Plush

Stone Temple Pilots, 1992, from Core. Solo by Dean DeLeo.

A tidy, singable solo that borrows the song's harmonic twists and resolves them cleanly.

Plush rides a moody, harmonically rich chord progression, and Dean DeLeo's solo borrows its twists and resolves them cleanly. His phrasing is tidy and singable, tracing the song's unusual changes with melodic lines and smooth bends rather than scale runs. The solo feels like a natural extension of the song, almost a wordless verse, and that is exactly why it sticks in the memory. It helped establish DeLeo as a player who valued composition, borrowing more from 1970s rock craft than from punk. Listen for how each phrase lands on a note that fits the underlying chord precisely, so the solo keeps offering small moments of resolution against the song's darker mood.

Plush by Stone Temple Pilots is featured in our Grunge (#17) list. The solo is played by Dean DeLeo and the song was released in 1992.

In our lists

• The Most-Taught Solos — #39
• The 25 Greatest Grunge Guitar Solos — #17
• The Best Stone Temple Pilots Guitar Solos — #2

Sources