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Cover of Purple by Stone Temple Pilots
Cover: Purple

Song · Stone Temple Pilots

“Big Empty” by Stone Temple Pilots

From the album Purple (1994)

“Big Empty” by Stone Temple Pilots appears on 97 radio countdowns from 35 stations between 1994 and 2026. It was first released in 1994 on the album Purple. Its best result is #10 on the WHFS Top 99.1 Songs of 1994. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #28 alternative song of 1994, #172 alternative song of all time and #224 of the '90s.

97countdowns
35stations
#10best position
0#1 finishes
1top 10 finishes
1994–2026years charted

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Big Empty

Video from YouTube (Stone Temple Pilots - Topic). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube

"Big Empty" made its debut on the soundtrack to the 1994 film The Crow before Stone Temple Pilots gave it a permanent home on their second album, Purple, the same year. Scott Weiland wrote the words and sings them, Dean DeLeo is credited on the music and plays guitar, with Robert DeLeo on bass and Eric Kretz on drums. Brendan O'Brien produced, recorded and mixed it, with Nick DiDia engineering.

It plays the same trick as the band's earlier single "Creep": a slow, hushed acoustic verse, Weiland murmuring like he's half asleep, and then a chorus that crashes down in a slab of distorted guitar as heavy as "Plush". The contrast is the whole point, and O'Brien gives both halves room, so the quiet feels bruised and the loud feels like a storm finally breaking.

It was the last single from Purple, released only in Australia in March 1995, yet it still reached No. 3 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks and No. 7 on Modern Rock Tracks. It won the MTV Movie Award for best song in a movie in 1995, and it later turned up on the greatest-hits sets Thank You and Buy This.

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

RockLists rankings

Alternative & Modern Rock

Indie & Adult Alternative

Classic Rock

Hard Rock & Metal

All Rock Formats

Year-end countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
1994 26 KROQ Los Angeles, CA KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1994 107
1994 41 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana 91X Top 91 Songs of 1994 91
1994 71 Live 105 San Francisco, CA Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1994 106
1994 32 Q101 Chicago, IL Q101 Top 101 Songs of 1994 101
1994 10 WHFS Washington, DC / Baltimore, MD WHFS Top 99.1 Songs of 1994 100
1994 12 KISW Seattle-Tacoma, WA KISW 25 Greatest Rock Songs from 1994 25
1994 34 Radio & Records United States (national airplay chart) Radio & Records Top 94 Songs of 1994 94

All-time and decade countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
1994 570 KISW KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1994) 1000
1995 101 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1995) 500
1995 334 KISW KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1995) 1000
1996 131 Q101 Q101 Top 500 Songs of All-Time (1996) 500
1996 293 KISW KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1996) 1000
1998 309 KISW KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1998) 1000
1999 178 KROQ KROQ Top 300 Most Requested Songs of the '90s (Labor Day 1999) 300
1999 294 WHFS WHFS Top 500 Songs of the '90s (December 1999) 500
1999 71 Q101 Q101 Top 1,011 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 1017
1999 178 WFNX WFNX Top 500 Songs of All-Time (June 1999) 500
1999 879 107.7 The End The End Top 1077 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 1077
1999 305 CD101 CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 2000
1999 60 CFNY 102.1 The Edge CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (November 1999) 1002
1999 367 KISW KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1999) 998
2000 82 DC101 DC101 Top 101 Rock Songs of the 90s 101
2000 307 CD101 CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000) 2001
2000 74 The Edge KEDJ Countdown 2000 (106 songs) 106
2001 316 CD101 CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) 2002
2001 92 KISW KISW Top 99 Rock Songs (2001) 99
2001 105 WBRU WBRU Modern Rock Top 500 (2001) 500
2002 30 WFNX WFNX Top 50 Grunge Songs of All-Time (June 2002) 50
2002 316 CD101 CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002) 2003
2002 135 KISW KISW Top 999 of All Time (2002) 999
2002 814 Fred (XM 44) Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002) 2002
2003 316 CD101 CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003) 2004
2004 267 107.7 The End The End Original Alternative 500 (May 2004) 500
2004 316 CD101 CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) 2005
2004 136 Y100 Y100 Top 300 Songs of All-Time (July 2004) 300
2004 31 WBCN WBCN Grunge Top 104 (2004) 104
2005 319 CD101 CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005) 1994
2005 90 99X 99X Freedom of Choice 1000 (2005) 1000
2007 184 KROQ KROQ Top 500 Most Requested Songs of the '90s (Labor Day 2007) 500
2007 509 CD101 CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007) 2008
2008 169 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 2008) 500
2008 528 CD101 CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008) 2009
2009 70 CFNY 102.1 The Edge The Top 200 Songs of the 90's According to 102.1 The Edge 200
2009 112 Live 105 Live 105 Memorial 500 Song List (2009) 500
2009 544 CD101 CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009) 2010
2009 137 CFNY 102.1 The Edge 102.1 The Edge Top 200 Songs of All-Time (2009) 200
2010 83 CFNY 102.1 The Edge 102.1 The Edge Top 200 Songs of the 90's (September 2010) 200
2010 552 CD101 CD101 Top 2011 Songs of All-Time (December 2010) 2011
2010 398 97.9 The Loop The Loop USO Rock 'N' Roll 500 (2010) 500
2011 573 CD101 CD101 Top 2012 Songs of All-Time (December 2011) 2011
2013 584 CD101 CD101 Top 2013 Songs of All-Time (December 2013) 2012
2013 691 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Grand Jam 1000 (2013) 1000
2014 591 CD101 CD101 Top 2014 Songs of All-Time (2014) 2013
2014 905 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX 1K Countdown (2014) 1000
2014 274 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Firecracker 400 (2014) 400
2014 145 94.3 WCYY WCYY CYY 500 Most Played Songs (2014) 500
2015 135 94.3 WCYY WCYY CYY 500 Most Played Songs (2015) 500
2015 696 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Top 1007 Classic Rock Countdown (2015) 1007
2016 719 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Top 1007 Countdown for 2016 1007
2017 279 97.9 The Loop 97.9 The Loop Top 540 Countdown (2017) 540
2019 115 94.3 WCYY WCYY CYY 500 Most Played Songs (2019) 500
2019 483 102.5 KZOK KZOK Top 1025 of 2019 1025
2019 110 106.7 WLLZ WLLZ 500 (2019) 500
2019 488 Big 100 BIG 500 Memorial Day Countdown (2019) 500
2020 80 DC101 Top DC101 of the 90's 101
2020 160 DC101 The DC101 Top 500 500
2020 36 105.9 The X 105.9 The X July 420 (2020) 420
2020 887 102.5 KZOK KZOK Classic Rock Top 1025 (2020) 1025
2020 164 106.7 WLLZ WLLZ 500 (2020) 500
2021 520 90.9 The Bridge 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '90s 908
2021 336 99.1 PLR 99.1 PLR Big 500 (2021) 500
2021 783 Q104.3 Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2021) 1043
2021 48 105.9 The X 105.9 The X July 420 (2021) 420
2021 350 106.7 WLLZ WLLZ 500 (2021) 500
2022 386 106.7 WLLZ WLLZ Rock N Roll 500 (2022) 500
2022 717 Q104.3 Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2022) 1043
2022 225 94.1 KRNA KRNA Memorial Day 500 (2022) 500
2022 322 X96 X96 Top 500 Alternative Songs of All Time 500
2022 726 102.5 KZOK KZOK Classic Rock Top 1025 (2022) 1025
2022 52 105.9 The X 105.9 The X July 420 (2022) 420
2022 137 101X 101X 500 (2022) 498
2023 109 106.7 WLLZ WLLZ Rock N Roll 500 (2023) 500
2023 101 94.3 WCYY WCYY CYY 500 Most Played Songs (2023) 500
2023 906 Q104.3 Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2023) 1043
2023 416 97.1 The Drive 97.1 The Drive Memorial Day Weekend Rock N Roll 500 (2023) 500
2023 71 105.9 The X 105.9 The X July 420 (2023) 420
2023 225 101.5 WPDH WPDH Top 1015 (2023) 1015
2023 93 KSHE 95 KSHE 95 Rock N' Roll 500 (2023) 500
2024 190 KSHE 95 KSHE 95 Rock N' Roll 500 (2024) 500
2024 204 106.7 WLLZ WLLZ Rock N Roll 500 (2024) 500
2024 593 Q104.3 Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2024) 1043
2025 119 99.1 PLR 99.1 PLR Top 400 of the Last 40 Years (2025) 400
2025 176 106.7 WLLZ WLLZ Rock N Roll 500 (2025) 500
2025 259 Q104.3 Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2025) 1043
2026 337 102.5 WDVE DVE Memorial Day 500 (2026) 500
2026 155 106.7 WLLZ WLLZ Rock N Roll 500 (2026) 500
2026 134 101X 101X 500 (2026) 500

Also listed as: The Big Empty.

Charting alongside it in 1994

Best songs of 1994 →
  1. 1Black Hole SunSoundgarden
  2. 2CloserNine Inch Nails
  3. 3Self-EsteemThe Offspring
  4. 4Interstate Love SongStone Temple Pilots
  5. 5Come Out and PlayThe Offspring
  6. 6Basket CaseGreen Day

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