“Interstate Love Song” by Stone Temple Pilots, Sunday, November 10, 2024
When Stone Temple Pilots debuted in 1992 with their debut album Core some critics wrote that the band was an imitation of the Seattle grunge scene which lacked an authentic sound. Core with its three singles earned the band heavy radio play. The band released their second album Purple in 1994 which was also a radio-hit success, but critics started warming to the band, recognizing that they were not a photocopy of Pearl Jam but a band that flavored their brand of the Seattle sound with elements of psychedelic rock, blues, and country. The first two singles “The Big Empty” and “Vasoline” continued the band’s established grunge sound. The third single, though, “Interstate Love Song,” was a turning point for the critics who thought that the band had nothing new to say.
LEAVING ON A SOUTHERN TRAIN. When Stone Temple Pilots recorded Core, they worked with producer Brendan O’Brien, a producer who had a lot of experience as an engineer and mixer but only had a few producer credits. After Core, O’Brien’s production career exploded with Pearl Jam, Rage Against the Machine, King’s X, and eventually in Nu Metal with Korn and Papa Roach. O’Brien’s production is partly responsible for the grunge sound that was heard on the radio in the early to mid-‘90s and Stone Temple Pilots were a kind of testing ground for that sound with their first two records. “Interstate Love Song” was a massive hit when it was released to radio. The song’s structure with its acoustic intro to power-chord verse and its singable chorus made it the perfect fit for rock radio. The lyrics of the song dealt with lead singer Scott Weiland’s heroin addiction and the strain that addiction caused on his marriage.
FEELIN’ LIKE A HAND IN RUSTED SHAME. Heroin was Kurt Cobain and Tom Petty’s drug of choice in the ‘90s. Stone Temple Pilots’ lead singer Scott Weiland joins the scores of rock stars who rode the horse. Weiland used drugs throughout his career, eventually dying of an overdose. In September 1994, Weiland married Janina Castaneda. While writing the lyrics for Purple and recording the album, Weiland called his future wife. He had promised her that he had given up heroin. “Interstate Love Song” is Weiland writing from Janina’s perspective, imagining his girlfriend’s disappointment when she found out that he lied about backsliding into addiction. It’s a song about being dishonest with loved ones and it’s a bleak look at the demons of addiction. I chose this song today because I’m building a dark theme in November. “Interstate Love Song” is dark, but I also fondly remember the song. It’s the first rock song that I remember. When I was young rock music was never in the house, but my dad always listened to it in the garage. I couldn't tell the difference between Stone Temple Pilots and Pearl Jam growing up. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I knew that Stone Temple Pilots sang “Interstate Love Song.” The other hits from the album “The Big Empty” and “Vasoline” were also familiar to me. But “Interstate Love Song” is particularly nostalgic. The soundtrack of “waiting on Sunday afternoon” in the greyest late autumn or winter day in upstate New York. It’s about “rusted shame” the truck my dad would be working on, bidding six more months until its trip to the junkyard for scrap metal and getting another rustbucket to repeat the cycle. It’s a song about waiting for something more interesting to happen and then finally the lies that I told my parents to cover up my identity.
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