Stone Temple Pilots formed in San Diego, California, in 1989, when bassist Robert DeLeo met singer Scott Weiland, and the pair began writing songs together before recruiting drummer Eric Kretz and, eventually, Robert's older brother Dean DeLeo on guitar. Guitarist Hicock eventually left the band in 1989, and in need of a replacement, Robert suggested his older brother, Dean, who at the time was a successful businessman who had left behind his previous career as a musician but still played guitar as a hobby. The group initially performed under the names Swing and then Mighty Joe Young, playing gigs in the San Diego area and building a fanbase, with their first show supporting Henry Rollins at the Whisky a Go Go in West Hollywood. After signing with Atlantic Records, the band discovered the name Mighty Joe Young already belonged to a blues musician, so they briefly became Shirley Temple's Pussy before settling on Stone Temple Pilots to keep the STP initials. Their early sound fused grunge, hard rock, and post-punk influences that would come to define their signature style.
The band's breakthrough came with their 1992 debut album, Core, produced by Brendan O'Brien, which was fueled by singles like "Plush" and "Creep" that became staples of MTV's Buzz Bin as well as hard-rock and alternative radio. The album climbed to Number Two on the Billboard chart and was eventually certified eight-times platinum, making it the most popular record of STP's career. "Plush" itself became a landmark single, as it became the first alternative song to top the US Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart, that listing's No. 1 song of 1993, and charted in Canada, Europe and Oceania, earning the band the MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist. The band's momentum continued with 1994's Purple, which hit Number One, and 1996's Tiny Music... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop, both of which further cemented their reputation, offering a mix of heavy guitar riffs and introspective lyrics. Fronted by the magnetic and often turbulent Scott Weiland alongside Dean DeLeo, Robert DeLeo, and Eric Kretz, STP became one of the defining acts of 1990s alternative rock, eventually selling more than 18 million albums in the United States and tens of millions worldwide.
Throughout their career, Stone Temple Pilots earned a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance for "Plush" and continued to release charting material, including "Between the Lines" from their 2010 self-titled album, which set the record for largest positional gain on Billboard's Rock Songs chart, jumping from number 40 to 2, later reaching number 1. The band's history was marked by significant turbulence, including a 2003 breakup as Weiland pursued Velvet Revolver and the DeLeo brothers formed Army of Anyone. They reunited in 2008 for a lengthy North American tour that was a success, receiving positive reviews from critics and fans alike as well as high ticket sales, and at one point was ranked at number 1 on Pollstar's "Top 50" list. After Weiland's dismissal from the band in 2013, Linkin Park's Chester Bennington briefly stepped in as lead singer before leaving amicably in November 2015 to focus solely on Linkin Park. Tragedy struck twice in the years that followed, as Weiland was found dead on his tour bus on December 3, 2015, before a performance with his band The Wildabouts, and Bennington passed away in 2017.
Following these losses, the surviving members, Dean DeLeo, Robert DeLeo, and Eric Kretz, pressed on, launching an online audition for a new lead vocalist and announcing Jeff Gutt as the new lead singer of the band on November 14, 2017. With Gutt fronting the group, STP released a new self-titled album in 2018, their first release since the deaths of original vocalist Scott Weiland and second vocalist Chester Bennington, both of whom are remembered in the liner notes. The band has remained active since, continuing to tour behind their deep catalog of 1990s classics while honoring the legacies of both fallen singers. Decades after Core's release, Stone Temple Pilots are still regarded as one of the era's most commercially successful and influential rock acts, their catalog continuing to resonate with new generations of listeners.
It is fitting that a band with such a storied and hard-touring history found its way into this archive. Wayne Dennon photographed Stone Temple Pilots on one occasion, in 2008, likely capturing the band during their celebrated reunion tour that year, a run of shows that reintroduced Weiland and the DeLeo brothers to arenas and festivals across North America. That single night of photography lives on as part of this collection, with 61 images of the band preserved here, and those photos have been viewed by archive visitors 65,603 times, a testament to both Wayne's eye for the moment and the enduring fan devotion that Stone Temple Pilots continue to inspire.
