Plush (song)

"Plush" is a grunge,{{cite magazine |author=Michael Danaher |date=August 4, 2014 |title=The 50 Best Grunge Songs |url=http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2014/08/the-50-best-grunge-songs.html?p=3 |magazine=Paste}} hard rock and alternative rock song,{{cite web |title=Single Stories: Stone Temple Pilots, "Plush" |url=https://www.rhino.com/article/single-stories-stone-temple-pilots-plush |access-date=January 31, 2022 |website=Rhino}} combining a country riff and ragtime chords from Robert DeLeo's guitar exercises.{{Cite web |last=Grow |first=Kory |date=2017-09-28 |title=Stone Temple Pilots Break Down 'Core' Track by Track |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/stone-temple-pilots-break-down-core-track-by-track-205714/ |access-date=2025-04-21 |website=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}} Written in a hot tub at the Oakwood Apartments, its lyrics were 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.{{Cite web |last=Kabak |first=Zehra |date=2025-02-18 |title=Stone Temple Pilots’ ‘Plush’: The Real Meaning And Inspiration Behind The Song |url=https://metalheadzone.com/stone-temple-pilots-plush-the-real-meaning-and-inspiration-behind-the-song/ |access-date=2025-04-21 |website=Metalhead Zone |language=en-US}} Weiland adds, during an episode of VH1 Storytellers, that:

"However, this song is not about that, really; it's sort of a metaphor for a lost, obsessive relationship."{{Cite web |last=Shteamer |first=Hank |last2=Spanos |first2=Brittany |last3=Hudak |first3=Joseph |last4=Bienstock |first4=Richard |date=2015-12-04 |title=Scott Weiland: 20 Essential Songs |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/scott-weiland-20-essential-songs-144164/stone-temple-pilots-sex-type-thing-1992-31376/ |access-date=2025-04-20 |website=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}}

The band didn't know "Plush" was going to be a big song, but knew it would get attention, as did Atlantic Records, who suggested it as Core's first single. Not wanting to be a one-hit wonder, it was instead released as the album's second single. The song became a major rock radio hit in the United States, peaking at number one on the Album Rock Tracks chart and number nine on the Modern Rock Tracks chart; on the former listing, it was the most successful song of 1993. "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 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.{{Cite web |url=https://loudwire.com/nirvana-most-played-radio-rock-band-decade/ |title=Nirvana Were the Most-Played Band of the Decade on Rock Radio |last=Trapp |first=Philip |date=January 14, 2020 |access-date=January 23, 2020 |website=Loudwire}}

"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."{{Cite web |last=Darzin |first=Daina |date=1993-09-16 |title=Butthole Surfers, Stone Temple Pilots, Flaming Lips Invade New York |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/butthole-surfers-stone-temple-pilots-flaming-lips-invade-new-york-103560/ |access-date=2025-04-20 |website=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}} The Atlantic reader GillianAndersonCooper commented that "Weiland was doing an Eddie Vedder impression."{{Cite web |last=Bodenner |first=Chris |date=2015-12-06 |title=Track of the Day: 'Plush' |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2015/12/track-of-the-day-plush/625591/ |access-date=2025-04-20 |website=The Atlantic |language=en}} AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine, while critical of other songs on Core, labeled it "a majestic album rock revival more melodic and stylish than anything grunge produced outside of Nirvana itself."{{cite web |last=Erlewine |first=Stephen Thomas |author-link=Stephen Thomas Erlewine |title=Core – Stone Temple Pilots |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/core-mw0000615017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250119093434/https://www.allmusic.com/album/core-mw0000615017 |archive-date=January 19, 2025 |accessdate=February 9, 2010 |website=AllMusic}} In recent years, "Plush", and the band in-general, is seen more positively. It was ranked #19 on Paste's list of "The 50 Best Grunge Songs", who declared the song "one of the movement’s most significant contributions." Top 40 Weekly placed the song #42 on their "50 Best Hard Rock Songs of All Time" list, praising Scott Weiland’s "intense, emotive vocals" and Dean DeLeo's "gritty guitar work."{{Cite web |date=2024-11-25 |title=50 Best Hard Rock Songs of All Time |url=https://top40weekly.com/best-hard-rock-songs-all-time/ |access-date=2025-04-20 |website=Top 40 Weekly |language=en-US}}

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.{{citation needed|date=May 2019}}

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", the European CD single for "Sex Type Thing," 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. While this acoustic rendition did not chart on any U.S. or international charts, it did get 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.

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UK 7-inch and cassette single{{cite AV media notes|title=Plush|others=Stone Temple Pilots|year=1993|type=UK 7-inch single vinyl disc|publisher=Atlantic Records|id=A7349, 7567-87349-7}}{{cite AV media notes|title=Plush|others=Stone Temple Pilots|year=1993|type=UK cassette single sleeve|publisher=Atlantic Records|id=A7349C}}

1. "Plush" (edit) – 4:19
2. "Sin" – 6:05

UK 12-inch single{{cite AV media notes|title=Plush|others=Stone Temple Pilots|year=1993|type=UK 12-inch single sleeve|publisher=Atlantic Records|id=A7349T, 7567-85750-0}}

:A1. "Plush" – 5:14

:A2. "Sin" – 6:05

:B1. "Sex Type Thing" (Swing Type version) – 4:20

:B2. "Plush" (Acoustic Type version) – 4:47

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UK and Australian CD single{{cite AV media notes|title=Plush|others=Stone Temple Pilots|year=1993|type=UK & Australian CD single liner notes|publisher=Atlantic Records|id=A7349CD, 7567-85751-2}}

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

Japanese mini-CD single{{cite AV media notes|title=Plush|others=Stone Temple Pilots|year=1993|type=Japanese mini-CD single liner notes|publisher=Atlantic Records|id=AMDY-5117}}

1. "Plush" (acoustic from MTV Headbanger's Ball: Take 1)
2. "Wicked Garden"

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{{Certification Table Entry|region=New Zealand|type=single|title=Plush|artist=Stone Temple Pilots|award=Platinum|number=2|relyear=1993|certyear=2024|source=radioscope|access-date=April 11, 2025}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|type=single|title=Plush|artist=Stone Temple Pilots|award=Silver|relyear=2004|certyear=2025|id=20929-24-1|access-date=April 11, 2025}}

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Category:Stone Temple Pilots songs

Category:1992 songs

Category:1993 singles

Category:Atlantic Records singles

Category:Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance

Category:Song recordings produced by Brendan O'Brien (record producer)

Category:Songs based on actual events

Category:Songs inspired by deaths

Category:Songs written by Eric Kretz

Category:Songs written by Robert DeLeo

Category:Songs written by Scott Weiland