roll of Crackerman, just to remind us that the Pilots are from Los Angeles and not Seattle, shows a vague street-metal derivation.
Singer Scott Weiland doesn't have a bad voice, but he tends to imitate his idols quite a bit, recalling (with due differences, of course) Layne Staley, Eddie Vedder, sometimes even Chris Cornell, Kurt Cobain, and even Mark Lanegan: certainly not overflowing with personality (like the rest of the bunch, after all), but at least demonstrating a good vocal versatility. Even the lyrics, all signed by Weiland, give the impression of "déjà vu": the anti-machismo irony of Sex Type Thing recalls the anti-sexist stances made a few years prior by Nirvana (in Mr. Moustache) and Soundgarden (in Big Dumb Sex), the agnostic pessimism of Naked Sunday echoes the desolate iconoclasm of Alice In Chains, Creep even quotes the Beatles ("I'm half the man I used to be", a phrase contained in the chorus, is borrowed from a verse of Yesterday).
What can be said in conclusion? It's been established that Weiland and company are "imitators" to the bone and, however famous they may be, they have added nothing to rock history, unlike other Californian bands born in that period (like Kyuss, for example, or the now famous Tool), which were also opposed to the typical local music trend, street-metal, but much more original and innovative than the band in question. However, it's fair to give some credit to the Stone Temple Pilots: "Core" may not be a masterpiece, but in the end the songs are pleasant, albeit derivative, and all in all, it earns a fair judgment.
For once, it's something we can settle for.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Sex Type Thing (03:38)
I am, I am, I am
I said I wanna get next to you
I said I'm gonna get close to you
You wouldn't want me have to hurt you too, hurt you too
I ain't, I ain't, I ain't
A buyin' into your apathy
I'm gonna learn you my philosophy
You wanna know about atrocity, atrocity
Chorus:
I know you want what's on my mind
I know you like what's on my mind
I know it eats you up inside
I know, you know, you know, you know
I am a man, a man
I'll give you something that you won't forget
I said you shouldn't have worn that dress
I said you shouldn't have worn that dress
Chorus
Here I come, I come, I come
Here I come, I come, I come
I am, I am, I am
I said I wanna get next to you
I said I'm gonna get close to you
You wouldn't want me have to hurt you too, hurt you too
Chorus x2
Here I come, I come, I come
Here I come, I come, I come
Here I come, I come, I come
Here I come, I come, I come
Here I come, I come, I come
Here I come, I come, I come
Here I come, I come, I come
Here I come, I come, I come
Here I come, I come, I come
03 Wicked Garden (04:05)
Can you see like a child?
Can you see what I want?
I wanna run through your wicked garden
Heard that's the place to find you
Cause I'm alive
So alive now
I know the darkness blinds you
Can you see without eyes?
Can you speak without lies?
I wanna drink from your naked fountain
I can drown your sorrows
I'm gonna burn
Burn you to life now
Out of the chains that bind you
Can you see just like a child?
Can you see just what I want?
Can I bring you back to life?
Are you still alive?
Burn, burn, burn
Burn your wicked garden down
Burn, burn, burn
Burn your wicked garden to the ground
Can you feel pain inside?
Can you love?
Can you cry?
I wanna run through your wicked garden
Heard that's the place to find you
But I'm alive
So alive now
I know the darkness blinds you
Can you see just like a child?
Can you see just what I want?
Can I bring you back to life?
Are you still alive?
Burn, burn, burn
Burn your wicked garden down
Burn, burn, burn
Burn your wicked garden to the ground
05 Sin (06:05)
Holywater clouds my thinking
Sinking low now
Keep on drinking
Down you go, suffer long
Down you go, sin make me strong
You control me, soul you stole, mine
Wishful thinking
Six feet under
Down you go now, suffer long
Down you go now, sin make me strong
Dead by dreaming, sleep you steal, mine
Pool of cold sweat
Hatred burns me
Down you go, suffer long
Down you go, sin make me strong
Holywater clouds my thinking
Sinking low now
Keep on drinking
Feel what were my eyes
Sink into the holes in my eyes
My sins have made me blind
Sink into the holes in my eyes
Still shackled to the shadow
Still shackled to the shadow
That followed you...
06 Naked Sunday (03:49)
You're the fuel to the fire
You're the weapons of war
You're the irony of justice
And the father of law
I've been waiting for awhile to meet you
For the chance to shake your hand
To give you thanks for all the suffering you command
And when all is over and we return to dust
Who will be my judge and which one do I trust?
Angst...
You're the champion of sorrow
You're the love and the pain
You're the fighter of evil
Yet you're one and the same
Been waiting while to meet you
For the chance to shake your hand
To give you thanks for all the suffering you command
And when all is over and we return to dust
Who will be my judge and which one do I trust?
Angst...
07 Creep (05:32)
Forward yesterday
Makes me wanna stay
What they said was real
Makes me wanna steal
Livin' under house
Guess I'm livin', I'm a mouse
All's I gots is time
Got no meaning, just a rhyme
Take time with a wounded hand
'Cause it likes to heal
Take time with a wounded hand
'Cause I like to steal
Take time with a wounded hand
'Cause it likes to heal, I like to steal
I'm half the man I used to be
This I feel as the dawn
It fades to gray
Well, I'm half the man I used to be
This I feel as the dawn
It fades to gray
Well, I'm half the man I used to be
This I feel as the dawn
It fades to gray
Well, I'm half the man I used to be
Half the man I used to be
Feelin' uninspired
Think I'll start a fire
Everybody run
Bobby's got a gun
Think you're kinda neat
Then she tells me I'm a creep
Friends don't mean a thing
Guess I'll leave it up to me
Take time with a wounded hand
'Cause it likes to heal
Take time with a wounded hand
Guess I like to steal
Take time with a wounded hand
'Cause it likes to heal, I like to steal
I'm half the man I used to be
This I feel as the dawn
It fades to gray
I'm half the man I used to be
This I feel as the dawn
It fades to gray
I'm half the man I used to be
This I feel as the dawn
It fades to gray
I'm half the man I used to be
Half the man I used to be
Take time with a wounded hand
'Cause it likes to heal
Take time with a wounded hand
Guess I like to steal
Take time with a wounded hand
'Cause it likes to heal, I like to steal
I'm half the man I used to me
This I feel as the dawn
It fades to gray
I'm half the man I used to be
This I feel as the dawn
It fades to gray
I'm half the man I used to be
This I feel as the dawn
It fades to gray
I'm half the man I used to be
Half the man I used to be
Half the man I used to be
Half the man I used to be
08 Piece of Pie (05:25)
I broke the breadline
Nobody knows
I walked the frontline
Still got far to go
I mixed the water
I drank the water
I broke the breadline
Don't wanna know
It's staring me down
Wearing a crown of apathy
I'm standing around
Dressed like a clown
Don't you know my name
You know where to find me
I killed the manchild
I'll fast alone
I had the midwife
Naked and alone
I mixed the water
I drank the water
I killed the brainchild
I'll fast alone
Don't wanna let me be a man
Don't wanna lead me to your home
09 Plush (05:13)
And I feel that time's a wasted go
So where ya going to tomorrow?
And I see that these are lies to come
Would you even care?
And I feel it
And I feel it
Where ya going to tomorrow?
Where ya going with the mask I found?
And I feel, and I feel
When the dogs begin to smell her
Will she smell alone?
And I feel, so much depends on the weather
So is it raining in your bedroom?
And I see, that these are the eyes of disarray
Would you even care?
And I feel it
And she feels it
Where ya going to tomorrow?
Where ya going with that mask I found?
And I feel, and I feel
When the dogs begin to smell her
Will she smell alone?
When the dogs do find her
Got time, time, to wait for tomorrow
To find it, to find it, to find it
When the dogs do find her
Got time, time, to wait for tomorrow
To find it, to find it, to find it
And I feel it
And she feels it
Where ya going to tomorrow?
Where ya going with that mask I found?
And I feel, and I feel
When the dogs begin to smell her
Will she smell alone?
When the dogs do find her
Got time, time, to wait for tomorrow
To find it, to find it, to find it
When the dogs do find her
Got time, time, to wait for tomorrow
To find it, to find it, to find it
Where ya going to tomorrow?
Where ya going with that mask I found?
And I feel, and I feel
When the dogs begin to smell her
Will she smell alone?
When the dogs do find her
Got time, time, to wait for tomorrow
To find it, to find it, to find it
When the dogs do find her
Got time, time, to wait for tomorrow
To find it, to find it, to find it
To find it
To find it
To find it
10 Wet My Bed (01:38)
Hey everybody
Where did mary go?
Where did mary go?
And where's my only cigarette?
Please think for me I can't bare to...
I'll just lie here for a while,
wet myself,
wet my bed,
I readied it all for her,
ya know.
Clean sheets,
insense,
and lot's of fluffy,
pillows,
now soiled.
And where's my cigarette?
Did you check the bathroom?
The bathtub?
She sleeps there sometimes,
water cleanses you know,
washes dirt away,
makes new.
Maybe she
Maybe she
Maybe she sw...
Maybe sh...
Maybe she swam away...
11 Crackerman (03:13)
Kickin' as I'm tryin' to sleep
Got the mud beneath my
shoes
Rubber band, rubberband
Gun in hand, gun in hand
I wanna use
Roamin', roamin', roam
Get away, gotta get away
And I think I think too much
I don't care, yeah but I
don't care
Trippin' as I'm thinkin'
'Bout a boy, his name was
Sue
He's a man, he's a man
Crackerman, crackerman
He's a woman too
And I'm thinkin'
While I'm thinkin'
And I'm thinkin'
While I'm thinkin'
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Other reviews
By marcmat
Controversies aside, Core was a truly fitting work for that 1992: ... a perfect quadrilateral structure: power, high-charting songs, a quiet nod to the '70s, and some Punk rants translated from Californian hardcore.
Freshness, that’s the point, the freshness of a record that couldn’t be like many others because it possessed two little pearls called Plush and Creep.
