Robert DeLeo Says There Was No Change For Stone Temple Pilots After Nirvana’s Landing In Seattle

During an appearance on Yahoo Entertainment, Stone Temple Pilots bassist Robert DeLeo discussed the band’s discography and talked about Nirvana‘s landing in Seattle which made no impact on the band.

The accomplished rock band Stone Temple Pilots, once called Mighty Joe Young, was formed in 1989. They released their debut album ‘Core’ in 1992 which became a huge commercial success and made the band one of the most successful bands of the ’90s. Having sold over 40 million records worldwide, Stone Temple Pilots released four studio albums before their disbandment in 2003 which were ‘Purple,’ ‘Tiny Music… Songs From The Vatican Gift Shop,’ ‘No. 4,’ and ‘Shangri-La Dee Da.’

Reconvening in 2018 for a reunion tour, the band released a self-titled album in 2010 and toured until Chester Bennington left the band. They released ‘High Rise’ in 2013 with the contribution of Bennington, and released their eighth and latest album titled ‘Perdida’ on February 7, 2020. Considered as part of the grunge movement at the time it was formed just like Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots were influenced by psychedelic rock, bossa nova, and classic rock.

Speaking to Yahoo Entertainment, the band’s bassist Robert DeLeo talked about the band’s purpose while making music back in the days it was formed. He said that they didn’t make records for the critics, they were just trying to do their best while making music. DeLeo then said with the landing of Nirvana in Seattle, there was ‘no way around.’

Adding they were just excited about making a new record, DeLeo said that they didn’t know what will happen as they couldn’t know if it will be appreciated or not. He went on to say that although the critics were constantly bashing them back in those days, now offer an apology.

Robert DeLeo told Yahoo Entertainment that:

“I don’t think we ever made records for critics; that wasn’t our whole point of doing what we were doing. We were trying to make the best music we could, make the best songs we could make. I think with the landing of Nirvana, there was no way around the whole Seattle thing.

We were just excited about making a record. We didn’t really know what was going to happen. It’s pretty much out of your hands after you do that. You don’t know who’s going to buy it, who’s going to like it, who’s not going to like it.”

He then continued, talking about the critics:

“Talking to some of those critics these days, they’re like, ‘Um, sorry! Sorry!’

It is known that Stone Temple Pilots were one of the most unfortunate bands back in the 1990s as they were always overshadowed by the four big bands in Seattle: Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, and Soundgarden. Although STP could be lumped together with these bands, they were instead put on the other side of the scale, ready to be compared and were eventually labeled by the critics. So, it is safe to say that music critics often toyed with them after grunge became mainstream in the music industry.