While Purple would help bridge pop fans to the 'grunge' sound, it provided me with a bridge to the even bleaker world of heavy metal. But I did know that there was a darkness in every one of those songs, to which I could somehow relate. I had no idea what Scott’s words meant when I first heard them. His lyrics for Interstate Love Song even explicitly describe his ongoing attempts to hide a growing heroin addiction throughout the recording of the album (' Leaving on a Southern train / Only yesterday you lied / Promises of what I seemed to be / Only watched the time go by…'). In fact, rather than trying to sound tormented, Scott Weiland would head in the opposite direction with a softer, sweeter tone. Purple killed the possibility of 'true grunge' ever making it into the mainstream again.Īnd yet, though its music is veiled by a pop veneer, Purple’s lyrics are still dripping with legitimate pain in a way that post-grunge bands could only dream of emulating. December of 1994 would bring us Bush (a 'grunge' band from… England?) 1995 would usher in Silverchair (Australian 'grunge', too?) and by ’98, mainstream American radio was flooded with post-grunge acts like Creed and Godsmack.
But with Stone Temple Pilots, and especially after Purple, labels would chase the mere sound of grunge, turning the genre into a parody of itself. Labels had long been capitalising on once-counterculture-misfits like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Alice In Chains – bands whose members had toiled away in underground Seattle clubs for years in the late ’80s before finding mainstream success. Surely, at the time, American rock fans were yearning to fill the void left by Kurt Cobain, and radio stations were all too happy to provide. By September 17, 1994, Interstate Love Song and Vasoline would reach the Number One and Number Two positions on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart, and hold these positions for two weeks straight.
And I will never forget how gutted I felt when I first heard closer Kitchenware & Candybars (which, years later, I’d discover was about a heartbreaking experience with abortion).īut as great as Purple is on its own, its accessibility (for better or for worse) would push grunge – or what the mainstream thought was grunge – even deeper into pop culture than ever before.
I found that the acoustic Pretty Penny served as a beautiful, aching palate cleanser between the hard-rocking yet romantic, Still Remains, and heroin love letter Silvergun Superman. While that first chunky, dirty riff of opener Meat Plow hooked me instantly, heavy hitters like Lounge Fly, Unglued, and Army Ants kept me engaged.
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