STONE TEMPLE PILOTS purple
original 1994 pressing Atlantic 82607 clear purple vinyl
cover is vg+ with light wear
 vinyl is exc  looks near new
includes insert

Purple (album)

1. "Big Empty"
   Released: May 1994
2. "Vasoline"
   Released: June 1994
3. "Interstate Love Song"
   Released: September 1994
4. "Unglued"
   Released: 1994 (promo only)
5. "Pretty Penny"
   Released: 1995 (promo only)

Purple is the second studio album released by the American rock band Stone Temple Pilots released in June 1994 on 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 charts, while "Big Empty" also cracked the top ten. Lesser known album cuts "Pretty Penny" and "Unglued" were also released as promotional radio singles.

The album's style sees an expansion of the band's sound. While the band's debut, Core, had a more grunge-oriented sound with churning guitar riffs and aggressive vocals, Purple saw the band shift to a more alternative rock-style, incorporating a number of influences, including psychedelic and southern rock.

In 2006, the album was ranked number 73 on Guitar World magazine's list of the 100 greatest guitar albums of all time.

Contents

• 1 Album info and musical style
• 2 Artwork
• 3 Track listing
  • 3.1 Notes
• 4 Personnel
• 5 Charts
  • 5.1 Album
    • 5.1.1 End of decade charts
  • 5.2 Singles
• 6 References

Album info 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 to playing the ending guitar solo in "Lounge Fly".

While Purple still features strong elements of hard rock and grunge like its predecessor, Core, the album displays the band developing a more unique 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 ragtime 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" a "a perfect encapsulation of mainstream alienation."[6]

Artwork

The album title, "Purple," is written as a Chinese character on the cover, and nowhere else on the packaging (with exception of the UK and European limited edition vinyl release).[7] When asked about the title in an interview, vocalist Scott Weiland replied "It's my favorite color. It's the color of bruises."

On the cover of the cassette version of Purple, the child is holding the Chinese letter 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.[8]

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.[9]

Track listing

All lyrics written by Scott Weiland.

Notes

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_(Johnny_Mathis_album). [10][11]

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

The opening guitar melody on Rage Against The Machine's song "Born of a Broken Man", from the album The Battle of Los Angeles is very similar (although noticeably slower), to the opening guitar/mellotron sounds and melody of the song "Army Ants", which was released 5 years earlier in 1994.

Personnel

• Stone Temple Pilots – design
• Dean DeLeo – electric and acoustic guitars, percussion on track 6, drum ending on track 7
• Robert DeLeo – bass, guitars on tracks 2,3,6,7,11 & percussion on track 6
• Nick DiDia – engineer
• Clay Harper – assistant engineer
• Eric Kretz – percussion, drums
• Paul Leary – ending guitar solo on "Lounge Fly"
• Brendan O'Brien – producer, engineer, mixing, mellotron on "Army Ants"
• Scott Weiland – vocals, percussion on Track 6, guitar on Track 7
• Dale Sizer – illustrations
• Caram Costanzo – assistant engineer
• John Heiden – design