Stone Temple Pilots (often abbreviated
STP), currently known as
Stone Temple Pilots with Chester Bennington, is an American rock band from San Diego, California, that currently consists of brothers Robert (bass, backing vocals) and Dean DeLeo (guitar), Eric Kretz (drums, percussion), and Chester Bennington (lead vocals). Since its formation, STP's line-up had remained unchanged until the dismissal of lead vocalist Scott Weiland in 2013, who was replaced with Chester Bennington of Linkin Park.
After forming in 1985 under the name Mighty Joe Young, the band signed with Atlantic Records and changed its name to Stone Temple Pilots. STP found immediate success in 1993 upon releasing their debut album
Core (1992), and went on to become one of the most commercially successful bands of the 1990s.
While initially displaying a sound typically identified as grunge early on in its career, further releases from the band expressed a variety of influences, including psychedelic rock, bossa nova and classic rock. The band's evolution throughout the 1990s and early 2000s involved several tumultuous periods of commercial highs and lows, brought about in part by Weiland's well-publicized struggles with drug addiction.