10 Perfect Songs From Terrible Bands
3. Interstate Love Song - Stone Temple Pilots
Right when Seattle was becoming the music capital of the world, many locals were getting a lot more protective of their music. Anyone would get uncomfortable when someone tries to invade their home territory, and some of the OG fans were lining up to pass judgement on anyone coming along who sounded even remotely like a poser. So when you had a band like STP coming along who actually sounded like they wanted to be rock stars, fans were ready to pounce at a moment's notice.
On the band's second album though, you can hear them starting to grow beyond just the grunge label, putting together a collection of decent rock songs with Interstate Love Song being damn near close to perfection. While there were already some grunge heavyweights by this point, what makes this song work was how much of a breath of fresh air it felt next to acts like Pearl Jam, bringing a bit of rock sunshine into the mix, almost like if the Eagles had been brought up listening to a lot of the Melvins.
Along with the amazing vocal harmonies on the chorus, the rest of the band are more than just set dressing here, with the bass line actually being pretty busy for the most part and the guitar lick actually having a fair bit of polish once you pee back all the layers of distortion. Stone Temple Pilots may have felt like everything wrong with grunge back in the day, but when we start looking through the history of '90s rock, Interstate Love Song might deserve a place alongside Smells Like Teen Spirit as one of the most best written rock songs of the time.