"Interstate Love Song" is a single by American rock band Stone Temple Pilots. Released in 1994, the song was released as the third single from the band's second studio album, Purple. One of the band's biggest hits, "Interstate Love Song" reached number one on the US BillboardAlbum Rock Tracks chart on September 17, 1994, replacing the band's previous single "Vasoline". The song stayed at number one for 15 weeks, a record at the time, and gave the Stone Temple Pilots 17 consecutive weeks at number one. It also peaked at number two on the BillboardModern Rock Tracks chart and in Iceland as well as number 20 in Canada.
"Interstate Love Song" has been hailed as one of the best songs of the 1990s[1] and was included on STP's greatest hits compilation Thank You in 2003. In 2009, it was named the 58th best hard rock song of all time by VH1.[2] The song was ranked at number 17 on Australian alternative music station Triple J's Hottest 100 countdown of 1994, and Pitchfork ranked it at number 175 on its list of "The Top 200 Tracks of the 1990s."[3]
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.[4] 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 take.[4]
Upon its release as a single, "Interstate Love Song" reached number 18 on the BillboardHot 100 Airplay and number one on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, where it stayed for fifteen weeks.[4] The song also reached number two on the Modern Rock Tracks chart and number 22 on the Top 40 Mainstream.[5] In 2015, Loudwire and Stereogum ranked the song number one and number two, respectively, on their lists of the 10 greatest Stone Temple Pilots songs.[6][7]
According to Weiland, the lyrics are about the troubles he was having with his girlfriend, Jannina, at the time, saying, "The words are about the lies I was trying to conceal while making the Purple record".[14][15][16] "She'd ask how I was doing, and I'd lie, say I was doing fine," he wrote in his autobiography Not Dead and Not For Sale. "I imagined what was going through her mind when I wrote, 'Waiting on a Sunday afternoon for what I read between the lines, your lies, feelin' like a hand in rusted shame, so do you laugh or does it cry? Reply?'"[16]
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 protagonist is shown.
^Interstate Love Song (European CD single liner notes). Stone Temple Pilots. Atlantic Records. 1994. A7192CD, 7567-85615-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^Interstate Love Song (UK 7-inch single sleeve). Stone Temple Pilots. Atlantic Records. 1994. A7192X, 7567-87192-7.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^Interstate Love Song (UK cassette single sleeve). Stone Temple Pilots. Atlantic Records. 1994. A7192C.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^Interstate Love Song (German CD single liner notes). Stone Temple Pilots. Atlantic Records. 1994. 7567-85635-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^Interstate Love Song (Australian CD single liner notes). Stone Temple Pilots. Atlantic Records. 1994. 7567856352.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
