"Interstate Love Song"
Single by Stone Temple Pilots
from the album Purple
B-side	"Lounge Fly"
Released	September 1994
Format	CD single, vinyl
Recorded	1994
Genre	Alternative rock, southern rock, grunge
Length	3:14
Label	Atlantic
Writer(s)	Music: Robert DeLeo Lyrics: Scott Weiland
Producer	Brendan O'Brien
Stone Temple Pilots singles chronology
"Vasoline" (1994) "Interstate Love Song" (1994) "Pretty Penny" (1995)
Purple track listing "Lounge Fly" (3) "Interstate Love Song" (4) "Still Remains" (5) Music sample "Interstate Love Song" Music video "Interstate Love Song" on YouTube

"Interstate Love Song" is a song by the American rock band Stone Temple Pilots. Released in 1994, the song is from the second Stone Temple Pilots studio album, Purple. Considered to be one of the band's biggest hits, "Interstate Love Song" reached number one on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart on September 17, 1994. The song it replaced at number one was "Vasoline", also by Stone Temple Pilots. The song stayed at number one for 15 weeks, a record at the time. In 2003, "Interstate Love Song" was featured on the greatest hits compilation Thank You. In 2009, it was named the 58th best hard rock song of all time by VH1.^[1]

Background, recording and release

Bassist Robert DeLeo brought in a song he had been working on when Stone Temple Pilots convened at Cole Rehearsal Studios in Hollywood, California in March 1992. His brother, guitarist Dean DeLeo, said, "We were in Atlanta touring Core, and Robert was playing around with the chords and the melody in a hotel room. I had a feeling about that song immediately." Robert DeLeo stated it was originally a bossa nova song when he began writing it. When he played it for singer Scott Weiland, the vocalist started humming along and turned what was originally the melody for the song's intro into a chorus melody.^[2]

Stone Temple Pilots recorded the song during sessions for Purple at the Southern Tracks studio in Atlanta, Georgia. Weiland was able to complete his vocals for the song in one or two takes.^[2]

Upon its release as a single, "Interstate Love Song" reached #18 on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay and number one on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, where it stayed for fifteen weeks.^[2] The song also reached number two on the Modern Rock Tracks chart and number 22 on the Top 40 Mainstream.^[3]

Composition

The song features a memorable opening guitar riff, containing a sound very reminiscent of the alternative music scene of the time. The riff has also been said to bear a striking resemblance to a riff in Jim Croce's famous 1970s hit, "I Got a Name".^[4] Overall, the song has a notably country-western or Southern rock feel to it, reflective of the "leaving on a Southern train" lyrics.

According to Weiland, the song dealt lyrically with a number of themes, particularly "honesty, lack of honesty, my new relationship with heroin." At the time he was having relationship troubles with his girlfriend, as he was using heroin while recording Purple but told her he no longer was.^[2]

Appearances in other media

• "Interstate Love Song" was made available as downloadable content for the music video game series Rock Band.
• In Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, the song appears as playable track in Judy Nails' Quest Mode.
• The song was featured in the 2012 film Battleship.

Track listing

1. "Interstate Love Song"
2. "Lounge Fly"
3. "Vasoline" [Live]
4. "Interstate Love Song" [Live]

Music video

The music video, directed by Kevin Kerslake, has a washed-out color effect throughout the majority of the video and features a long-nosed protagonist escaping from an unseen pursuer. The protagonist's nose grows longer throughout the video (similar to Pinocchio), to symbolize the theme of lying in the song lyrics. At the beginning of the video, an early 1900s silent film-esque clip of the pursuer and protagonist is shown.

References