Sour Girl

"Sour Girl"
Single by Stone Temple Pilots
from the album No. 4
B-side "Sex & Violence (live)"
"Sour Girl (live)"
Released April 16, 2000
Format CD single
Recorded 1999
Genre Alternative rock, psychedelic rock
Length 4:16
Label Atlantic
Writer(s) Music: Dean DeLeo
Lyrics: Scott Weiland
Producer(s) Brendan O'Brien
Stone Temple Pilots singles chronology
"Down"
(1999)		 "Sour Girl"
(2000)		 "No Way Out"
(2000)
No. 4 track listing
"Church on Tuesday"
(4)		 "Sour Girl"
(5)		 "No Way Out"
(6)
Music sample
"Sour Girl"
Music video
"Sour Girl" on YouTube

"Sour Girl" is a single by Stone Temple Pilots. The song was written by singer Scott Weiland and guitarist Dean DeLeo for their band's fourth album, entitled No. 4.

Background

After the tumultuous hiatus, the band reunited for 1999's No. 4. The band decided to return to heavy roots - on many of its tracks, most notably first single, "Down". But the album also featured the gentle, largely acoustic single "Sour Girl".[1]

Origin and lyrics

Scott Weiland wrote the song about his first wife, Janina Castaneda. They got married in 1994, as Stone Temple Pilots were becoming one of the biggest bands in America. Weiland admitted that he put her through hell with his capricious behavior that stemmed from his addictions.[2] "Everyone is convinced that it's about my romance with Mary [Forsberg, second wife]," Weiland writes in his autobiography Not Dead and Not For Sale. "But everyone is wrong. 'Sour Girl' was written after the collapse of my relationship with Jannina [Castaneda, first wife]. It's about her. 'She was a sour girl the day that she met me,' I wrote. 'She was a happy girl the day she left me… I was a superman, but looks are deceiving. The rollercoaster ride's a lonely one. I pay a ransom note to stop it from steaming.' The ransom note, of course, was the fortune our divorce was costing me. And the happy state, which I presumed to be Jannina's mood, was because she had finally rid her life of a man who had never been faithful."[3] "Sour Girl" also appears on the compilation albums Thank You and Buy This. It was the only Stone Temple Pilots song from No. 4 to reach the Billboard Hot 100, where it peaked at number 78.[4]

Music video

The music video was released to accompany this single, and stars Sarah Michelle Gellar.[5] Sarah Michelle Gellar, who was a huge fan of the band, played the female lead in the video. At the time, Gellar was a rising star thanks to her TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and her movies Cruel Intentions and I Know What You Did Last Summer.[6] The trippy video was directed by David Slade, whose work includes episodes of Hannibal and the movie The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. The clip features little people in costumes that look like the Teletubbies, which were big at the time. The band claimed this was a coincidence, and that the creatures are based on a dream Weiland had.[7] The clip was nominated for Best Cinematography on MTV Video Music Awards in 2000.[8]

Music and style

"Sour Girl" was a huge departure from grunge sound STP has been known for. Unlike the most part of No. 4, this song is a very soft acoustic ballad with psychedelic rock elements.[9]

Charts

"Sour Girl" was one of STP's biggest hits since the Core and Purple era. Billboard ranked "Sour Girl" at #88 on its list of the 100 Best Rock Songs of the 2000s.[10] The song peaked at number four on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and number three on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart.

(2000) Position
Australia (ARIA)[11] 66
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[12] 78
U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks[13] 4
U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks[14] 3
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Airplay[15] 73

Awards

Year Nominee/work Award Result
2000 "Sour Girl" MTV Video Music Award for Best Cinematography Nominated[16]

Track listing

  1. Sour Girl
  2. Sex & Violence (Live)
  3. Sour Girl (Live)

References

  1. ↑ http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/scott-weiland-a-photo-history-of-his-wild-life-20151204/1999-sour-girl-becomes-stps-biggest-hit-20151204
  2. ↑ http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=1297
  3. ↑ Not Dead and Not For Sale (Scribner, 2010), pp138–139
  4. ↑ http://www.allmusic.com/artist/stone-temple-pilots-mn0000626463/awards
  5. ↑ Sour Girl by Stone Temple Pilots - Songfacts (accessed December 5, 2015)
  6. ↑ http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=1297
  7. ↑ http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=1297
  8. ↑ http://www.rockonthenet.com/artists-s/stonetemplepilots_main.htm
  9. ↑ http://www.allmusic.com/album/no-4-mw0000252509
  10. ↑
  11. ↑ Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010. Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia: Moonlight Publishing.
  12. ↑ "Billboard Hot 100 – Stone Temple Pilots". Retrieved 2013-03-08.
  13. ↑ "Mainstream Rock Tracks – Stone Temple Pilots". Retrieved 2013-03-08.
  14. ↑ "Alternative Songs – Stone Temple Pilots". Retrieved 2013-03-08.
  15. ↑ "Radio Songs – Stone Temple Pilots". Retrieved 2015-07-15.
  16. ↑ http://www.mtv.com/ontv/vma/2000/
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