"Plush" is a song by American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Stone Temple Pilots Stone Temple Pilots (also known by the initialism STP) is an American rock band from San Diego, California, that originally consisted of Scott Weiland (lead vocals), brothers Dean (guitar) and Robert DeLeo (bass, backing vocals), and Eric Kretz ...

. Regarded as their breakthrough song and remains one of the band's biggest hits, becoming their first single to top the ''Billboard'' Mainstream Rock chart, and was released as the second single from the band's 1992 debut studio album, ''

Core Core or cores may refer to: Science and technology * Core (anatomy), everything except the appendages * Core (manufacturing), used in casting and molding * Core (optical fiber), the signal-carrying portion of an optical fiber * Core, the central ...

'', in 1993.

Composition and inspiration

The song's chord structure was inspired by bassist

Robert DeLeo Robert Emile DeLeo (born February 2, 1966) is an American musician, songwriter and producer, best known as the bassist for rock band Stone Temple Pilots. He is part of Delta Deep and he has also played in Talk Show and Army of Anyone. He is th ...

's love of

ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott ...

music, and its lyrics were loosely based on a newspaper article lead singer

Scott Weiland Scott Richard Weiland (; né Kline, October 27, 1967 – December 3, 2015) was an American singer and songwriter. During a career spanning three decades, Weiland was best known as the lead singer of the rock band Stone Temple Pilots from 1 ...

had read about a girl who had been found dead after having been kidnapped in the early 1990s. Weiland had also said that the song's lyrics are a metaphor for a failed relationship.

Reception

The song was released in 1993 as ''Cores second single and became a major rock radio hit in the United States, peaking at number one on the

Album Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in Ma ...

and number nine on the

Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played ...

. The song was also one of the first alternative rock songs to reach the number-one spot on the

chart during the height of the alternative rock/grunge scene. "Plush" won in the category of "

Best Hard Rock Performance The Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance was an award presented to recording artists at the Grammy Awards until 2011. The academy recognized hard rock music artists for the first time at the 31st Grammy Awards (1989). The category was ori ...

" at the

1994 Grammy Awards The 36th Annual Grammy Awards were held on March 1, 1994. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. Whitney Houston was the Big Winner winning 3 awards including Record of the Year and Album of the Year while opening t ...

. The music video also earned the band an

MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist The MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist has been given out since the first annual MTV Video Music Awards in 1984. Until 2006, the award was named Best New Artist in a Video. In 2007 its name was changed to Best New Artist, as the category un ...

in 1993. "Plush" remains one of the biggest rock hits of the 1990s, and it still receives airplay on radio stations. The song also was voted number 12 on the

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

annual music poll

Triple J Hottest 100 The Triple J Hottest 100 is an annual music listener poll hosted by the publicly-funded, national Australian youth radio station, Triple J. Members of the public are invited to vote for their favourite Australian and alternative music of the ...

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

. The song appeared as a playable song in the music video games ''

Rock Band 3 ''Rock Band 3'' is a 2010 music video game developed by Harmonix. The game was initially published and distributed by MTV Games and Electronic Arts, respectively, in late October 2010. Mad Catz took over both roles and re-released the title on N ...

'' and '' Power Gig: Rise of the SixString'' in addition to the VH1 series ''

Hindsight Hindsight bias, also known as the knew-it-all-along phenomenon or creeping determinism, is the common tendency for people to perceive past events as having been more predictable than they actually were. People often believe that after an event ha ...

''. According to

Nielsen Music Luminate (formerly Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen Music Products, and MRC Data) is a provider of music sales data. Established by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett in 1991, data is collected weekly and made available every Sunday (for albums sales) and eve ...

's year-end report for 2019, "Plush" was the fourth most-played song of the decade on mainstream rock radio with 133,000 spins. All of the songs in the top 10 were from the 1990s.

Music video

The award-winning

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

, directed by

Josh Taft Josh Taft is an American music video director. He has directed music videos for Alice in Chains ("Would?"), Stone Temple Pilots ("Sex Type Thing", "Plush", and " Lady Picture Show"), Nas (" The World Is Yours"), A Tribe Called Quest ("Award T ...

, was released in 1993 and had heavy rotation on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

. 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 "''Thank you''" (often expanded to ''thank you very much'' or ''thanks a lot'', or informally abbreviated to ''thanks'' or alternately as ''many thanks''Geoffrey Leech, ''The Pragmatics of Politeness'' (2014), p. 200.) is a common expression of ...

'' 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.

Acoustic version

Weiland and Stone Temple Pilots guitarist

Dean DeLeo Dean DeLeo (born August 23, 1961) is an American guitarist known for his work with rock band Stone Temple Pilots. DeLeo is also known for his role in the short-lived bands Talk Show and Army of Anyone. He is the older brother of Robert DeLeo, ...

performed an impromptu acoustic version of "Plush" on the

show ''

Headbangers Ball ''Headbangers Ball'' is a music television program that consisted of heavy metal music videos airing on MTV and its global affiliates. The show began on MTV on April 18, 1987, playing heavy metal music videos from both well-known and more obs ...

'' 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, ''

'', 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.

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 "Sex Type Thing" is the debut single of American rock band Stone Temple Pilots, released from their debut studio album, ''Core'', in 1993. "Sex Type Thing" also appears on the greatest hits compilation album ''Thank You''. The song spawned a musi ...

" (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 ''Headbangers Ball'' is a music television program that consisted of heavy metal music videos airing on MTV and its global affiliates. The show began on MTV on April 18, 1987, playing heavy metal music videos from both well-known and more ob ...

'': Take 1) # "

Wicked Garden "Wicked Garden" is a song by the American rock band Stone Temple Pilots that appears on their debut studio album, ''Core''. The song was never released as a commercial single (only as a radio promo) but is still considered to be one of the band's ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Release history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Plush (song) Stone Temple Pilots songs 1993 singles Atlantic Records singles Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance 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