On June 7th, 1994, Stone Temple Pilots released their seminal sophomore album, Purple. The record forever immortalized the San Diego band as one of the most important grunge acts of all time, and it spurred multiple long-lasting hits including "Interstate Love Song" and "Vasoline." However, in November of 1993, STP gave fans a first taste of what was to come by performing Purple's lead single, "Big Empty," during their MTV Unplugged performance.
The track was so strong that it ended up being included on the soundtrack for Brandon Lee's cult-classic movie, The Crow, which hit theaters before STP even released "Big Empty" as a stand-alone single. Also featuring music by The Cure, Nine Inch Nails and Rage Against the Machine, the film's soundtrack has become just as iconic — if not moreso — than the movie itself, and MTV's Alternative Nation was the ideal platform for a deep-dive into the artists who played on it.
A couple weeks before the film's release on May 11th, 1994, the MTV show hosted by Kennedy re-broadcasted STP's unplugged performance of "Big Empty" during an hour-long special that also featured NIN, Jesus and the Mary Chain and the Violent Femmes. Seated in a rocking chair, STP frontman Scott Weiland delivered a heartfelt rendition of the future hit while his bandmates rocked out as best they could while seated.
It's a visceral flashback to a very specific period in rock history, and it's an artifact of the immense promise that STP showed just before their popularity truly exploded. Check it out above via YouTube, and peep part one of the hour-long special below if you want to catch the whole thing.
