Vasoline
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| “Vasoline” | ||||||||||||||
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| Single by Stone Temple Pilots from the album Purple |
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| B-side | "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 | Brendan O'Brien | |||||||||||||
| Stone Temple Pilots singles chronology | ||||||||||||||
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"Vasoline" is a song by the band Stone Temple Pilots from their second 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. The song's lyrics were written by vocalist Scott Weiland.
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[edit] Composition and 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. During STP's performance of "Vasoline" on VH1 Storytellers, Scott says that the song is about "feeling like an insect under a magnifying glass."
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 radio airplay today, and the music video (directed by Kevin Kerslake) was in heavy rotation on MTV when the single was released 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. The video contains a scene where all the band members are in a lake with only their heads visible. This image is very similar to the cover of Spiderland by Slint.
[edit] Notable appearances
- "Vasoline" is a playable track in the video game Rock Band.
- It is also featured in SingStar Amped.
[edit] Cover versions
- Velvet Revolver, Army of Anyone and Alternate End have covered the song at several shows.
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