Plush is a quintessential hit of the 90s.
And unlike many big songs from that decade, it has stood the test of time.
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In fact, most of the original criticism, of the song and the band, has faded.
Nowadays, critics rave about the Stone Temple Pilots and their place in musical history.
But many of those same critics treated the band harshly back in the 90s.
Accusations of unoriginality and copying were most common.
Many even doubted the truth of the true story that supposedly inspired Plush.
Keep reading to learn how Plush came about, what the band says it was based on, and what it actually means. There is a lot to unpack here.
Plush Lyrics And Meaning
The album Core from 1992 is the main reason the Stone Temple Pilots are remembered even today. It was a much more successful debut than usual.
It reached the third position on the Billboard 200 and was certified 8 times platinum disc. As expected, it is the best-selling of all the STP albums.
The cornerstone of the album’s success, and the popularity of the band, was the second single Plush, edited and released in 1993.
The song enjoyed great acclaim after its release. It was all over American radio at the time and it came to occupy first place in the “Album Rock Tracks” charts.
It was one of the first songs of the alternative movement to do so. It also hit the ninth position in the “Modern Rock Tracks” chart. In 1994, Plush won the Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance.
The music video was an important component of the success of the song. It is a visual interpretation of the lyrics. The band is playing the song in an empty bar. The red tone of Scott Weiland’s hair is striking.
The video catapulted the song even higher, thanks to its constant rotation on the specialized music channel MTV. It also won them the award for Best New Artist at the 1994 MTV Music Awards ceremony.
Apart from being one of the most representative songs of the nineties, the song has cemented itself in popular culture. It even appeared in the video games Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Rock Band 3.
A huge portion of STP fans, and just people who know who the Stone Temple Pilots are, got to know the band by hearing Plush.
It’s one of those powerful and catchy songs that used a full-on media blast to insert itself into the public conscience. But not many know what the song is actually about. Here are the full lyrics. After that, we will take a closer look at their meaning and how the song came about.
Plush Lyrics
Verse 1
And I feel that time’s a wasted go So where ya goin’ ’til tomorrow? And I see that these are lies to come So would you even care?
Chorus 1
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Where ya goin’ for tomorrow? Where ya goin’ with the mask I found? And I feel, and I feel when the dogs begin to smell her Will she smell alone?
Verse 2
And I feel, so much depends on the weather So is it rainin’ in your bedroom? And I see, that these are the eyes of disarray So would you even care?
Chorus 1
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Where ya goin’ for tomorrow? Where ya goin’ with the mask I found? And I feel, and I feel when the dogs begin to smell her Will she smell alone?
Chorus 2
When the dogs do find her Got time, time, to wait for tomorrow To find it, to find it, to find it When the dogs do find her Got time, time, to wait for tomorrow To find it, to find it, to find it
Chorus 1
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Where ya goin’ for tomorrow? Where ya goin’ with the mask I found? And I feel, and I feel when the dogs begin to smell her Will she smell alone?
Chorus 2
When the dogs do find her Got time, time, to wait for tomorrow To find it, to find it, to find it When the dogs do find her Got time, time, to wait for tomorrow To find it, to find it, to find it
Plush Meaning
The song has somewhat confusing lyrics, which is a big reason not many people know what it is about. Luckily, Weiland himself has revealed the story that inspired the song in a couple of interviews.
It is based on a story in the news that happened in Los Angeles, California, where the band lived.
A young woman had mysteriously disappeared nearby. Sadly, the police found her body shortly after her disappearance.
This event inspired several passages of the song, which you can see in some phrases like “and I feel when the dogs begin to smell her.”
Weiland and drummer Eric Kretz wrote the song together in a hot tub, shortly after hearing about the case. But the inspiration for the song has generated some controversy, due to the similarity to other hits of the time.
Imitation band?
The imitation is merely speculative, but there is no denying some similarities to the songs Polly by Nirvana and Jeremy by Pearl Jam.
Both were also based on real tragic events, like kidnapping or murder. Apparently, it was important to have a story to tell. And if it was tragic, much better. An explosive mix of good music and a raw story behind it, makes it pure gold.
And both of those other songs were big hits, too. Furthermore, Weiland’s vocal style was often called a knock-off of Eddie Vedder’s, the lead singer of Pearl Jam.
In fact, critics of the Stone Temple Pilots (and there were many of those back in the 90s) have always argued that the bands was nothing more than a patchwork of things taken from other big bands of the time.
In other words, STP took parts of the most popular movements of that time and combined them all together, with the sole intention of capitalizing on others’ successes.
Whether you feel there is something to this, it is important to note that many of the original critics of the band have since changed their tune.
Perhaps it was the fact that STP lasted so long and evolved their sound considerably, or it was simply the tragedy of Weiland’s overdose death. Either way, the band enjoys a much better reputation among critics today than it did back in the 1990s.
The News Story Behind Plush
As for how Plush came about, one thing is certain. A young woman’s disaster could be called the “fuel” that set the composition in motion.
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Weiland himself explained on an appearance on the MTV Storytellers program in 2000, that the song was inspired by real events that they had seen on the news, but that the central theme was actually a conflictive and unhealthy relationship, along with the loss of the loving couple.
“The lyrics are inspired by a true story. A girl was kidnapped and then tragically found murdered in the early ’90s. That gave me the fuel for the lyrics,” controversial and colorful Scott Weiland revealed on the VH1 Storytellers broadcast.
“However, the song itself is not about that, it is a kind of metaphor for a loss, an obsessive relationship,” clarified the singer. At a May 2008 show in Ohio, he also specified to the audience that he and drummer Eric Kretz wrote the lyrics in a hot tub, after hearing the disastrous news story, as stated before.
As a metaphor for loss, the song speaks of infidelity, a conflictive and unhealthy relationship. It is a relationship in which the partners do not distance themselves as they probably should, but continue to live a lie.
And that results in the loss of the partner. Of course, many marriages go through this situation, when infidelity is discovered. So the song is somewhat universal in that way.
But it was originally inspired by a murder. Or was it?
Fake News?
Everything seems to indicate that said murder took place in the San Diego area. But who was the killer and who was killed?
It was never revealed. In the end, all we know is that a woman was supposedly killed. The lack of actual facts led many to speculate that the band had simply invented the story to take jump onto, and take advantage of, the growing wave that Pearl Jam and Nirvana commanded.
Others say that it was the product of the effects of heavy drug use. Or simply an invention with no further motive behind it.
Did this story happen? It is difficult to know now.
There is all kinds of news on television daily and it doesn’t sound crazy that this murder actually happened. But why can no one pin down which murder it was?
In the end, does all of this discussion even make sense anymore? After 30 years, the single is very valid and it has aged well. The video appears constantly on channels that still show rock videos (so not MTV) and the song remains in high rotation on stations in different parts of the world.
Listening to Plush again is a great excuse to remember the nineties, to enjoy the music of the Stone Temple Pilots again, and to pay a small tribute to the memory of Scott Weiland, one of the greatest vocalists and frontmen of recent times.
Plush Lyrics Meaning: Final Thoughts
In the 90’s society in general was more conservative and perhaps more respectful of traditions and moral values. Against that backdrop, Stone Temple Pilots released some controversial records.
Even the song Plush was attacked as a symbolism of crime in the US. But it was hardly the first song to suffer this criticism.
The harsher criticism was that the band was simply taking advantage of this and the fame of similar-sounding bands (most notably Pearl Jam) to sell records. How much truth there is to this we will probably never know.
This far removed from its original release, it is probably best to stop worrying about the motivation behind it, and just enjoy it for what it is. A great song. A catchy song. One of the quintessential hits of the 90s.
For another big hit from the 1990s, but one from the opposite end of the musical spectrum, check out this article on the I Want It That Way lyrics meaning.
Given how the news story that inspired Plush was probably fake (so ahead of its time!), STP should have learned from Joni Mitchell how to take inspiration from another story. The Both Sides, Now lyrics take their meaning from a book. A real one that actually exists.
The news story Weiland saw may have been fake and we all know who the king of making up news is: Donald Trump. He’s also famous for not understanding things and one thing he famously did not understand at all is the Fortunate Son lyrics meaning. He used the song at a rally, in one of the most ironic self-owns ever.
Source: https://t-tees.com
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