Stone Temple Pilots (commonly referred to as "STP") is a Grammy Award-winning American rock band consisting of Scott Weiland (lead vocals), brothers Robert (bass guitar, vocals) and Dean DeLeo (guitar), and Eric Kretz (drums, percussion). The band found immediate success with the release of their debut album Core in 1992, which was certified 8× platinum by the RIAA. Despite high sales, the album received negative reviews from critics who thought of the band as "grunge rip-offs". Throughout their career, STP became one of the most popular rock bands of the 1990s, but were plagued with problems stemming from Weiland's drug addiction and run-ins with the law.
In 2003, the band released the greatest hits compilation Thank You. Around this time, band members began going their separate ways. After the band's break-up in 2003, Weiland became the frontman of Velvet Revolver with former members of Guns N' Roses. The DeLeo brothers formed the band Army of Anyone with Richard Patrick of the band Filter. Kretz founded Bomb Shelter Studios in Los Angeles. The band reunited in 2008 after Weiland split from Velvet Revolver, kicking off the tour at the Rock on the Range festival in Columbus, Ohio and wrapped up on October 31, 2008 in Birmingham, Alabama. The band has already crafted new material and will begin recording their sixth studio album in the spring and release it in early 2010.
The band's five studio albums have sold over 17 million copies in the United States alone and nearly 40 million albums worldwide. The band has had fifteen top ten singles on the Billboard rock charts, including six number ones, and one number one album on the pop charts (1994's Purple). In 1993, the band won a Grammy for "Best Hard Rock Performance" for their song "Plush". Stone Temple Pilots were also ranked at number 40 on VH1's The 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock.
