Songoftheday 8/18/19 - Waiting on a Sunday afternoon for what I read between the lines, your lies feelin' like a hand in rusted shame...

"Interstate Love Song" - Stone Temple Pilots
from the album Purple (1994)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: ineligible to chart
Billboard Hot 100 Airplay peak: #18 (one week)
Weeks in the Hot 100 Airplay Top-40: 24

Today's song of the day comes from the post-grunge rock band Stone Temple Pilots, whose second album Purple had already spun out two radio hits that couldn't reach the official pop Hot 100 because they were not released commercially as physical singles: "Big Empty", which was also a big part of the soundtrack to the movie The Crow, and "Vasoline", which even made the airplay top-40 but couldn't be found on Casey Kasem's American Top-40 countdown many of us grew up with. Such also was the case with the third release from the album, "Interstate Love Song", a chunky rock piece that was instantly recognizable yet not toss-away sing-a-long number with even the title missing from the lyrics. Written by lead singer Scott Weiland and bassist Robert DiLeo and produced by Brendan O'Brien, the track became the band's biggest radio hit nonetheless...

While "Interstate Love Song" set a record at the time for it's fifteen week stay at #1 on Billboard magazine's Mainstream Rock radio chart, because of their rules on the official pop Hot 100 chart, it wasn't eligible to place there, though on the airplay component the song climbed to the top-20 in December of 1994, spending 30 weeks on the chart and 24 of those within the top-40. The track also spent two weeks at #2 on their Modern/Alternative Rock radio list. Internationally, where the song was mostly released commercially, it peaked at #20 in Canada, while being a minor hit in New Zealand (#47), Australia (#50), and the UK (#53).

A fourth radio release from the album, "Unglued", made it to #8 on the Mainstream Rock list and #16 on the Modern Rock tally in Billboard, and was a minor hit in Canada at #64. Lastly, "Pretty Penny" went to #12 on the Mainstream Rock format in 1995.

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Here's the band in concert in 1994...