Plush (song)

"Plush"
UK and European single
Single by Stone Temple Pilots
from the album Core
B-side	"Sin"
Released	May 13, 1993
Format	CD cassette 7"
Recorded	1992
Genre	Grunge[1]
Length	5:13 (album version) 4:19 (radio edit)
Label	Atlantic
Writer(s)	Music: Robert DeLeo Lyrics: Scott Weiland Eric Kretz
Producer(s)	Brendan O'Brien
Stone Temple Pilots singles chronology
"Sex Type Thing" (1992) "Plush" (1993) "Creep" (1993)
Core track listing "Piece of Pie" (8) "Plush" (9) "Wet My Bed" (10) Music sample "Plush" Music video "Plush" on YouTube

"Plush" is a song by American rock band Stone Temple Pilots. It is one of the band's biggest hits, and was released as the second single from the 1992 band's debut studio album, Core.

Composition and inspiration

The song's chord structure was inspired by Robert DeLeo's love of ragtime music, and its lyrics were loosely based on a newspaper article Scott Weiland had read about a girl who had been found dead in an area outside of San Diego. Weiland had also said that the song's lyrics are a metaphor for a failed relationship.

Reception

The song was released in 1992 as Core's second single and became a major rock radio hit in the U.S., peaking at #1 on the Album Rock Tracks and #9 on the Modern Rock Tracks. The song was also one of the first alternative rock songs to reach the #1 spot on the Album Rock Tracks chart during height of the alternative rock/grunge scene. "Plush" won in the category of "Best Hard Rock Performance" at the 1994 Grammy Awards. The music video also earned the band an MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist in 1994. "Plush" remains one of the biggest rock hits of the 1990s, and is still commonly heard on radio stations today. The song also was voted #12 on the Australian annual music poll Triple J Hottest 100 in 1993. In 2004, this song was featured in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas soundtrack on Radio X. The song also appeared as a playable song in the music video games Rock Band 3 and Power Gig: Rise of the SixString in addition to the VH1 series Hindsight.

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 a red-haired Weiland singing with the band as a lounge act in an empty bar. There are two different versions of this video, with minor but very noticeable differences. For example, in the version that appears on the Thank You Bonus DVD, the last shot of the video is a woman looking at a mirror image of herself and viewing her whole body while the mirror image drifts away. In another version, she's looking at a mirror image of her face, with water (possibly rain) dripping down the reflection of the mirror.

Acoustic version

Weiland and Stone Temple Pilots guitarist 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", and on the German promotional radio release "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. Like its original version, it also became a big hit to rock and alternative radio stations in 2003 (despite not charting on any U.S. or international charts) although it 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. This version was notable for being a longer version of the one which appeared on "Thank You". It has the same length and processing as the original electric version, and also uses the last part of the original electric version. Although most radio stations play the original acoustic version, few radio stations also managed to play the rare acoustic version.

Track listing

1. "Plush" [Edit] – 4:19
2. "Sin" – 6:05
3. "Sex Type Thing (Swing Type Version)" – 4:20
4. "Sex Type Thing (Live on the Word)" – 3:32

Charts

Chart (1993)	Peak position
Canadian RPM Singles Chart	21
UK Singles Chart	23
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Airplay[2]	39
U.S. Billboard Album Rock Tracks[3]	1
U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks[4]	9
U.S. Billboard Mainstream Top 40[5]	18

Chart (2015)	Peak position
US Hot Rock Songs (Billboard)[6]	7

Covers

• MLB pitcher Bronson Arroyo covered the song on his debut album Covering the Bases.
• Retired MLB player Jeff Conine also covered the song in 2005 on the album Oh Say Can You Sing?.
• Aaron Lewis of Staind has covered an acoustic version of the song.
• Toby Rand and Magni both sang this song on Rock Star: Supernova.
• Folk-punk band Andrew Jackson Jihad performed a version of the song in July 2014 for The A.V. Club's A.V. Undercover series.^[7]
• Keller Williams has covered the song during live performances.*
• Umphrey's McGee has covered the song during live performance.

References

1. Michael Danaher (August 4, 2014). "The 50 Best Grunge Songs". Paste.
2. "Radio Songs – Stone Temple Pilots". Retrieved 2013-03-08.
3. "Mainstream Rock Tracks – Stone Temple Pilots". Retrieved 2013-03-08.
4. "Alternative Songs – Stone Temple Pilots". Retrieved 2013-03-08.
5. "Pop Songs – Stone Temple Pilots". Retrieved 2013-03-08.
6. "Stone Temple Pilots – Chart history" Billboard Hot Rock Songs for Stone Temple Pilots. Retrieved December 19, 2015.
7. Anthony, David (31 July 2014). "Andrew Jackson Jihad covers Stone Temple Pilots". The A.V. Club. Onion, Inc. Retrieved 1 August 2014.

External links

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics