Last week, Glee‘s tie-in soundtrack album Glee: The Music—Vol. 3, Showstoppers had the advantage of a light release schedule working in its favor. Thus, the album retains its #1 position on Billboard‘s Top 200 chart, albeit after a 54% decrease in sales. (Vol. 3 sold 136,000 copies in its first week of release, as opposed to the 63,000 copies moved over the past seven days.)

Only one new LP debuts in the Top 10 this week—Stone Temple Pilots’ self-titled sixth studio set (at #2), which is the alt rock band’s first since 2001 album Shangri-La Dee Da. STP’s latest sold a total of 62,000 copies last week.

And as for the rest of the upper reaches of the chart…

The Top 10 of Billboard’s Top 200 Albums:

1. Glee Cast, Glee: The Music—Vol. 3, Showstoppers
2. Stone Temple Pilots, Stone Temple Pilots *new*
3. Justin Bieber, My World 2.0
4. Lady Antebellum, Need You Now
5. Usher, Raymond v. Raymond
6. Lady Gaga, The Fame
7. The Rolling Stones, Exile On Main St.
8. The Black Keys, Brothers
9. Carole King & James Taylor, Live At The Troubadour
10. Damian Marley & Nas, Distant Relatives

If you look at the pair of pants from Scott Weiland‘s clothing line for English Laundry long enough, you can actually almost maybe feel what it’s like to be inside the tormented frontman’s mind. (But paying their $99 sticker price would ruin the illusion, since real rock stars don’t have to pay for anything.)

In case you were wondering just how serious Weiland is about his clothing line, check out its official crest!

“Ancient arms!” Not just, y’know, weathered from all that wear and tear and drum-riser propping.

Scott Weiland [English Laundry]
Scott Weiland Launches Fashion Line [Spin]

What were the 80 most important musical recordings, artists, trends, events, and performances of 2008? What were the eight things this year that broke our hearts—or, at least, our ears? We’re happy to announce 80 ’08 (and Heartbreak), Idolator’s year-end overview. The list is below the jump.

80. Andrew W.K., “McLaughlin Groove”
79. Elvis Costello puts his trust in Fall Out Boy
78. Wye Oak, “I Want for Nothing”
77. Nine Inch Nails’ flood of digitally distributed music
76. TV on the Radio, “Golden Age”
75. Journey welcomes the Web 2.0 Era (and a new singer) with open arms
74. Jenny Lewis, “Acid Tongue”
73. Radiohead scores the year’s strangest Top 40 hit
72. The Music Tapes at Athens Popfest, August 2008
71. Kanye, Lily, Pete, and Courtney form their own blogger nation
70. French Kicks, Swimming
69. Soundscan: down for the recount
68. Make It Stop! The Most of Ross Johnson
67. Parry Gripp, “Hamster on a Piano (Eating Popcorn)”
66. Okay, Huggable Dust
65. Mariah Carey, “Touch My Body”
64. 360 deals make heads spin
63. Daniel Amos, Darn Floor Big Bite
62. Cut Copy, In Ghost Colours
61. Solange, Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams
60. The Numa Numa Dance revival
59. The Gaslight Anthem, The ’59 Sound
58. ’90s alt-rock memoirs
57. Larry Norman and Sonseed
56. Sheryl Crow, “Shine Over Babylon”
55. DJ Koze
54. David Cook beats David Archuleta on American Idol
53. T-Pain, Thr33 Ringz
52. Perez Hilton Vs. Sony BMG: slapfight!
51. Justin Moore’s “Back That Thing Up” video
50. Optimo’s mix CDs
49. Extra Golden live at the Caledonia Lounge, Athens, GA, June 2008
48. Jamey Johnson, That Lonesome Song
47. Daveigh Chase sings “The Happiest Girl in the Whole USA” on HBO’s Big Love
46. Gnarls Barkley and the Raconteurs race each other to the record store
45. Pete Wentz tries to save the music video with FNMTV
44. R&B’s breakbeat vogue
43. Jobromance!
42. Dennis Wilson, Pacific Ocean Blue (Legacy Edition)
41. Miley Cyrus, “See You Again”
40. Max Martin and Dr. Luke infiltrate rock radio
39. Of Montreal get Skeletal
38. Poplife Presents Poplife Sucks
37. Alec Foege, Right of the Dial and Taylor Clark, Starbucked
36. Major labels fail to kill the single—again
35. Velvet Revolver brings the drama
34. Blake Leyh makes us listen closer to The Wire
33. Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em, “Yahhh!”
32. The end of TRL
31. The old-skool rave revival
30. Ida Maria, “Oh My God”
29. Fred Schneider on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
28. CMT’s Can You Duet
27. ’90s reunion fever
26. Estelle makes her way across the ocean
25. John Darnielle’s Master of Reality and Carl Wilson’s Let’s Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste
24. Girl Talk, Feed the Animals
23. Santogold, “Lights Out”
22. Summer festival glut
21. Monotonix live in Baltimore
20. James Sullivan, The Hardest Working Man: How James Brown Saved the Soul of America
19. Be Your Own Pet, “Becky”
18. Kanye West’s aesthetics
17. “Vinyl is back!”
16. Global reissues bonanza
15. Beyoncé, “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)”
14. Rickrolling rolls on
13. M.I.A., “Paper Planes”
12. Alphabeat get “wonky”
11. The year of the remix
10. R. Kelly goes to court
9. Jarvis Cocker at Pitchfork Festival, Chicago, July 2008
8. The Ron Clark Academy, “You Can Vote However You Like”
7. Portishead, Third
6. Prince at Coachella Festival, April 2008
5. Erykah Badu, New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)
4. Guitar Hero / Rock Band
3. A very musical Presidential election
2. Lil Wayne: All things to all people
1. Ne-Yo, Year Of The Gentleman

HEARTBREAKS
1. Mamma Mia Misses The Essence Of ABBA (Kate Richardson)
2. The Death of Baltimore Club Music’s Queen, DJ K-Swift (Al Shipley)
3. The blogosphere as the new status quo (Lucas Jensen)
4. Britney Spears on the 2008 MTV VMAs (Molly McAleer)
5. Be Your Own Pet breaks up (Mike Barthel)
6. Everyone in the music business losing their freakin’ jobs (Michaelangelo Matos)
7. Guns N’ Roses, Chinese Democracy (Maura Johnston)
8. John Rich shills for the GOP (Chuck Eddy)

Perhaps realizing that breaking new artists in the music-stuffed, nostalgia-mired world of now was impossible, many a band that made their mark on the world back in the 1990s got back on their collective horses and rode the wave of “remember when?” this year, from Stone Temple Pilots to My Bloody Valentine to Ben Folds Five to even Ned’s Atomic Dustbin. As you might expect, results were mixed overall, although they were probably better than those that would be realized by any new endeavors by the parties involved.

Thanks to missing the My Bloody Valentine gigs in the States, most of my ’90s nostalgia jones was satisfied at Coachella, where I saw the Breeders, the Verve, Portishead, and Swervedriver; all of them put on wholly satisfying sets, and were received warmly by the crowds. Still, there’s something sort of sad and grinding-to-a-halt about all of these reunions coming at this point in time; on the one hand, the rest of Coachella’s bill was full of acts that would probably be as ephemeral today as the Primitive Radio Gods were back then, but on the other hand, what would happen if those acts broke beyond the world of blogs and into some sort of Alternative Nation mass-dissemination that doesn’t really exist anymore? Would we be spending time on a 2018 year-end countdown discussing the glut of reunions from The Hype Machine Era?

Either way, the decimated prominence of the music business and the ever-diminishing likelihood that an album could sell enough to actually break even a not-all-that-new artist resulted in quite a few bands hitting the nostalgia circuit while the VH1 clip show iron was still hot. And what with there being a dearth of rock bands who can reliably sell out a shed right now, and concert promoters being more skittish than ever about the ever-fragmenting pop landscape, there’s even more to come in ’09, when we’ve got “we’re back” shows by the likes of Blur and Phish and No Doubt to look forward to. Not to mention the ever-tantalizing possibility of Scott Stapp and Creed drinking from the twice-removed-grunge well once again! See you at Bonnaroo, everybody!

80 ’08 (and heartbreak)

If only as many people cared about Velvet Revolver’s music as they did about the machinations behind the sorta-supergroup, which sort of imploded back in April when Scott Weiland was pushed out of the band by former Guns N’ Roses members Slash, Duff, and Matt Sorum/jumped to cash in on a Stone Temple Pilots reunion tour. In the ensuing months, while Weiland was falling into drum risers and making porny videos, pretty much every male hard-rock singer between the ages of 31 and 49 was rumored to have been a favorite for the vocalist gig. A look back on the top contenders after the jump.

Chester Bennington. This was one of those rumors started by those British magazines that seem to think playing telephone while drunk is how to report, and was quickly scuttled by the singer himself. Not surprising, given that he’s in a successful band and all.

Royston Langdon. The former Spacehog singer was the No. 1 rumored candidate for a good chunk of the summer, and despite being “fucking awesome” according to Duff, he was a no go.

Lenny Kravitz. Well, he is friends with Slash. Just think how “Always On The Run ’09″ would sound!

Some Australian guy. We got a tip about an unnamed dude who could apparently “sing up a storm” who was the front-runner for the job. Sadly, it didn’t seem to pan out, perhaps because reanimating the corpse of Bon Scott for a full arena tour proved too hard for scientists (and too expensive after the band and its label parted ways).

Axl Rose. OK, this was more “fan fiction written by every former Guns N’ Roses fan” than “actual possibility borne by the two camps making up” (they haven’t), but who here doesn’t think that an album by this lineup wouldn’t sell better than Chinese Democracy and Libertad combined?

80 ’08 (and Heartbreak)

The (slightly NSFW) video for Scott Weiland’s “Paralysis,” the first clip off his forthcoming solo album Happy In Galoshes, is a weird blend of the clips for U2′s “Desire,” Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus,” and Madonna’s “Justify My Love” that in the end I guess is supposed to remind us that Mr. W. can still score some primo tail–and be existentially tortured by it.

As the oddly amelodic track grinds on, Weiland and his ladyfriend romp around in a hotel room and try to make communal smoking sexy; said ladyfriend stalks the streets of Los Angeles in a way that makes one wonder if she’s supposed to be some sort of golden-hearted hooker; Weiland dives nose-first into a pile of sheets (although it’s unclear whether or not his reasons for doing that are related to his former beloved’s scent or some inadvertent klutziness); he walks around California’s dustier parts a lot in search of a place to rest his head; and he gets his mouth licked in his sleep. If this were a video by an artist with a better sense of humor, that last lick would have been the result of an overly friendly pooch outside of dreamland, but alas.

Scott Weiland – Paralysis [Yahoo!]

It’s been a while since we heard of any disasters on the Stone Temple Pilots reunion tour, but last week’s concert in Phoenix brought Scott Weiland and his bandmates back on the trainwreck path. It got off to an unfortunate start, as you can see from the above video, with Weiland mumbling an introduction to “Big Empty” before being propelled backwards and into the drum kit of Eric Kretz, no doubt because of the power of his inebriated yarl. (The fall comes at around the 1:23 mark, although the intro really helps contextualize things.) And the mishap must have jumbled things up in his brain even more, because he then went on to forget and alter the lyrics to the track. A description from an Arizona Republic writer who saw the whole thing go down in non-pixellated form follows:

The lengthy set opened with Big Empty from The Crow soundtrack. Dressed in a grey suit Weiland stumbled around the stage and fell into drummer Eric Kretz’s drum kit which confirmed he is now officially the Amy Winehouse of rock ‘n’ roll. When he did sing he often forgot words or changed them. “Conversations Kill” quickly became “Masturbation Kill.”

The singer’s incoherent rants in between songs were cut off by his band members starting the next song to stop the bleeding. Guitarist Dean DeLeo and his brother bassist Robert DeLeo looked humiliated as they ripped through classics like Wicked Garden, Big Bang Baby and Vasoline.

“Masturbation kill”? Something must be wrong. Anyway, at this point, I’m less surprised by this all going down than I am by the fact that the following bit is not on YouTube yet:

The crowd was really thrown for a loop when the singer busted out an a cappella cover of Bob Marley’s Redemption Song which felt like it went on for an hour because it was hard to understand anything he was saying.

Well, that’s what happens when you emancipate yourself from mental slavery!

Weiland disappoints at Dodge [Arizona Republic]
SCOTT WEILAND Falls Into ERIC KRETZ’s Drum Kit During STP’s Phoenix Concert; Video Available [Blabbermouth]

The Los Angeles Times‘ Chris Lee has provided a little bit of gross context for his Stone Temple Pilots profile on the paper’s blog. At the same time Weiland was giving the writer quotes like “I live my life the way I live my life. I don’t have to make any apologies,” he was also launching “huge green” loogies at the wall behind the DeLeo brothers, who did not seem ruffled by the sudden appearance of expectorate. While I admire Weiland’s indignation (“hey, how does it feel to be going to jail for six hours?” is indeed a douche move), Lou Reed knows that while loogies may not be forgotten by those who witness their deployment, retorts along the lines of “What are you, a fucking asshole?” read better in print.

Where’s your head at right now just before going to jail?

All these questions are …, man. Who do you interview? To what level?

A lot of famous musicians. Not Michael Jackson-famous, though.

Do you interview Keith Richards? David Bowie? Do you interview people who over a 20-year career who aren’t … born-again Christians? Who aren’t part of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir?

Um, yes. A lot of those guys. I interviewed Bowie but not Keith.

Then you should know. Our contribution is music, you know? This is the problem with the press. Are you part of the paparazzi?

I write for the Los Angeles Times.

Is there a difference anymore?

Well, the paparazzi don’t write. They take pictures.

I’m not so sure, man. Rolling Stone is borderline these days.

If I’ve said something that put your nose out of joint, I apologize.

My nose isn’t out of joint. I live my life the way I live my life. I don’t have to make any apologies. I just find it a little hilarious that you’d ask such a question.

Cccchh-www-thhsptttt [Weiland spits on the wall].

And now, dancing.

Hey Weiland — Say It Don’t Spray It! [LA Times]
Scott Weiland Dances [YouTube]

Oh, those canny DeLeo brothers. When Atlantic released them from Stone Temple Pilots’ recording contract, the label probably thought they were just getting out of having to promote whatever Talk Show/Army Of Anyone crap these guys were going to come up with next. A Stone Temple Pilots reunion? How likely was that? Weiland would either stick with a good (for him) thing like Velvet Revolver, or die. But now that the unthinkable (or at least un-particularly thought about) reunion has occurred, the remaining members on the contract (Weiland and Eric Kretz) are claiming the old deal’s invalid. (and I’m guessing the reason is more “LiveNation” than “Radiohead.”) Not only does Atlantic want the court to state that Stone Temple Pilots still has one to three records left to make for the label, they want the band to pay their label fees. But when the bands sees the fans yelling “do ‘Plush!’” it’s all worth it.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, claims lead singer Scott Weiland and drummer Eric Kretz have threatened to stop performing under their contract and have indicated they would like to end the agreement unless Atlantic makes significant changes.

The record company said in the suit that while Stone Temple Pilots has already delivered six albums, it wants the group to record a seventh album and deliver up to two more if Atlantic decides it wants them.

…Atlantic said in the lawsuit that the group — Weiland, Kretz and the DeLeos — was now touring successfully and had indicated its intention to record together again. The record company said its contract with Stone Temple Pilots was written under New York laws and that the musicians are trying to use California laws to terminate it.

Atlantic said claims by Kretz and Weiland that they have a right to terminate the contract “have given rise to a definite, real and substantial controversy between the parties that threatens to harm Atlantic’s business.”

Atlantic is seeking a court declaration of its rights under the recording contract, the costs of its legal fees and any other relief the court decides is appropriate.

A spokesperson for Stone Temple Pilots had no immediate comment on the lawsuit.

Man, not only do these guys have to make it through three more months of touring in uncomfortable silence, they may be forced by law to record another album for Atlantic. Moral of the story: if you currently do not have to work with Weiland…keep it that way.

Coming out an hour late, forgetting lyrics, slurring apologetic introductions that get cut off by visibly annoyed band members–sounds like Weiland is back and better than ever! When Slash wakes up in a couple of hours and grabs The New York Times before enjoying his bagel (but after putting on on slippers, a bath towel, and a snake), the description of Stone Temple Pilots’ New York show will undoubtedly inspire a smirk.

Scott Weiland, the lead singer of Stone Temple Pilots, had just a few words for the crowd at the PNC Bank Arts Center on Saturday night, and that was probably a good thing. Two weeks into this post-grunge band’s reunion tour, he seemed bedraggled and bushed, like a scarecrow. His first comments were barely coherent, and what came next was dispiriting. “Sometimes you make crazy choices,” he said, in a distinctly undefiant tone.

Mr. Weiland noted that this was a hometown show for half of the band, the brothers Robert and Dean DeLeo, who play bass and guitar. “I apologize for …” he started to add.

“Apology accepted, brother,” Robert DeLeo said quickly, changing the subject and hustling on with the show.

… the feeling imparted by these performances was desultory and joyless. The band never rose above a sort of grim competence.

It was the same with Mr. Weiland. While he expertly struck the image of a rock star — strutting and preening, and shedding his white jacket and T-shirt to reveal a sinewy torso — his voice sounded less flexible than usual, and he sometimes seemed nearly out of breath. He forgot some lyrics and flubbed others, and often used a megaphone as a prop, or perhaps a crutch.

There’s already footage of Weiland’s attempt at apologizing for — I dunno, everything? — on YouTube.

Want more mumbling? Watch Weiland cling to the mic, before eventually sitting down, during “Creep.”

Can Weiland make it till Aug. 31, when the tour finally comes to a close at Seattle’s Bumbershoot Festival? Can I resist noting that Stone Temple Pilots is planning to wrap up its tour in Seattle, which is kind of a “hometown show” for the band’s success?

Lead Singer Back in the Fold, Not Back From the Edge [NYT]
Stone Temple Pilots – Lady Picture Show @ PNC Bank Arts [YouTube via Blabbermouth]
Creep [YouTube]

Schlock-shock radio hosts Opie and Anthony have come forward with some details about the hour-plus delay before Stone Temple Pilots’ show this weekend. The duo claim bassist Robert “Apology Accepted, Brother” DeLeo was screaming “come on out, Axl!” at Weiland’s bus, which a large bodyguard kept him from entering. DeLeo then called Weiland’s female assistant a variety of hateful words, demanding she be taken off the tour, before addressing the finally-accounted-for Weiland with an angry “can you even do the show?” before the band finally sauntered onto the stage. Only three more months of touring left, guys! [FoundryMusic]

Yes, the former not-Vedder turned former not-Axl revealed a new look when he, the DeLeo brothers and that scrawny drummer dude performed their tiny music at the Rock On The Range Festival in Columbus, Ohio. The 17-song set actually featured a track from Shangri-La Dee Da, “Coma,” along with the hit singles and Core album tracks. Hey, what about “Art School Girl?”

The setlist:

01. Big Empty
02. Wicked Garden
03. Big Bang Baby
04. Vasoline
05. Lady Picture Show
06. Lounge Fly
07. Crackerman
08. Sour Girl
09. Creep
10. Plush
11. Interstate Love Song
12. Coma
13. Down
14. All In The Suit That You Wear
15. Sex Type Thing
16. Trippin’ On A Hole In A Paper Heart
17. Dead and Bloated

Bassist Robert DeLeo told The Pulse of Radio that he wasn’t nervous about the band making its comeback in front of such a huge audience. “No, I just feel like there’s a lot of myself feeling comfortable with what I do onstage and, you know, sometimes you get in the way of yourself,” he said. “And I think we all have those issues once in a while, and I think just keeping an open attitude and just trying to have a positive attitude and enjoy this would be great.”

Joining STONE TEMPLE PILOTS on Saturday were FINGER ELEVEN, SHINEDOWN, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, SERJ TANKIAN, STAIND, DISTURBED, ASHES DIVIDE, AIRBOURNE, RED, 10 YEARS, THEORY OF A DEADMAN and FILTER.

Hope somebody remembered to yell “Army Of Anyone reunion!” during Filter’s set. Here is a completely fucking ridiculous clip of STP playing “Coma” live in 2000, so we can see what we’ve been surviving without all these years.

I forgot that Weiland was rocking a Night Porter shtick before Velvet Revolver! Ugh.

STONE TEMPLE PILOTS Kicks Off Reunion Tour At ROCK ON THE RANGE [Blabbermouth]

Shut up, that pun is awesome. You will not be able to get it out of your head. And it refers to the 14 minutes that Weiland spent considering the errors of his ways in a jail cell in Van Nuys, Calif. What do you think he thought about as he marked away the minutes on the wall? Was he filled with gratitude at the forgiving nature of the DeLeo brothers? Did he resent the way Slash must be chortling at his predicament? Was he thinking about whether this would be the time he finally cleaned up and got his life together? Did he wish the cops would take more time with his wounded hand, because it likes to heal, he likes to steal? TMZ, please get your hands on the security tape.

Weiland served just 10 of [his sentenced] 192 hours. Of those 10 hours, according to his prison records, he spent a total of 14 minutes in a prison cell. Weiland, who has struggled with substance abuse off-and-on for years, had until May 28th to serve out his sentence; Stone Temple Pilots’ reunion tour kicks off May 17th in Columbus, Ohio.

On November 21st, Weiland, who recently split with Velvet Revolver on very sour terms, was involved in a non-injury collision on an LA highway. The cops who were investigating the scene reported that he “exhibited signs of impairment,” and he was arrested. This was his second DUI arrest.

In addition to jail time, Weiland was also ordered to complete an 18-month alcohol program and pay almost $2,000 in fines. He has also been put on a four-year summary probation period.

He’s half the man he used to be. This I feel as as the dawn, it fades to gray.

Scott Weiland released from prison after serving 14 minutes [MTV]

Scott Weiland has been sentenced to eight days in the pokey, four years probation, and 18 months in an alcohol awareness program after pleading no contest to a DUI charge he received back in November and receiving his second lifetime DUI conviction. The excommunicated Velvet Revolver frontman has to serve his jail time before May 28, which is sort of a good news/bad news thing because while this means he has to get it out of the way before Stone Temple Pilots’ tour kicks off on May 17, it also means that he has to somehow squeeze in eight days’ worth of jail time into his next three-ish weeks fo rehearsals, jean fittings, and all those other things that frontmen do before embarking on big reunion tours. On the bright side, though, this forced absence from the DeLeo brothers should at least push the band’s first big public fight back by at least a week or so. [AP]

Yes, I know Steve Albini worked with Bush, but Bush was trying very, very hard to be cool at the time. All that “oh, I love Jesus Lizard” stuff Gavin said, I believe it was genuine. And yes, Albini worked with Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, but come on, that was Jimmy Page and Robert Plant. Scott Weiland, though? A Scott Weiland that in Velvet Revolver at the time this must have been planned? A Scott Weiland that was being too obnoxious for Slash to stomach? A Scott Weiland bringing along the drummer from No Doubt? I’m not saying “dude, Albini sold out.” I’m saying, “man, I hope they paid his mortgage and studio equipment bills forty times over in exchange for putting a mic in front of that choad.”

According to The Pulse of Radio, STONE TEMPLE PILOTS and former VELVET REVOLVER frontman Scott Weiland told satellite shock jock Howard Stern on Wednesday morning (April 23) that he is currently working on his second solo album with producer Steve Albini for a November release. Weiland was joined on the call by NO DOUBT drummer Adrian Young, who is also playing on the record. A release date and title have yet to be revealed. Weiland’s first solo effort, “12 Bar Blues”, was issued in 1998.

Has it really been a decade? It seems like it was just yesterday that I wasn’t hearing “Barbarella” on the radio. Weiland announced last year that “the dream” was to record three songs at Albini’s studio, but there was no promise that Albini was going to be there. Oh, to be a greedy fly on the wall.

Throw a little of Albini’s patented The Weirdness grime on there, and bam. Rock is back.

SCOTT WEILAND Working On Second Solo Album [Blabbermouth]
Scott Weiland – Barbarella [Youtube]

Weiland and the DeLeo brothers haven’t even played the first show on their 2008 comeback tour yet, but that hasn’t stopped bassist Robert DeLeo from mouthing off to Billboard about the band heading back into the studio to milk their current detente for all it’s worth record another album. “I think new material will come probably after this tour. I think the whole thing now is kind of getting back and re-acclimating ourselves to the songs that we know. I think that’s gonna make for a better atmosphere and better performances … instead of doing a new record.” Well, who knows, maybe all their problems back in the day stemmed from being cooped up in a studio together for too long. (See? Positive thinking!) I shouldn’t rain on their honeymoon-after-the-second-marriage parade–instead, I should just hope that they don’t get inspired by the retro atmosphere of the tour to write new songs like “Plush,” but that they do get re-inspired by “Big Bang Baby,” because that song is still awesome:

Stone Temple Pilots – Big Bang Baby [YouTube]
Stone Temple Pilots Hope To Hit Studio Post-Tour [Billboard]

The reunited Stone Temple Pilots performed for the first time since 2002 at the Harry Houdini Estate in LA on Monday night. The brief set consisted of three singles from Purple, three from Tiny Music…From The Vatican Gift Shop and Core‘s “Plush.” I guess they’re saving those deep album cuts from Shangri-La Dee Da for the big tents. Video peppered with off-camera snark after the jump.

Guitarist Dean DeLeo, seen “making love to his guitar” above, says the band is planning a new album. Do you realize that Stone Temple Pilots entire career, from breakthrough to breakup to reunion, has all happened since Guns’n'Roses released its last album of original material? Come on, Axl.

STP Live April 7th 2008- Big Empty [Youtube via Blabbermouth]
Stone Temple Pilots make triumphant comeback [NME]

The line-up for the Calgary edition of the Virgin Festival has been announced, and I recognize the names of a whopping eight out of the 19 bands listed on the official website, including Americans Stone Temple Pilots, the Flaming Lips, and Face To Face. (Didn’t even know they were still together when I played “Disconnected” on the jukebox this weekend.) Canadians (or border-dwelling Americans) can get the rest of line-up by clicking on the logo to the left. [Virgin Festival Calgary/HT: Matt Learoyd]

Stone Temple Pilots
The Tragically Hip
The Flaming Lips
Three Days Grace
Corb Lund
Face To Face
City And Colour
Matthew Good
Stars
The New Pornographers
Constantines
Attack In Black
Pride Tiger
Crash Parallel
The Dudes
The Whitsundays
Ten Second Epic
Said The Whale
The Spades

Weiland, the estranged singer of Velvet Revolver, has teamed up with members of Army Of Anyone and Bomb Shelter Studios owner Eric Kretz for a tour that will hit more than 50 amphitheaters this summer and fall. And this isn’t the only unexpected supergroup that’s formed from music’s bigger names over the years–other groups have also embarked on tours, while a few have even released albums. Other examples after the jump.

• J. Mascis (More Light, Free So Free) and Lou Barlow (EMOH, New Folk Implosion) recently recorded an album with ex-Lemonhead Murph for Fat Possum Records.

• Tarzan songwriter Phil Collins went on a world tour in 2007, backed by Mike from Mike + The Mechanics and new age keyboardist Tony Banks.

• Frank Black, following the simultaneous release of his Black Letter Days and Devil’s Workshop, changed his name to “Black Francis” and started a new touring band with Breeder Kim Deal (2002′s Title TK), ex-Martini Joey Santiago and a magician known as The Scientific Phenomalist. They have since recorded a song for the soundtrack to Shrek 2, which was rejected.

• The FutureEmbrace rocker Billy Corgan reteamed with Zwan compatriot Jimmy Chamberlain for an album with seven differently colored covers, and bonus tracks specific to the stores and countries where they could be exclusively purchased. On tour they are joined by members of The Lassie Foundation, the Halo Friendlies and a USC Jazz Piano graduate.

• Flin Flon guitarist Mark Robinson performed a one-time engagement in DC with Teenbeat solo artist Phil Krauth and ex-con Bridget Cross.

• Lutist Sting (Songs From The Labyrinth) introduced a new combo with jazz guitarist/film scorer Andy Summers and Oysterhead drummer/film scorer Stewart Copeland at the 2007 Grammy Awards.

Now it looks like singers Joey McIntyre and Jordan Knight will be harmonizing on Today with Saw II actor Donnie Wahlberg, Upper Street member Danny Wood, and Jordan’s brother Jonathan, a real estate developer. What insanity could be waiting for us next? Morrissey teamed with a Modest Mouse guitarist? Justin Timberlake hooking up with JC Chasez, a would-be astronaut, the host of The Singing Bee and a dude with bad hair? God only knows.

Stone Temple Pilots Plotting Extensive Tour [Billboard]