Scott Weiland on Stone Temple Pilots' Discography

Core (1992)
With our first album we definitely knew what we were doing; we had our own studio and produced our own demos – we’d sell ‘em at our shows. But to get going with the process of making an album for a major label was a new thing. Brendan [O’Brien] was a new, up-and-coming producer at the time, so I think we both had much to prove and the songs on the record were very indicative of the live show, we played a lot back then.

Purple (1994)
By the second album we grew exponentially and started exploring different sounds; you might have had a monster riff but it would be recorded through a little Supro Amp. Purple was all about just trying to branch out artistically, like our heroes had.

Tiny Music...Songs From the Vatican Gift Shop (1996)
For Tiny Music we all moved into this mansion where we lived while we recorded what would end up as this really lo-fi record. The songs were much different; it was quite a departure from Purple, even. This was actually the first record that we got some major critical praise for.

No4 (1999)
On No4 we kind of wanted to go back to basics and make a real rock’n’roll record again, although it did have this song called Sour Girl which became a big hit and – independently – was a departure for us. Besides that detour, the main vibe of this record was to get back to basics.

Shangri-La Dee Da (2001)
With Shangri-La Dee Da we wanted to push the envelope completely; I brought in a lot of my own personal influences from my first solo album and we made more of an artistic presentation. Unfortunately, I don’t think the first single – Days of the Week – was chosen correctly. It was very poppy for a typical STP first single; I think that had an effect. It also coincided with Napster’s rise when people started downloading; it didn’t get the same chance, commercially speaking, as our other records.

Stone Temple Pilots (2010)
We had some assistance from Don Was [of Was (Not Was)] on our new album; he played a healthy part and came in at a time where we were in a rut to help us move things along. But really – for the most part – this is the first time we self-produced a record. Lyrically, I wanted to branch out and tell stories as well as explore writing songs where there are so many visual words thrown out that everyone can take away what they want from it for themselves. We thought different names and there were cool ideas, but naming an album usually gives it a theme and really this theme is about the STP – no need for further pretension, let’s just get on with it!

Read our 2010 interview with Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland