‘Stone Temple Pilots: Alive in the Windy City’ Is Majestic Reminder Of Alt Rock Tragedy

Not quite grunge but emerging at the same time, San Diego’s Stone Temple Pilots never had the credibility of their Seattle compatriots but still managed to write some of the era’s best songs. Currently streaming on Peacock, Tubi, and Pluto TV, the concert film Stone Temple Pilots: Alive in the Windy City finds the band displaying the full breadth of their musical powers but also points to the problems that would forever tear them apart. Recorded in Chicago in 2010 during one of their on-again off-again reunions, they would fire lead singer Scott Weiland soon after it was released in 2012; Weiland would eventually die from a drug overdose in 2015.

The early ’90s were polarizing times. The alternative rock explosion saw bands that had previously existed on the margins of the music industry make their way into the mainstream. Not everyone was happy about it. There were the “right” bands to listen to, those that could prove their punk rock bonafides having paid their dues on the independent label and touring circuit, and the “wrong” ones, whom it was assumed were cashing in on the major label’s post-Nirvana feeding frenzy. Despite claims that Weiland and bassist Robert DeLeo first met at a Black Flag show, STP seemed to have suspiciously came out of nowhere with freshly dyed hair and a sound that referenced leaden ‘70s cock rock more than the hip sounds of the underground.

Stone Temple Pilots’ debut album Core was released in September 1992 nearly a year to the day after Nirvana’s landmark Nevermind. Buoyed by four hit singles, it would go on to sell more than 8 million copies, making the band alternative rock stars and critical pariahs. But behind the turgid machismo of songs like “Sex Type Thing” and Weiland’s cringe-inducing yarling lay songwriting smarts and instrumental prowess that put them on par with the competition. They would ascend to greatness on 1994’s Purple and 1996’s Tiny Music… Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop, introducing elements of glam, power pop, and psychedelia.

No one went through as big a metamorphosis as their lead singer and frontman. A former high school jock with a neon red buzzcut at STP’s outset, Weiland would transform into a lithe and metrosexual frontman, slithering about the stage like an escapee from a Bob Fosse dance routine. The heavy handed vocals heard on the band’s debut would give way to a sleazy rasp or earnest croon, depending on the needs of the material. Sadly, a constant in his life was a knack for self-sabotage driven by addiction to drugs and alcohol.    

Alive in the Windy City opens with “Vasoline,” the second single off their second album, a mix of moaning guitars, winding melodies and a groove so insistent it could induce delirium. Weiland sports sunglasses and a pea coat (which must be hot as fuck to wear). He looks like he just walked in off the street, which, for all we know, he did. He later ditches the jacket to reveal a tight t-shirt that says “Oui! Paris,” looking like what my friend, the podcaster Jesse Cannon, would refer to as a “v-neck fuckbois.” 

For all Weiland’s antics on and off the stage, STP would have never succeeded without the rock solid musical foundation of bassist Robert DeLeo, his brother Dean on guitar, and drummer Eric Kretz. The set list draws on their biggest hits with an emphasis on the first two albums. While the band’s virtuosity is evident throughout the show, fatigue seems to set in halfway, as if they’ve played these songs one too many times or no longer enjoy them. They  rally in the fourth quarter, however, with spirited versions of “Dead & Bloated” and “Trippin’ On A Hole In A Paper Heart.”

Watching the concert with the subtitles on is a disturbing glimpse into Weiland’s lyrical obsessions. 20 years before his demise at 48 from an accidental overdose of cocaine and alcohol, he was writing about drugs and death, references to both appearing in myriad songs. Relationships seem relegated to sex and disappointment, usually his partner’s in him. Newer songs, from the band’s then-unreleased sixth album, mix and match all these themes. “You always were my favorite drug / Even when we used to take drugs,” he sings on “Between the Line,” while another new song, “Bagman,” he introduces, “it’s about the man who slips you the bag for your fives, tens, 20s.” 

On February 22, 2022, Mark Lanegan, the brooding and brilliant baritone who sang for the Screaming Trees and Queens of the Stone Age, died at the age of 57. He is but the latest in a staggering list of male singers from the grunge and alternative rock era that have left us too soon. These include Weiland, along with Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain, Layne Staley of Alice in Chains, and Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell, among others. While their music and lifestyles sometimes trod common ground, their greatest communion is the tragedy of their loss.

Benjamin H. Smith is a New York based writer, producer and musician. Follow him on Twitter: @BHSmithNYC.