No. 4 is the fourth studio album by the rock band Stone Temple Pilots, released on October 26, 1999, by Atlantic Records. The album was a return to the band’s earlier hard rock roots, while also blending elements of heavy metal, psychedelic rock, and alternative rock. The band released 3 singles in support of their album No. 4: Down, released on April 5, 1999, Sour Girl, released on April 16, 2000 and No Way Out, released on May 2000.
Despite the lack of promotion due to singer Scott Weiland‘s one-year jail sentence shortly before the album’s release, No. 4 was certified Platinum by the RIAA on August 7, 2000, and by the CRIA in August 2001. The song Down was nominated for Best Hard Rock Performance at the Grammy Awards. The album also produced one of STP‘s biggest hits, Sour Girl, which charted at #78 on the Billboard Hot 100, their only song to appear on that chart. The CD was originally released as a digipak, then later changed to a standard jewel case.
The cover art for No. 4 generated some brief controversy because it strongly resembled the cover of the debut EP from Washington, D.C. based band Power Lloyd. The Power Lloyd CD Election Day had been released in 1998, and the cover was a white five point star on a black field under the band’s name; STP‘s No. 4 also featured a white five point star on a black field under the band’s name. Power Lloyd co-founder Gene Diotalevi explained that after their band had given a song to MTV to be used on the soundtrack of Celebrity Deathmatch, someone at MTV with an advance copy of No.4 noticed that the covers were nearly identical, and alerted the band. Diotalevi stated that no one from STP‘s camp would return their calls or letters, until his band mailed a cease and desist letter to STP‘s record company. STP‘s legal team then “made an offer to settle that was unacceptable to us”, according to Power Lloyd’s lawyer Will Shill.
Tracklist:
- Down
- Heaven & Hot Rods
- Pruno
- Church on Tuesday
- Sour Girl
- No Way Out
- Sex & Violence
- Glide
- I Got You
- MC5
- Atlanta
Stone Temple Pilots
Scott Weiland: vocals, organ on “Heaven & Hot Rods”
Dean DeLeo: guitars, acoustic guitar on “I Got You”, lapsteel on “I Got You”, six-string bass on “I Got You”
Robert DeLeo: bass, percussion on “Church on Tuesday” and “Sour Girl”, guitars on “Sex & Violence” and “Glide”, fuzz bass on “Glide”, zither on “Glide”, electric guitars on “I Got You”
Eric Kretz: drums, percussion on “No Way Out” and “Atlanta”
Additional personnel
Brendan O’Brien: producer, mixing, backing vocals on “Pruno” and “I Got You”, keyboards on “Church on Tuesday”, percussion on “Church on Tuesday”, “Sour Girl”, “Sex & Violence” and “I Got You”, backing vocals on “Sour Girl”, piano on “Glide” and “I Got You”
David Campbell: string arrangement on “Atlanta”
Suzie Katayama: contractor and cello
Joel Derouin: concertmaster
Evan Wilson: viola
Larry Corbett: cello
Barrett Martin: bass marimba on “Atlanta”
Nick DiDia: recording engineer
Russ Fowler: recording engineer
Dave Reed: engineer
Allen Sides: engineer
Stephen Marcussen: mastering
Andrew Garver: digital editing
Erin Haley: production coordinator
Cheryl Mondello: production coordinator
Richard Bates: art direction
Andrea Brooks: art direction
Chapman Baehler: photography
Steve Stewart: management
Scott Weiland (October 27, 1967 – December 3, 2015).
