Core by Stone Temple Pilots

Core, Stone Temple Pilots' debut album, hit the racks on Atlantic Records on September 29, 1992, with Brendan O'Brien behind the board, and it arrived swinging. This is grunge with the gloss left on: fat, sludgy riffs, a rhythm section that grooves more than it thrashes, and choruses the size of a stadium parking lot. "Sex Type Thing" stomps in on a lurching, menacing riff, "Wicked Garden" churns and broods, and "Dead and Bloated" and "Crackerman" bring the grime.

Then there's "Plush", the moody, slow-rolling centerpiece, all minor-key ache and a hook you can't pry loose. It went to number one on Billboard's Album Rock Tracks chart, its video got heavy rotation on MTV, and it brought the band an MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist and a Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance. "Creep", a hushed, acoustic-tinged lament, rounded out the three singles.

The critics weren't having it at first. Early reviews were rough, with the band accused of borrowing the sound of other alternative acts, Pearl Jam above all. The public didn't care: Core climbed to number three on the Billboard 200 by July 1993, went on to 8× Platinum and remains the band's biggest seller. Time has been kinder to it than the press was, too; it now gets its due as a cornerstone of the early-'90s grunge and alternative rock boom, and a 25th anniversary deluxe edition followed in 2017.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.