The Stone Temple Pilots (STP) were one of pioneering grunge / alt-rock groups that arose in the early 1990’s and coursed a new path for music. As I mentioned in other posts; in my new found independence of young adulthood, my league of friends and I burrowed our way into this scene with such fervor like there was no turning back. There existed at the time in the CBD of Canberra, Australia, these shabby dives (if you looked hard enough) which only played and supported alt rock music. That’s where we went on the weekends to watch local garage bands emulate this ‘Seattle’ – alternative rock sound forged by groups like STP, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana, Alice in Chains & Live.
Today’s featured song Plush was one of the principal songs of this new movement which we devoured. Plush, sounded, looked, tasted and felt more Grunge than just about any other song we could think of. For me at least, this song sits as one of ‘archetypal’ music exhibits for this newly forged genre. Also this song became the number-one song of 1993 in the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart.
Other followers of this music may have their own ‘exemplars’ which embody their fascination of the scene. Songs from Nirvana, for example might consist of the most cited for a lot of people.
[Verse 1]
And I feel that time’s a wasted go
So where you goin’ till tomorrow?
And I see that these are lies to come
So would you even care?
[Pre-Chorus]
And I feel it
And I feel it
[Chorus]
Where you goin’ for tomorrow?
Where you goin’ with the mask I found?
And I feel, and I feel when the dogs begin to smell her
Will she smell alone?
[Verse 2]
And I feel so much depends on the weather
So is it rainin’ in your bedroom?
And I see that these are the eyes of disarray
So would you even care?
Plush was released as the second single from the band’s 1992 debut studio album, Core, in August 1993 and became their first single to top the US Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart; and as aforementioned it went on to become that listing’s number-one song of 1993. According to the Wikipedia article below: the lyrics were loosely based on a newspaper article by the late Scott Weiland (lead singer) who read about a girl who had been found dead after having been kidnapped in the early 1990s. Weiland had also said that the song’s lyrics are a metaphor for a failed relationship.
Below is the award-winning music video, directed by Josh Taft, which was released in 1993. It had a heavy rotation on MTV. ‘It combines a visual interpretation of the song’s lyrics with footage of Weiland singing with the band as a lounge act in an empty bar‘.
References:
1. Stone Temple Pilots’ ‘Plush’ Tops LyricFind Chart After Scott Weiland’s Death – Wikipedia
2. Plush (song) – Wikipedia
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
Observation Blogger 
He was such a great singer…one of the best in this generation…I first noticed them with a song named “Sour Girl”
The way ‘Plush’ sounds reminds me a lot of Jam’s ‘Even Flow’ which came out in 1991. I prefer that song over ‘Plush’, but even so I cannot falter this and its impact on the music scene. I like their ‘Sour Girl’ which has a tinge of The Smiths and Beach Boys in it. Great guitar work, melody, rhythm and harmony.
I did like them a lot. It took me a while to find them but I did.
I largely ignored grunge at the time, as I did most other then-contemporary ’90s music. Nowadays, I like it much better than I did at the time. To me a key aspect of any genre is melody. I don’t care whether it’s jazz, punk, grunge, metal or whatever other genre you can think of, it’s gotta have a good melody I can wrap my head around. “Plush” definitely meets that test. I also also like the vocals.
I remember how you mentioned your focus was on the 60’s and 70’s throughout this whole procession of Grunge music. Your reflections about ‘melody’ also mirror mine across the genres. As I was telling Max, ‘Plush’ sounds so similar to Pearl Jam’s ‘Even Flow’ which came out 2 years earlier. Definitely check that out if you can:
Great song. That said, once you’ve watched the Adam Sandler spoof, it’s hard to listen to it the same way.
I’m not aware of the spoof. I’ll add the caveat – I try to keep a wide berth to whatever Sandler did since ‘Happy Gilmore’ and perhaps ‘Wedding Singer’.
I hear you. He can be annoying.
I hope you don’t mind me indulging you Christian. Speaking of great Alt music in this scene, I would love to hear your feedback of ‘Lightening Crashes’ by Live in this era which was disowned as far as ‘likes’ on my blog are concerned. I have more to ask below this link:
By the way I have never done this before, but I wanted to ask for your opinion about anything you think I don’t do right in my posts. Anything in my attitude or textual structure in the writing realm (or musical choices) that turns you or people off. I’m all ears, you can be offensive and that’s all good.
I feel so appreciative of your feedback since I admire your blog so much and we have great ‘musical’ collaboration as in what moves us. I’m actually working my way through your latest presentation of music. That can take some time! That’s my problem as a reader principally.
That would be my only gripe of your blog. And may be it’s more about my weakness than anything. Just tell me above all what does it for you, and what you consider the bee’s knees.
Aside from that I would suggest you do what feels right. If it means sending 6 songs then that’s great, but by golly its hard to sift through with all that’s going on. Do what you feel love in doing. That’s the most important thing. On another note and I hope you don’t feel me being too intrusive in asking?
The articles off kilter like the Ben Shapiro and Jordan Peterson ones, how do you find them unpleasing or uninteresting?
Given there’s only so much time I have between writing my own content and reading other blogs, I deliberately focus on music-related topics only. As such, and I hope you aren’t offended by this, I didn’t read these two posts.
Thanks for your transparency. I understand you didn’t read them and I’m not offended at all. Our time is limited and we go towards our passion. There’s a great scene in an Argentine movie which won best foreign movie a few years back called ‘The Secret in Their Eyes’ which I reviewed and where this is spoken..Passion:
Thanks for a great post and music today, Matt.
I’m working my way back into the land of the living.
Oh that’s so kind of you Nancy. I hope you find the transition worth it lol
I enjoyed this..grunge is it’s own thing..
Like Christian, I also pretty much ignored grunge when it appeared on the music scene in the early 90s – along with hip hop and rap, which I found even more disagreeable. But I’ve since come to appreciate all those genres, especially grunge, and “Plush” is one of the best songs of that time period.
Same here, I’ve even come around to a ‘bit’ to hip hop and rap, which I never thought would happen. Although I’m very selective lol.