Stone Temple Pilots’ self-titled sixth album was meant to signal a fresh start for the grunge quartet but it ended up bringing down the curtain on the original, Scott Weiland-fronted line-up of the band instead. When Stone Temple Pilots was released in May 2010, 15 years ago this week, the group put on a united front, perhaps hoping they could paper over the cracks and embark on a new era of success following their imperial, mega-selling run in the 90s. But it was not to be. An irreparable chasm had appeared between late, perennially troubled frontman Scott Weiland and his bandmates Dean and Robert DeLeo and Eric Kretz.
Perhaps they should have heeded the early warnings that this was not going to be a smooth ride. The group had originally gone their separate ways in 2002, Weiland forming Velvet Revolver with ex-GN’R members Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum and the DeLeo brothers teaming up with Filter frontman Richard Patrick as heavy rock outfit Army Of Anyone. But after Weiland’s stint in Velvet Revolver was brought to an ominous end in 2008, Stone Temple Pilots had reunited and set out on a triumphant comeback tour. New music seemed like a logical next step but first there was a lawsuit from their old label Atlantic to contend with. If there was new material to release, Atlantic demanded, then it would be coming out through them, something at odds with Weiland’s desire to distance himself from major labels.
