Purple (album)

Purple
Studio album by Stone Temple Pilots
Released	June 7, 1994
Recorded	"Big Empty" recorded May 25, 1993 at the Record Plant, "Lounge Fly" recorded July 12, 1993, rest of album recorded in March 1994 at Southern Tracks Recording, Atlanta, GA, "Pretty Penny" recorded at Harptone Studios
Genre	Grunge alternative rock
Length	46:59
Label	Atlantic
Producer	Brendan O'Brien
Stone Temple Pilots chronology
Core (1992) Purple (1994) Tiny Music... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop (1996)
Singles from Purple
"Big Empty" Released: May 22, 1994 "Vasoline" Released: June 1, 1994 "Interstate Love Song" Released: September 9, 1994

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Entertainment Weekly	B- [2]
Robert Christgau	[3]
Rolling Stone	[4]
Sputnikmusic	[5]
Rock Hard (de)	9/10[6]

Purple is the second studio album by the American rock band Stone Temple Pilots, released on June 7, 1994 by Atlantic Records. The album, building off the foundations laid by the band's debut album Core, was a huge success for the band, debuting at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart and remaining there for three weeks, eventually selling over six million copies. It spawned a number of successful singles — "Vasoline" and "Interstate Love Song" both topped the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and hit number 2 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart, while "Big Empty" also cracked the top ten on both charts. Lesser known album cuts "Pretty Penny" and "Unglued" were also released as promotional radio singles.

Background and musical style

The album's first single, "Big Empty", made its debut at STP's MTV Unplugged acoustic performance in 1993. The song would later appear on the soundtrack to The Crow. The Crow soundtrack reached number #1 in 1994 and a couple of weeks later, Purple reached the top of the charts, thus making two for the band in 1994.

The lyric "She said she'd be my woman, she said she'd be my man" from "Lounge Fly" also appears on the Mighty Joe Young Demo, in the song "Spanish Flies". Paul Leary of the Butthole Surfers is credited with playing the ending guitar solo in "Lounge Fly".

While Purple features elements of grunge like its predecessor, Core, the album displays the band developing a sound influenced by other genres, such as the psychedelic rock evident in "Lounge Fly" and "Silvergun Superman", the country vibes of "Interstate Love Song" and blues rock elements of "Big Empty". Allmusic's Stephen Erlewine wrote that "Purple is a quantum leap over [Core], showcasing a band hitting their stride." Erlewine also described "Interstate Love Song" as a "concise epic as alluring as the open highway" and "Big Empty" as "a perfect encapsulation of mainstream alienation."^[7]

Artwork

The cover for the album features an animated photo of a child riding on a Qilin accompanied by a quintet of fairies above the creature and the child, taking place on a cloudy background. The album title is written as a Chinese character, zǐ (紫), on the cover, and nowhere else on the packaging (with exception of the UK and European limited edition vinyl release).^[8]

There is no track list on the back of the case, instead it displays an image of a cake with the phrase "12 Gracious Melodies"

On the cover of the cassette version of Purple, the child is holding the Chinese character in his hand, and it is not in the corner. There are two pressings of the actual disc in Purple CDs. One version has flowers on it and another has dragon scales.^[9]

The vinyl LP release is made from colored vinyl - transparent purple in the US and UK release and a limited edition opaque marbled vinyl in a softer shade of purple available only in the UK and Europe.^[10]

On analogue formats (LP and cassette) of the original release, the album title is shown as simply Stone Temple Pilots on the tape shells and LP labels.

Reception

In 2005, Purple was ranked number 438 in Rock Hard magazine's book of The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time.^[11] In 2006, the album was ranked number 73 on Guitar World magazine's list of the 100 greatest guitar albums of all time. In May 2014, Loudwire placed Purple at number six on its "10 Best Hard Rock Albums of 1994" list.^[12] In July 2014, Guitar World ranked Purple at number 24 in their "Superunknown: 50 Iconic Albums That Defined 1994" list.^[13]

Track listing

All lyrics written by Scott Weiland.

Notes

Purple tour concert ticket from 1994

The opening of track 3, "Lounge Fly", was used as the theme for MTV News's short MTV News Break segments for several years in the mid-1990s.

Track 11, "Kitchenware & Candybars", contains a hidden track named "My Second Album," which is a parody of most hidden tracks being unorthodox songs that a band wouldn't usually make. The lounge song was performed by Richard Peterson, a musician who happens to be a big fan of Johnny Mathis, hence the reference to him in the song as well as the similar cover of Olé.^[14]

The Japanese release of this album contains a bonus track, a live version of "Andy Warhol", as track #12.

Personnel

Stone Temple Pilots

• Stone Temple Pilots – design
• Scott Weiland – lead vocals, percussion (6), guitar (7)
• Dean DeLeo – electric and acoustic guitars, percussion (6), drum ending (7)
• Robert DeLeo – bass, backing vocals, guitar (2, 3, 6, 7, and 11), percussion (6)
• Eric Kretz – drums, percussion (2, 3, 6, and 8)

Additional Personnel

• Brendan O'Brien – producer, recording, mixing, mellotron (10), percussion (1, 4, 7, 10, and 11), guitar (11)
• Nick DiDia – engineer
• Caram Costanzo – assistant engineer
• Clay Harper – mastering
• Paul Leary – ending guitar solo (3)
• John Heiden – design
• Dale Sizer – illustrations

Charts

Weekly album charts

End of decade album charts

Singles charts

Certifications

References