Big Empty

"Big Empty" is a song by the American hard rock band Stone Temple Pilots that first appeared in 1994 on the soundtrack to the Brandon Lee movie The Crow. The band later included the song on its second album, Purple, and released it as the lead single from that album. The song reached No. 3 and No. 7 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks and Modern Rock Tracks charts, respectively.

Not to be confused with The Big Empty.
"Big Empty"
Australian CD picture sleeve
Single by Stone Temple Pilots
from the album The Crow: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Purple
B-side"Lounge Fly"
ReleasedMay 22, 1994 (1994-05-22)
RecordedMay 25, 1993
StudioThe Record Plant
GenreGrunge, blues rock[1]
Length4:55
LabelAtlantic
Composer(s)Dean DeLeo
Lyricist(s)Scott Weiland
Producer(s)Brendan O'Brien
Stone Temple Pilots singles chronology
"Creep"
(1993)		 "Big Empty"
(1994)		 "Vasoline"
(1994)
Audio sample
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Musically, the song has a similar format to the band's previous single "Creep", beginning with a slow, soft acoustic verse that leads into a loud and distorted chorus with a heavy guitar similar to "Plush". "Big Empty" appears on the greatest hits compilation albums Thank You and Buy This.

AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that "'Big Empty' is a perfect encapsulation of mainstream alienation"[2] and praised it as a highlight on Purple.

Charts
Chart (1994/95) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[3] 63
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Airplay[4] 50
U.S. Billboard Album Rock Tracks[5] 3
U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks[6] 7

Live performances

The song was performed live for the first time during a taping of MTV Unplugged on November 17, 1993, seven months before Purple was released. "Big Empty" was not included when their Unplugged episode debuted in January 1994. However, in May to help promote The Crow soundtrack, MTV placed the Unplugged performance of "Big Empty" into their heavy video rotation, as there was never an official promo video for the song. On STP's 2008 reunion tour, "Big Empty" was the opening song for every show except for the band's performance at the Virgin Mobile Festival in Baltimore on August 10.

References
  1. "25 Years Ago: Stone Temple Pilots Release 'Purple' Album". Loudwire. Retrieved July 9, 2019.
  2. Thomas, Stephen. "Stone Temple Pilots: Purple – ". AllMusic. Retrieved August 29, 2012.
  3. "The ARIA Australian Top 100 Singles Chart – Week Ending 21 May 1995". Imgur.com (original document published by ARIA). Retrieved 2017-04-25.
  4. "Radio Songs – Stone Temple Pilots". Retrieved 2013-03-08.
  5. "Mainstream Rock Tracks – Stone Temple Pilots". Retrieved 2013-03-08.
  6. "Alternative Songs – Stone Temple Pilots". Retrieved 2013-03-08.
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