I’ve always found it ridiculous that Stone Temple Pilots seems to be that band from the early 90s that keeps getting misclassified. The one I see all over the place is that they are a grunge rock band. Every time I read that, I wonder if they have ever actually listened to their music. I find it particularly baffling since they are a straightforward hard rock band–if you must classify them. I get the impression that people overthink their music, and tend to lump them in with grunge because it sounds close enough if you only listen to a couple of songs like Creep, Big Empty, or Plush. Also, I think there tends to be some general confusion about what is and isn’t grunge as opposed to just 90s hard rock. It doesn’t help that the term alternative rock can be slapped on just about anything that wasn’t obviously pop or punk in the 90s. That’s my best guess about this non-issue that I see from time to time.

I was introduced to them via the album Tiny Music…Songs From the Vatican Gift Shop, and the song Big Bang Baby in particular. I later picked up Core and Purple. Today I have all six of their studio albums. Out of all of their songs, I would say Interstate Love Song is right up there at the top along with the hidden lounge singer song at the end of Kitchen Ware & Candy Bars.

There isn’t much to say about the music video itself. The beginning of the music video makes me think of Queen Kelly (1929) for some reason. The video has a character from the silent film portion running around with his nose growing in order to fit with the theme of lying that the song is singing about.

The rest is washed out and has Scott Weiland dressed how I imagine Marc Bolan would look like if he had made it to this decade. I think we can just chalk those things up to that it was the 90s and that was Weiland’s style. I really think it’s that simple.

They got director Kevin Kerslake to do the music video who did most of Nirvana’s videos, but also worked with both Stone Temple Pilots and the spin-off group Velvet Revolver on several occasions. He also worked with other major bands of the era such as Sonic Youth, Soundgarden, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Green Day. He appears to still be working in music videos today since I can find a credit for him shooting Bang Bang for Green Day, but otherwise his credits seem to drop off in the mid-2000s. Like quite a few music video directors, he also has gone on to numerous concert films and music-related documentaries.

Enjoy!