Stone Temple Pilots
Core

THE REVIEW

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.