Sex Type Thing

"Sex Type Thing"

One of several covers used in the UK
Single by Stone Temple Pilots
from the album Core
B-side "Piece of Pie"
"Wicked Garden (live)"
"Sin (live)"
Released January 25, 1993
Format CD single,
Cassette,
Vinyl
Recorded 1991
Genre Grunge[1]
Length 3:38
Label Atlantic
Writer(s) Music: Dean DeLeo & Eric Kretz
Lyrics: Scott Weiland
Producer(s) Brendan O'Brien
Stone Temple Pilots singles chronology
"Sex Type Thing"
(1992)		 "Plush"
(1993)
Core track listing
"Dead & Bloated"
(Track 1)		 "Sex Type Thing"
(Track 2)		 "Wicked Garden"
(Track 3)
Music sample
"Sex Type Thing"
Music video
"Sex Type Thing" on YouTube

"Sex Type Thing" is the debut single released in 1992 by American rock band Stone Temple Pilots from their debut studio album, Core. "Sex Type Thing" also appears on the greatest hits compilation album Thank You. The song spawned a music video which received moderate rotation on MTV (at the height of the early 1990s grunge music scene). The single peaked at number 23 on the US Album Rock Tracks chart.

Lyrics and composition

Scott Weiland wrote the lyrics after a girl he was dating was raped by three high school football players after a party. Weiland has stated the song is an anti-rape statement, not a song simply about sex, saying:

This song is really not about sex at all. It's about control, violence and abuse of power.[2]

According to guitarist Dean DeLeo, the song "In the Light" by Led Zeppelin had a direct influence on the main riff in "Sex Type Thing".[3] In an October 1997 interview in Seconds magazine, Glenn Danzig mentions the similarity of the main riff to the Danzig song "Snakes of Christ".

Live performances

Over time, "Sex Type Thing" became the band's traditional closer at live shows. During some performances from 1999 until STP's 2003 break-up, the band would extend the song's bridge into a jam session where Weiland would strip naked in front of the audience and then wrap his lower body in an American flag. The song continues to remain a staple at STP shows.

Music video

During the grunge explosion of the 1990s, the music video for "Sex Type Thing" is usually denoted as the single factor that drove Stone Temple Pilots into the scene. The video was in medium-heavy rotation on MTV during the time, and helped make STP a contender in the grunge war. The video itself hosts a very dark motif, with Scott Weiland (who bleached his hair blond) being tortured in a rather BDSM fashion, with the band members playing their various instruments in the background. Various shots of women are shown being hung by chains. This video is rather distinctive because it is the first to showcase Scott Weiland's trademark "dance".[4] The set was used again for Sunny Day Real Estate's "In Circles" music video in 1994. [5]

Controversy

Upon the success of "Sex Type Thing", controversies regarding the song's lyrics emerged while STP was on tour opening for Megadeth. Weiland found himself in the position of defending "Sex Type Thing" to individuals who took the first-person approach he used in the song ("I am a man, a man/I'll give ya something that ya won't forget/I said ya shouldn't have worn that dress") literally. In a 1993 interview with Rolling Stone, Weiland expressed his frustration with the song's reception by saying "It was, 'All right, the "Cop Killer" controversy's dead, let's try to find something else'...I never thought that people would ever seriously think that I was an advocate of date rape."[6]

Charts

(1992–93) Position
UK Singles Chart 55
U.S. Billboard Album Rock Tracks[7] 23

Track listing

CD Single #1

  1. "Sex Type Thing" - 3:38
  2. "Piece of Pie" - 5:28
  3. "Wicked Garden" [Live] - 4:26
  4. "Sin" [Live] - 7:52

CD Single #2

  1. "Sex Type Thing" - 3:38
  2. "Piece of Pie" - 5:28
  3. "Dead and Bloated" [Live] - 4:53
  4. "Sex Type Thing" [Live] - 4:01

Note: Live versions recorded at the Reading Festival 1993.

Appearances and covers

References

  1. ↑ Frost, Deborah (12 March 1993). "Core (1993) Music Review". Entertainment Weekly (#161). Retrieved 9 February 2010.
  2. ↑ "". below empty. Retrieved 2005-06-13.
  3. ↑ "". below empty. Retrieved 2005-06-13.
  4. ↑ "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s3lmr09oVg ". Music video on Youtube. Retrieved 2005-06-13. Archived December 8, 2014, at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ↑ "SUNNY DAY REAL ESTATE "IN CIRCLES"".
  6. ↑ "Hard To The Core". August 1, 1993. Retrieved April 17, 2010.
  7. ↑ "Mainstream Rock Tracks – Stone Temple Pilots". Retrieved 2013-03-08.
  8. ↑ " ". CSI Files. Retrieved 2005-06-13.
  9. ↑ http://elmundotech.wordpress.com/2010/05/26/guitar-hero-5band-hero-dlc-stone-temple-pilots-alice-cooper-national-anthems/

External links

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