STP over GN'R? Really?

[LIGuns]

"In the early 1990s, STONE TEMPLE PILOTS ? not U2, not NIRVANA, not PEARL JAM ? was the hottest band in the world. STP toppled such mega-bands as AEROSMITH and GUNS N' ROSES on MTV and the Billboard charts. "

If I recall STP were big in 1993/1994...Years when GN'R were dorment..It's not as though they were competing..Still STP never achieved the status as GN'R..STP ever have an arena tour, co-headline Football Stadiums, have 2 albums as 1 n' 2 on Billboard Charts?..

The article also could say they dominated over the Beatles during that time from....

[jarmo]

The way they worded it, it sounds like STP were huge.

You could write the same sentence and put Vanilla Ice in there instead of STP.


Does it mean Vanilla Ice was more popular than GN'R, Nirvana, PJ, U2 etc.? Of course not.


Yeah, it's possible STP was ahead of GN'R in some Billboard chart at one point. But so was some one hit wonders. 




/jarmo

[Bodhi]

Exactly, its all wording.  STP's most successful album was "Core" which was 8X platinum.  Around the same time, the Use Your Illusion albums EACH sold near 8X, and they were not even GNR's most successful album.  STP is my favorite band of those early 90's bands besides Nirvana, but they were never in GNR's stratosphere as far as commercial success.  That was also the press release for Scott Weiland's book that is coming out, so obviously it is going to skew things in a certain way.  Just like he does in the book.

[Fingers]

STP were far from a one hit wonder here in the states, they were not on stadium level like Guns, but even Axl was a fan-they sold 8 million, 6 million, and 2 million for the first three albums they put out-no easy feat.

[jarmo]

You can take any one hit wonder who had a #1 song and say that same thing about.

Doesn't matter. If you're #1, you're "hotter than band X" or "toppled Artist Z on the chart" and so on. At that moment.





/jarmo

[Fingers]

They have put out 4 studio albums between 92 and 99, and the lowest debut they had was #6, and they are compared to Vanilla Ice? Sorry, I don't see it-what they did in the 90's is not bad compared to what Guns did in the 90's-sorry, I look at things objectively.

[Bodhi]

They have put out 4 studio albums between 92 and 99, and the lowest debut they had was #6, and they are compared to Vanilla Ice? Sorry, I don't see it-what they did in the 90's is not bad compared to what Guns did in the 90's-sorry, I look at things objectively.

He wasn't comparing them to Vanilla Ice.  He was saying that depending on how something is worded even someone like Vanilla Ice can be made to look like the greatest/most successful artist in the world.

Heres an example, Vanilla Ice's "To the Exteme" spent 16 weeks at the top of the Billboard chart, became the fastest selling hip hop record of all time selling 11 million copies worldwide. 

If you read that sentence you would think he is on Eminem's level.


Here is another example.  Avenged Sevenfold knock Eminem out of the top spot on the Billboard Chart.

 That looks like A7X is more popular than Eminem.  I didn't mention that Eminem's record was already out for about 2 months at that point.    It is all wording.  The way they word that STP article was that STP was more successful and a bigger band that GNR, Pearl Jam and U2.  That is laughable at best.

[Fingers]

He used the name Vanilla Ice-sorry, that is a terrible example-Vanilla Ice is a joke.

[Bodhi]

He used the name Vanilla Ice-sorry, that is a terrible example-Vanilla Ice is a joke.

no it is a perfect example if you understand how it is being used.

[LunsJail]

Or if Tiger Woods won 4 straight Masters tournaments and someone else came along the 5th year and won. Does that make them better or more successful than Tiger? No

[LongGoneDay]

I never understood the whole toppling GNR thing the media writes about. I've heard that argument with Nirvana alot, this is the first I've heard STP mentioned.
If anyone "toppled" GNR, it was GNR.

I prefer Guns, but STP was great. In my opinion they were probably the best rock band of the 90's, and one of the last real rock bands out there today(though well past their prime).
Aside from Axl, Scott is probably the last great frontmen.

[jarmo]

Nice.

Some of you got the point.




/jarmo

[stvyrayvhn]

The comparison is kind of ridiculous, I don't even know if GNR had a video in rotation on MTV at the time.  I suppose they had Since I Don't Have You but at the time 93-94 it was Nirvana who took over the music scene and Guns dropped a record without any real promotion.  STP was my preferred choice over Nirvana, Pear Jam, Soungarden, Alice In Chains, etc. 

[Mysteron]

"In the early 1990s, STONE TEMPLE PILOTS ? not U2, not NIRVANA, not PEARL JAM ? was the hottest band in the world. STP toppled such mega-bands as AEROSMITH and GUNS N' ROSES on MTV and the Billboard charts. "

This is the dumbest thing I have read for a long time.

Electricity and electrodes could fix the situation. 

[Bodhi]

Limp Bizkit sold more records and was more influential than  Elvis Presley,    in October of 2000.   

[Eazy E]

That looks like A7X is more popular than Eminem.  I didn't mention that Eminem's record was already out for about 2 months at that point.    It is all wording.  The way they word that STP article was that STP was more successful and a bigger band that GNR, Pearl Jam and U2.  That is laughable at best.

You're twisting the words as well.  It says early 90's and compares to a number of extremely popular bands that were active in the early 90's. Not ALL TIME.

So, let's look at years 1990 - 1995.... GNR released three CDs and sold 15 million records in the US, STP released two CDs and sold 14 million records in the US....  GNR had 4 songs reached the Top 40, STP had 3 songs that reached the Top 40, but on the Mainstream Rock charts, STP had 3 #1 hits and GNR had none (in fact, over their career's STP had much more successful hits on this chart - 6 #1s to GNR's zero).  STP won 1 Grammy & GNR won none.  Both bands would have been active for about 3 of the 5 years.

There is no doubt that GNR were more popular than STP over their career and in the early 90's, but the early 90's argument isn't nearly as "laughable" as many of you are suggesting (throw in the momentum of the bands - STP rising up, GN'R becoming bloated and falling apart and it gets even closer).  Especially when looking strictly at the charts and not considering tours - which brings me to another point: Since this reads suspiciously like a Billboard article, it's no suprise that they focus on what happened on the charts at a specific period of time, they do this all the time - So how about a link to the whole article instead of a snippet?

[Trist805]

I love both bands equally.   I wasn't really as aware of either back then, so I wouldn't know.   STP also had a good career in '94-'99 when GNR was not as active, and GNR were big before STP were even around.   I basically refuse to compare them.  Both are great frontmen too.   

[Bodhi]

That looks like A7X is more popular than Eminem.  I didn't mention that Eminem's record was already out for about 2 months at that point.    It is all wording.  The way they word that STP article was that STP was more successful and a bigger band that GNR, Pearl Jam and U2.  That is laughable at best.

You're twisting the words as well.  It says early 90's and compares to a number of extremely popular bands that were active in the early 90's. Not ALL TIME.

So, let's look at years 1990 - 1995.... GNR released three CDs and sold 15 million records in the US, STP released two CDs and sold 14 million records in the US....  GNR had 4 songs reached the Top 40, STP had 3 songs that reached the Top 40, but on the Mainstream Rock charts, STP had 3 #1 hits and GNR had none (in fact, over their career's STP had much more successful hits on this chart - 6 #1s to GNR's zero).  STP won 1 Grammy & GNR won none.  Both bands would have been active for about 3 of the 5 years.

When I saw you quote Grammy wins I almost didn't respond to your post, because nothing is more irrelevant than the Grammy's.  Jethro Tull beat Metallica for a Heavy Metal Grammy, so...

You're being very selective with the years you are choosing.  Guns N Roses never released an album the same year as STP.   In fact both of their albums came out the same day in 1991, before STP released anything.  Why would you stretch it to 1995, 4 years after GNR's last album?  Even in your time frame of 90-95 GNR still outsold STP, and thats not even counting the millions more copies of Lies and Appetite they sold those years.  Bottom line, GNR was the much bigger band, played much bigger venues and sold more records.  Sure STP had more number 1 singles, but so did Creed and Nickelback.  STP is a very generic radio rock band, their radio success does not surprise me.  9 minute epic ballads like November Rain and Estranged usually don't fare well on the radio.  The whole article is misleading, in is inferring that STP was a more successful band than GNR, but it was actually good timing on their part, original GNR was pretty much broken up at that point. 

[Eazy E]

When I saw you quote Grammy wins I almost didn't respond to your post, because nothing is more irrelevant than the Grammy's.  Jethro Tull beat Metallica for a Heavy Metal Grammy, so...

You're being very selective with the years you are choosing.  Guns N Roses never released an album the same year as STP.   In fact both of their albums came out the same day in 1991, before STP released anything.  Why would you stretch it to 1995, 4 years after GNR's last album?  Even in your time frame of 90-95 GNR still outsold STP, and thats not even counting the millions more copies of Lies and Appetite they sold those years.  Bottom line, GNR was the much bigger band, played much bigger venues and sold more records.  Sure STP had more number 1 singles, but so did Creed and Nickelback.  STP is a very generic radio rock band, their radio success does not surprise me.  9 minute epic ballads like November Rain and Estranged usually don't fare well on the radio.  The whole article is misleading, in is inferring that STP was a more successful band than GNR, but it was actually good timing on their part, original GNR was pretty much broken up at that point. 

What do you mean very selective about the years, I took the first half of the 90's... i.e. "early" 90's, where each band was active for about 3 of the 5 years - maybe I'm being generous with "early", but GNR would have a 3 year head start otherwise.  I also stated clearly that GNR are more popular and successful than STP - my point was that during this time period it's not the blowout some of you are making it out to be - particularly when looking at album sales & chart success (and yes, Grammy wins), since this is what the article seems to be focusing on... but it's hard to gather based on one sentence, where's the link to the rest of it?  You said the whole article is misleading, so maybe you can post the link. 

Also, with the trend in music at the time, if GNR released another album in '94 or '95, I think you would be kidding yourself if you thought it would be a huge commercial success like Appetite or Illusions... grunge made GNR & Aerosmith seem very uncool - which I think the article was suggesting - it was a trend in music, and STP was one of the leading bands. 

The way they worded it, it sounds like STP were huge.

STP were huge.  As was Nirvana.  As was Pearl Jam.  As was U2.  As was Vanilla Ice.  These are big names in popular music whether they were one hit wonders or not. 

Just because GNR were bigger, doesn't mean STP weren't "huge".  Eminem has outsold 2Pac, is 2Pac not considered "huge"?

[westcoast_junkie]

C'mon! Comparing STP with Vanilla Ice? That's  just stupid! STP are no one hit wonder.