STP for me They played straight up rock music. I don't get the grunge stigma. It's as if they got a bad rep based on the time they came into popularity.
STP and especially Weiland got a lot of **** when they became popular. Critics were very harsh on Weiland claiming he wasn't authentic. Eddie Vedder is a massive, pretentious jackoff. Nah, I love STP but Pearl Jam is a vastly more important band and made a larger cultural impact. By the time Weiland died, he was playing in dive bars and clubs. Ten is a great album, and so is Core. STP was definitely more fun, and Weiland with the bullhorn was awesome. I saw them close to a dozen times. Other than always being late, Weiland was incredibly charismatic and fun. He was bat **** crazy. However, Pearl Jam was a lot more substantive and emotional and really stuck with people. Weiland was a better front man... but Vedder was a vastly better lyricist. Vedder also was largely preferred by women. I say STP was a huge part of my teenage years. I did a lot of drugs either while listening to STP or at their concerts. I had an incredible amount of fun with my friends while listening to them. I think of all the sex and drugs, and just doing nothing while sitting in a car or my room or girlfriends or friends room or at Denny's or IHOP..... I love me some STP, and Weiland was a bad ass..... but Pearl Jam, while not my favorite, were still better 30 years later and the gap has only grown.
Others probably disagree, but to my ears there are songs on Core that sound 100% like Pearl Jam songs. And since it came out almost exactly one year after Pearl Jam, it seems pretty obvious to me why they got some grief initially. I remember that whole narrative fading away once STP showed a much wider range of styles on subsequent albums. Although, I guess it never completely went away.
Me in October. This will probably be my 4th time seeing Pavement proper. Six or seven if you count SM & the Jicks.
Patton is infinitely more talented than Kiedis...... Patton is a better guy too.... Kiedis is an *******, porking teenagers until his 50's. Patton isn't more famous because he doesn't want to be more famous. I ran into him in Chicago at The Exit, a BDSM/Biker bar.... he was very good looking and really down to earth. He was eating sour patch kids, making various voices and ripping a band named Mother Wolf. He offered to drink my wife's piss for free beers.
This is my favorite Seattle band of that era. Sucks, as Staley fell deeper off into heroin so did AIC’s music for me. After Dirt I couldn’t hang that much. The two EP’s you posted are brilliant. Staley was my fav vocalist as well. A lot of people will say Chris Cornell had the best voice of the bunch but Staley was if for me. So effortless, so unique.
Gotta give it to PJ who had more hits and more great albums. Core, Purple, and Tiny Music were awesome but 10 and Vs were absolutely iconic and Vitaology, No Code and Yield were great too. Black, Old Lady behind the Counter, Rearview Mirror, Indifference, Yellow Ledbetter, Off he Goes, etc. I still sporadically sing these from time to time…just great, great, songs.