No.4
Septembber 4, 2006
"No. 4" by the Stone Temple Pilots
1999
STP was one of the most popular critically loathed bands of its era. Mocked as grunge imitators, Pearl Jam-wannabes and pathetic trend-hoppers, they never got a break from the music press and other assorted rock 'n' roll intelligentsia. Yet more than a decade down the road, grunge has aged something awful. What at the time sounded fresh and invigorating is starting to sound like an artifact of the era, as predictable in its own way as any of the pop products of the time. Yet pick up any Pilots album and you might be surprised to find something that still sounds modern (minus "Core," which honestly does at times sound like an imitation of a grunge album, though not a bad one at that). Starting with "Purple," the band seriously began to indulge in its melodic side, writing some of the best pop rock of the nineties. "Tiny Music..." improved on the formula and became their best album. Produced a few years later, when most of their contemporaries had broken up and the "Eddie Vedder sound-alike" label had been forgotten, "No. 4" takes the hard hitting power of their early songs and mixes in their psychedelic and pop influences for one of their most solid pieces of work. "Sour Girl" still remains one of the best songs the band ever wrote, while on the closer, "Atlanta," Scott Weiland sounds eerily like a resurrected Jim Morrison. The hard rock tracks rock about as hard as any band of the time, particularly the with the punishing riffs of "Down" and "Heaven & Hot Rods." It's a solid album by a band that deserved a lot more respect than they ever received.
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