Plush (song)

"Plush" is a song by American rock band Stone Temple Pilots. It is the ninth track and second single from the band's debut studio album, '' Core'' (1992), released on Atlantic Records. The song is one of the most iconic from the grunge and alternative rock movements of the early 1990s, and is currently the band's second most popular song on Spotify, with over 350 million streams.

The single of "Plush" was released on August 23, 1993 and "changed everything" for the band, according to Robert DeLeo, who wrote the song with Scott Weiland and Eric Kretz. It became the first alternative song to top the US ''Billboard'' Album Rock Tracks, that listing's number-one song of 1993, and charted in Canada, Europe and Oceania. Two music videos were directed by Josh Taft. The first was released in 1993 to heavy rotation on MTV, earning the band a MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist award. The second is found on the '' Thank You'' bonus DVD.

On release, "Plush" saw mixed-to-negative reviews from critics, many finding the song derivative of other grunge and alternative bands, particularly Pearl Jam. While winning in the category of " Best Hard Rock Performance" at the 1994 Grammy Awards, it took until the 21st century for most reviews to come around to the song. "Plush" is now regarded as one of the best and most influential songs of the 1990s, and along with its band, is an icon of the decade's pop culture.

Composition and lyrics

"Plush" is a slow and steady grunge, alternative rock and hard rock song, that combines a country riff and ragtime chords from Robert DeLeo's guitar exercises. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Universal Music Publishing Group, the song is written in the key of G major, and is set in time signature of common time with a tempo of 116 beats per minute. Weiland's vocal range spans two octaves, from E₄ to G₅.

Written in a hot tub at the Oakwood Apartments, "Plush" is loosely based on a newspaper article lead singer Scott Weiland had read. In the early 90s, a girl had been found dead after being kidnapped in the band’s hometown of San Diego. Weiland added, during an episode of VH1 Storytellers, that:

"A girl was kidnapped and then later found tragically murdered back in the early part of the Nineties. So it gave me fuel to write the words to this song. However, this song is not about that, really; it's sort of a metaphor for a lost, obsessive relationship."

A third meaning of the song, Weiland and drummer Eric Kretz thinking about the future of themselves and their significant others, was mentioned by Dean DeLeo during a 2017 interview with ''MusicRadar'' for the 25th anniversary of ''Core''. The name "Plush", considered for an album title by the band, was chosen by Weiland, who was trying to get textures in with words and his thoughts, according to Kretz, also interviewed for the album's 25th anniversary.

Release

Stone Temple Pilots knew that "Plush" was probably going to get attention, as did Atlantic Records, who suggested the song be the album's lead single. While the band respected the label for giving them full creative control, they also understood their main goal was to turn a profit. As a result, the band instead released the song as ''Core'''s second single, not wanting to be a one-hit wonder. For the same reason, the song was buried at track nine on the album, with Robert DeLeo adding:

"We did that intentionally. We didn’t want to be that band that had a huge hit and then it was like, 'What next?' We wanted to have a career. We didn’t want to be the kind of band that came out with a big song and then went away."

"Plush" was shortened from the five minutes and 13 second album version to four minutes and 19 seconds, and released as a single on August 23, 1993. The song was an instant success, becoming a major rock radio hit in the United States, peaking at No. 1 on the Album Rock Tracks chart, and No. 9 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. On the former listing, it was the most successful song of 1993. While not cracking the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, the song charted in Oceania, Canada and Europe, with a highest position of No. 5 on the Icelandic charts.

B-sides

"Sin"

The single was backed by ''Core'' album track "Sin". The song is six minutes and five seconds long, with lyrics by Scott Weiland and music by Robert DeLeo. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by EMI Music Publishing, the song is written in the key of E minor, with a slow tempo of 82 beats per minute. Weiland's vocal range spans two octaves, from D₄ to G₅.

"Sin" is one of the band's oldest, as the demo version on the 25th anniversary remaster of ''Core'' is dated between 1987 and 1990. The song's guitaring takes inspiration from the Canadian rock band Rush, who Robert DeLeo idolized. He also discovered the song's opening chord, which he showed to his brother, Dean, who expressed, "it was really a very simple chord, but I had really never stumbled onto it."

Eric Kretz recalled the band playing an early version of "Sin" as the opening song at a rundown club in Hollywood, California. While attendance was low, with between 20 and 30 people, one of the attendees was Tom Carolan, an executive for Atlantic Records. The song was, at most, a day old by that point and Weiland had not yet written lyrics, so they played the intro for around 40 seconds "like it was the last day on Earth". This was enough for Caorlan, and the band themselves, to love the performance.

International singles

A 12-inch single of "Plush" was released as a double A-side in the United Kingdom, while the B-sides are a "Swing Type Version" of previous single, " Sex Type Thing", and an "Acoustic Type Version" of the titular song, both of which are included as bonus tracks on the 25th anniversary remaster of ''Core''. On the other hand, the CD single, released in the United Kingdom and Australia, has three B-sides: "Sin" and two versions of "Sex Type Thing". The first is the "Swing Type Version", while the second is a live version from 1993, recorded on the British television series ''The Word''.

Music video

The award-winning music video, directed by Josh Taft, was released in 1993 and had heavy rotation on MTV. It combines a visual interpretation of the song's lyrics with footage of Weiland singing with the band as a lounge act in an empty bar. There are two different versions of this video, with minor differences. On the '' Thank You'' bonus DVD, the last shot of the video features a woman looking at a mirror image of herself viewing her whole body while the mirror image drifts away. In another version, she is looking at a mirror image of her face, with water (possibly rain) dripping down the reflection of the mirror.

Critical reception

Contemporary reviews

"Plush" received mixed-to-negative reviews on release, with critics noting a lack of originality. ''Rolling Stone'''s Daina Darzin called the song "embarrassingly Pearl Jam-like." ''The Atlantic'' reader GillianAndersonCooper commented that "Weiland was doing an Eddie Vedder impression." Another commenter agreed with him, adding, "being a Seattle native, I was not a fan when STP first broke. I considered them to be just another Seattle Sound wannabe band."

AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine had mixed thoughts on most tracks from ''Core'', but defended "Plush" as a "majestic album rock revival more melodic and stylish than anything grunge produced outside of Nirvana itself."

Retrospective reviews

Retrospective reviews have been generally positive The song was ranked at #19 on ''Paste'''s list of "The 50 Best Grunge Songs", and declared "one of the movement’s most significant contributions," by Michael Danaher. ''Top 40 Weekly'' placed the song at #42 on their "50 Best Hard Rock Songs of All Time" list, applauding Scott Weiland’s "intense, emotive vocals" and Dean DeLeo's "gritty guitar work." The song was ranked at #5 on ''The Daily Vault's'' list of "Elegant Bachelors: A Stone Temple Pilots Song Countdown", and proclaimed a "majestic, confident rocker" by Benjamin Ray, also praising Kretz's "spacious drums."

''AllMusic'''s Chris True described the song as big, lumbering and "wrapped up in metal stylings." He agreed with comparisons to Eddie Vedder, but insisted Stone Temple Pilots weren't the only band copying him.

Legacy

Stone Temple Pilots had a steady rise to mainstream success. Early on, the band played in rooms that held 80 to 120 people, and bars with as little as 10 people, but after recording ''Core,'' they played to a crowd of about 800 people at a club in San Diego called Club 860. This was the moment Robert DeLeo sensed the band was getting big. Their debut single, "Sex Type Thing", was released on March 15, 1993 to heavy rotation on MTV and across radio, but "Plush" was their commercial breakthrough, and according to DeLeo, "changed everything" for the band. Reportedly, arenas they played at went from a third full to full. "People were there to see the band, people wanted to hear 'Plush.' They wanted to see that guy with red hair singing that song." he added. Eric Kretz similarly joked he "never heard of that one."

In 1994, "Plush" won in the category of " Best Hard Rock Performance" at the 1994 Grammy Awards. The music video earned the band a MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist award in 1993. The song was also voted number 12 on the Australian annual music poll Triple J Hottest 100 in 1993. According to Nielsen Music's year-end report for 2019, "Plush" was the fourth most-played song of the decade on mainstream rock radio, with 133,000 spins. The song is the band's second most popular on Spotify, with over 350 million streams, only losing to " Interstate Love Song".

Track listings

UK 7-inch and cassette single
# "Plush" (edit) – 4:19
# "Sin" – 6:05

UK 12-inch single
:A1. "Plush" – 5:14
:A2. "Sin" – 6:05
:B1. " Sex Type Thing" (Swing Type version) – 4:20
:B2. "Plush" (Acoustic Type version) – 4:47

UK and Australian CD single
# "Plush" (edit) – 4:19
# "Sin" – 6:05
# "Sex Type Thing" (Swing Type version) – 4:20
# "Sex Type Thing" (live on The Word) – 3:32

Japanese mini-CD single
# "Plush" (acoustic from MTV '' Headbanger's Ball'': Take 1)
# " Wicked Garden"

Personnel

Credits adapted from ''Core'' linear notes.

Stone Temple Pilots

* Scott Weiland (credited as Weiland) – lead vocals
* Robert DeLeo – bass, backing vocals
* Dean DeLeo – guitars
* Eric Kretz – drums

Additional personnel

* Brendan O'Brien – production and mixing
* Steve Stewart – management
* Nick DiDia – engineer
* Dick Kaneshiro – 2nd engineer
* Tom Baker – mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

Acoustic version

Weiland and Dean DeLeo performed an impromptu acoustic version of "Plush" on the MTV show '' Headbangers Ball'' in 1992. The recording was originally only available on a CD single from the United Kingdom for their single, " Creep", the European CD single for " Sex Type Thing," and on the German promotional single "Plush (unplushed)", but it was not officially released anywhere else until it appeared on the band's 2003 "greatest hits" compilation, '' Thank You'', alongside the original studio recording.

Upon its release as a single on October 14, 2003, this acoustic rendition did not chart on U.S. or international charts, but had moderate airplay when the original version had heavy airplay on radio at the time. A rare first take of the same acoustic version on MTV's Headbangers Ball was also available, but it was only found as a B-side to the rare " Crackerman" single. It has the same length and processing as the original electric version, and also uses the last part of the original electric version.

Critical reception

''The Daily Vault's'' Benjamin Ray, while praising both the electric and acoustic versions of "Plush" as hits, prefers the former, as he feels Eric Kretz's drumming gives it more "power." ''Ghost Cult Magazine's'' Nik Cameron recalled his "heart nearly seized" when seeing the song performed on MTV's ''Headbangers Ball''.

Track listing

German CD promotional single

# "Plush" (Unplushed) – 3:37
#*Malcolm Devenish – mixing
#*Katrina Dickson – photography

U.S. CD promotional single

# "Plush" (Acoustic Version From MTV Headbanger's Ball: Take 2) – 3:50

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Plush (song)
Stone Temple Pilots songs
1992 songs
1993 singles
Atlantic Records singles
Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance
Music videos directed by Josh Taft
Song recordings produced by Brendan O'Brien (record producer)
Songs based on actual events
Songs inspired by deaths
Songs written by Eric Kretz
Songs written by Robert DeLeo
Songs written by Scott Weiland