Vasoline
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| "Vasoline" | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Single by Stone Temple Pilots | ||
| from the album Purple | ||
| B-side(s) | "Meat Plow" "Andy Warhol" (live from MTV Unplugged) "Crackerman" (live from MTV Unplugged)" |
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| Released | 1994 | |
| Format | CD single | |
| Recorded | 1994 | |
| Genre | Hard Rock | |
| Length | 2:56 | |
| Label | Atlantic | |
| Producer(s) | Brendan O'Brien | |
| Stone Temple Pilots singles chronology | ||
| "Interstate Love Song" (1994) |
"Vasoline" (1994) |
"Big Empty" (1994) |
| Purple track listing | ||
| "Meat Plow" (Track 1) |
"Vasoline" (Track 2) |
"Lounge Fly" (Track 3) |
"Vasoline" is a song by the band Stone Temple Pilots from their 1994 sophomore album Purple. The song was the second single of the album (and also the second most successful, only behind Interstate Love Song). The song's odd sounding intro was created by Robert DeLeo, who ran his bass through a Wah-wah pedal to get the said effect.
[edit] Lyrical Meaning
As like most other Stone Temple Pilots songs, the lyrics can be vague and hard to interpret, and many interpretations have been suggested by fans. Although sounding absurd, the most accepted lyrical meaning has the song referring to masturbation, for the subject's past love life had caused him to get in trouble. It's worth noting that many of the lines themselves do actually seem to allude to it. For example, several lines such as these seem to allude very well.
- "Think I'll be safer all alone"
- "Going blind, out of reach"- (blindness is a common myth surrounding excess masturbation)
- "Two times it has rendered me, punch drunk and without bail"
An interesting note is that vaseline is a popular personal lubricant.
[edit] Syncopation
Perhaps one of the strangest things about this song is the use of syncopation in the riff that the guitar and bass play. By itself, the riff sounds something like swung eighth notes alternating between the musical notes F natural and G natural. However, in reality the riff is an alternating sixteenth and eighth note pattern in 3/4 time over a drum beat in 4/4 time, creating a very odd sounding rhythm.
[edit] Music Video
The song still gets a lot of regular rock radio airplay today, and the music video (directed by Kevin Kerslake) was in heavy rotation on MTV when the single was released back in 1994. There were actually three different versions of the video, labeled "X Version", "Y Version", and "Z Version". All three versions are relatively similar, using parts of the same footage with some minor differences and shown at different parts of the song. The video was featured on an episode of Beavis and Butthead.
| Stone Temple Pilots |
| Scott Weiland | Dean DeLeo | Robert DeLeo | Eric Kretz |
| Discography |
|---|
| Studio albums: Core | Purple | Tiny Music... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop | No. 4 | Shangri-La Dee Da |
| Compilations: Thank You |
| Singles: "Sex Type Thing" | "Wicked Garden" | "Plush" | "Creep" | "Big Empty" | "Vasoline" | "Interstate Love Song" | "Unglued" | "Pretty Penny" | "Dancing Days" | "Big Bang Baby" | "Trippin' On a Hole in a Paper Heart" | "Lady Picture Show" | "Tumble In The Rough" | "Down" | "Sour Girl" | "No Way Out" | "Days of the Week" | "Hollywood Bitch" | "Revolution" | "All In The Suit That You Wear" |
| Related articles |
| Talk Show | Velvet Revolver | Army of Anyone |
