We've finally put enough distance between the early 1990's and the present day to have an understanding of the rise and fall of grunge, which catapulted the oddly-named "alternative" genre awkwardly into the mainstream, leading people to wonder what exactly this kind of music was an alternative to. Most of what we know as "nineties" music in the United States is actually post-grunge, bands that borrowed the sounds and styles of the grunge bands but without the self-destructive angst that killed off most of those bands. Among the "big five" bands, only one, Pearl Jam, is still intact and has never experienced a disruption. Nirvana, of course, died permanently with Kurt Cobain. Soundgarden and the Smashing Pumpkins was broken apart by and rebuilt around (respectively) one band member's force of personality. And then you have the Stone Temple Pilots, a band with an incredibly tortured history.
Although not from Seattle, STP were careful students of what was going on up in Seattle. In fact, their first album, Core, was derided by many as a Pearl Jam knockoff. At the same time, they could also drill in some Nirvana-level angst. Their second album, Purple, was a little more tightly arranged, with plenty of hits, and still kept much of the Eddie Vedder-style singing, sludgy guitars, and big beats so trademark of grunge. All seemed to be going well, but album #3, Tiny Music, would mark the end of the band's stability, both in terms of sound and cohesiveness.
The most striking thing about Tiny Music is how different it is from the previous albums. The Vedder vocals have been totally ditched and mood changed to a more retro-psych sound. Some of the musical elements of the old albums are there, but turned inside-out, upside-down, or what have you. The initial track, "Press Play" is a keyboard driven instrumental that makes the listener wonder if the hidden track "My Second Album" from Purple was actually heralding the new direction of the band. Thankfully, no, as the trio of songs to follow are characteristic of the new heavy retro-psych sound they are trying out. "Lady Picture Show" is the first song to emerge from the muddy sound of the previous tracks, but still sports a hazy feel. "And So I Know" shows off the new slow song style, which dumps the lo-fi approach from before for a slicker samba style. The next couple try to channel Nirvana with weird repeating angry-sound choruses and some lo-fi breaks, yet throwing in some funky fast playing not characteristic of that band. "Adhesive" is a slog of a track, mostly remarkable for having a little bit of trumpet, an instrument that a strangely large number of bands would later sneak into their music as well. Except for the instrumental "Daisy", the last tracks sort of hearken back to the old days of the band, unmistakably grungy, but with Scott Weiland continuing to so sing in his more Beatles-ish voice.
All in all Tiny Music just isn't that great an album. It suffers from a lot of uninspired tracks, and, if I may be permitted to go out on a limb a bit, it was probably due to the drugs. Heroin ravaged the 1990's music scene like no other, and it was finally catching up with STP. On one hand, it's admirable that the band seems to be pivoting away from grunge at a time with the genre was on the skids, but on the other it feels like the decision was made more out of boredom and aimlessness than trying to make any careful study of which way the musical winds were blowing.
As mentioned before, STP never regained its footing following the disasters that would follow Tiny Music, first with Weiland's drug problems spiraling out of control, followed by a creative split that resulted in a Weiland solo album while the rest of the band carried on as Talk Show with a new singer. The sum of these projects nowhere reached the old days of STP, which might have been what brought them back together again. Around decade's end they reunited for two albums and a greatest hits package, but the old problems resurfaced and another split ensued. This time the results were the modestly successful Velvet Revolver (Weiland) and the not-so-hot Army of Anyone (the DeLeo brothers with the guy from Filter). As the anniversary of Core approached, the band reunited yet again, this time yielding one more album before everything imploded and after years of threats Scott Weiland was fired from the band once and for all. Although all of these misadventures make for some powerfully interesting reading, I haven't listened to anything released by the band since Tiny Music, with the exception of "Sour Girl" from the fourth album, which is possibly their last truly memorable song.
No comments:
Post a Comment