The song 'Too Cool Queenie' by Stone Temple Pilots and the song 'Wined and Dined' by Syd Barrett share the same exact opening riff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1irQnRWOvk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsC-cVSJSzE
Both are pretty obscure songs. The STP song comes from their fifth album, which was widely considered garbage. It came out when I was listening to some weird psychedelic stuff, such as Syd Barrett - the former lead singer of Pink Floyd. HIS music is largely considered garbage by me, but he has about four or five tunes that are legit songs with beginnings, middles, and ends (and they aren't 15 minute wandering nightmares).
Anyway, upon first hearing the STP album, I immediately recognized the opening chord progression from this song. They only borrowed the intro sequence, but I feel like this is 99% the same exact notes with added distortion. I don't think the estate of Syd Barrett cares enough to sue, plus I don't think STP could afford any payout they might be due. Shortly after this album was released the band broke up officially. Scott Weiland, the lead singer, joined a new band called Velvet Revolver. It will remain one of many touchstones for a moment in time right before smartphones and Facebook destroyed society. Their music was, like many rock bands in 2005, completely stuck in the past.
Today, traditional Rock music has subtly replaced Country as the good-ole-boy redneck ass white trash music in America. STP is a great example of the slow slide Rock took. This is a slide that probably began with the rage against Disco in the late ‘70s. Having to share radio air with modern dance club music sung by women and written by minorities was too much for the balding ponytail-wearing Rock DJ. Rock music began policing its borders. ‘I Love Rock n Roll’ could easily be expanded to say “I Hate all other music”. Obviously not everyone needs to be diverse in their tastes, but we have to understand that the existence of non-Rock does not detract from Rock. Unfortunately, in the days when Radio was the real kingmaker, sharing the airwaves did literally mean less money for everyone who specialized in Rock.
So lines were drawn and some peace was made. The whole system got upended when CDs forced everyone to modernize, which meant the pieces fell into a more egalitarian arrangement. New Wave and Punk and others forced Rock into a corner where it had to fortify itself. This is where we get the rise of Metal, which I would argue has almost completely separated its ethos from Rock. Metal was born in Rock, but was so niche that its audience developed its own value system and now exists as its own thing. Mainstream Rock developed Hair and Glam and essentially expanded on the extreme set by KISS. While enjoyable, this phase of Rock seems to exemplify all the negative lessons we are trying to correct for today - misogyny, gluttony, & greed, etc. All the role models simply wished they could have been Led Zeppelin. Sadly the 70s could only happen once, then no one could ever claim ignorance again. The Rock Star lifestyle is complete fantasy and unsustainable and yet it is the ideal an entire segment of the white boy population aspires towards.
Rock was not so much about the music anymore. The boundaries Rock set for itself with the intent to remain strong and distinct led the genre to become stale and repetitive. The Grunge movement threw a wrench in the whole system by re-imagining the genre and eschewing all stylistic trappings. Grunge wore clothes from the Salvation Army, and this was enough to make Guns n Roses seem ridiculous. MTV, the new cultural taste-maker, seized the opportunity and pushed Grunge to the forefront, which did breathe new life into Rock. This could not last as there was not quite enough lifestyle products to push. Even the Seattle sound bands were smart enough to develop their own scene and fanbase and become unique. Grunge as a sound alone was not profound. Bands like Creed and Bush could play a good Grunge song, but the sound was boring by ‘96.
Stone Temple Pilots was one of those Grunge-ish bands that never evolved into the 21st century. Truly they might have become something interesting in the early 2000s, but the iconic singer’s heroin habit was never truly kicked. Scott Weiland was in and out of rehab several times in the ‘90s. Its possible he relapsed every time they had a new album and went on tour. Despite this detriment, the band was very good. It has had mostly the same members since they began the LA in the 90s. The brothers Dean and Robert DeLeo wrote virtually all the music while playing bass and guitar respectively. Scott Weiland is credited as co-writer on several tracks, but it seems to have always been driven by the musical stylings of the brothers DeLeo.
Initially they were considered a low-rent Pearl Jam, but their second album was distinctly harsher and more exciting, where PJ was becoming more subdued and acoustic. Their third album was released in ‘96, and it took another turn towards the bizzare. While Creed and Bush and others were trying to recreate Nirvana, STP, Smashing Pumpkins, and the burgeoning Radiohead were trying to go somewhere new. While still primarily guitar driven, this album features a lot of modern computer weirdness and 1960s pop, making it memorable and somewhat timeless to my ears. In 1996, the vague idea of the ‘60s was in fashion. The band Phish was evolving past the college campus and becoming mainstream. Dave Matthews Band was topping charts. STP was actually threading the needle fairly well.
Album number 4 was their last good one. It came out in 1999, and again seems to exemplify the vibe of the time. It was decidedly more harsh and angry. Vocal distortions and multi-overlays of guitars gives it a very industrial feel. 1999 was also the year of the disaster at Woodstock, fueled by Limp Bizkit, Kid Rock, DMX, and Rage Against the Machine. The transition from Dave Matthews Band to Kid Rock in four years is shocking in retrospect. Obviously both these acts existed at the same time and DMB continued to have success into the 2000s, but the mainstream white-boy audiences had moved towards music with more anger. Was this a desire they had innately or was it MTV that wanted to sell them the desire? Who knows. The point is that STP rode this wave successfully.
The song that I began this essay with is found on their 5th album. It was released in June of 2001, which I remember because I bought it from a CD store that summer. I wasn’t expecting greatness, but it was a bit disappointing to me. It was a commercial failure overall. The relationship between Scott Weiland and the rest of the band was becoming strained. The album was initially conceived of as a double album about the godfather of Grunge Andrew Wood, the late singer for Mother Love Bone. What we got was a D- generic Rock album that was probably the best they could do with a strung out singer. The single off the album is called Days of the Week, and its oddly upbeat and poppy. It almost sounds like the theme to a sitcom like Friends.
Now that I am thinking about them, I have glanced at the Wikipedia STP entry. It seems they have released some new material since the departure of Weiland. I will have to listen to it and decide what I think. Does the world need STP? Why not? There is room and the DeLeo’s are good songwriters.