Stone Temple Pilots is an alternative rock band that achieved regional success in its native San Diego, California, before finding mainstream appeal with its 1992 debut hit album, Core, that featured the well performing singles "Sex Type Thing," "Plush" and "Wicked Garden." Though the group's riff-heavy sound and lead singer Scott Weiland's deeply resonant voice were criticized as being "grunge imitators," Stone Temple Pilots managed to build a solid fan base during the early 1990s with a consistent touring schedule that saw the group opening up for popular hard rock bands like Rage Against the Machine and Megadeath. In 1996, STP reinvented its sound to a large extent with its album Tiny Music...Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop. The LP saw a stylistic departure from its grunge intensive sound--opting to pursue a more glam rock and psychedelic style. The band would go on to be riddled with strife, due to Weiland's consistent drug addictions, eventually culminating in the group breaking up in 2003. During this period of STP inactivity, Weiland would go on to form the supergroup Velvet Revolver with ex members of Guns n' Roses while the remaining three members of STP--guitarist Dean DeLeo, drummer Eric Kretz and bassist Robert DeLeo--would form a supergroup of their own called Army of Everyone with Richard Patrick, vocalist of the industrial rock band Filter. After both Velvet Revolver and Army of Everyone imploded, the four original members of STP decided to reunite in 2008. Though this reunion with Weiland would produce a few international tours and a 2010 album, Weiland's continued erratic behavior would force the DeLeo brothers and Kretz to replace Weiland with Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington in 2013.
