No. 4 (officially stylized as № 4) is the fourth studio album by the American rock band Stone Temple Pilots, released on October 26, 1999, by Atlantic Records. The album was a return to the band's earlier hard rock roots, while also blending elements of heavy metal, psychedelic rock and alternative rock. Despite the lack of promotion, due to singer Scott Weiland's one-year jail sentence shortly before the album's release, No. 4 was certified Platinum by the RIAA on August 7, 2000,
Musical style
No. 4, one of the last big-budget grunge and alternative rock albums of the 1990s, combines the hard rock-oriented sound of Core and Purple, with the glam and pop rock influences of Tiny Music... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic considered the album the band's "hardest effort" since Core, remarking that "even the ballads and neo-psychedelic pop have none of the swirling production that distinguished Tiny Music," adding that it "consolidates all [of STP's] strengths."
Critical reception
AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine rated the album four out of five stars, praising the opening tracks "Down" and "Heaven & Hot Rods". Entertainment Weekly critic Rob Brunner graded it "C", calling the album "generic and phoned in" and mostly "unexciting and obvious". Brunner deemed "Down" as "dour", "No Way Out" as a "dated" Jane's Addiction ripoff, and "Atlanta" as "pretentious" and "lugubrious". Brunner further deemed the tracks "Sex & Violence" and "Pruno" as "hardly original" and having resemblances to David Bowie but also as "well-crafted". Rolling Stone critic Lorraine Ali rated it three out of five, calling the songs "strong pop-rock pieces but without the self-consciousness of previous efforts". CMJ New Music Monthly critic M. Tye Comer called the album "powerful and cohesive", recommending readers to listen the tracks "Heaven & Hot Rods", "Church on Tuesday", "Sour Girl", and "No Way Out". Critics noted similarities between "Atlanta" and "My Favorite Things" from the 1959 musical The Sound of Music.
Artwork
The cover art for No. 4 generated some brief controversy because it strongly resembled the cover of the debut EP from Washington, D.C.–based band Power Lloyd. The Power Lloyd CD Election Day had been released in 1998, and the cover was a white five-point star on a black field under the band's name; STP's No. 4 also featured a white five-point star on a black field under the band's name. Power Lloyd co-founder Gene Diotalevi explained that after their band had given a song to MTV to be used on the soundtrack of Celebrity Deathmatch, someone at MTV with an advance copy of No. 4 noticed that the covers were nearly identical, and alerted the band. Diotalevi stated that no one from STP's camp would return their calls or letters, until his band mailed a cease-and-desist letter to STP's record company. STP's legal team then "made an offer to settle that was unacceptable to us", according to Power Lloyd's lawyer Will Shill.
Track listing
Personnel
Stone Temple Pilots
- Scott Weiland – vocals, organ on "Heaven & Hot Rods"
- Dean DeLeo – electric and acoustic guitars, lap steel and six-string bass on "I Got You"
- Robert DeLeo – bass, backing vocals, percussion on "Church on Tuesday" and "Sour Girl", guitar on "Sex and Violence", "Glide", and "I Got You", fuzz bass and zither on "Glide"
- Eric Kretz – drums, percussion on "No Way Out" and "Atlanta"
Additional personnel
- Brendan O'Brien – producer, mixing, backing vocals on "Pruno", "Sour Girl" and "I Got You", keyboards on "Church on Tuesday", percussion on "Church on Tuesday", "Sour Girl", "Sex & Violence" and "I Got You", piano on "Glide" and "I Got You"
- David Campbell – string arrangement on "Atlanta"
- Suzie Katayama – contractor and cello
- Joel Derouin – concertmaster
- Evan Wilson – violin
- Larry Corbett – cello
- Barrett Martin – bass marimba on "Atlanta"
- Nick DiDia – recording engineer
- Russ Fowler – recording engineer
- Dave Reed – engineer
- Allen Sides – engineer
- Stephen Marcussen – mastering
- Andrew Garver – digital editing
- Erin Haley – production coordinator
- Cheryl Mondello – production coordinator
- Richard Bates – art direction
- Andrea Brooks – art direction
- Chapman Baehler – photography
- Steve Stewart – management
Charts
Weekly charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+1999–2000 weekly chart performance for No. 4
|-
!Chart (1999–2000)
!Peak<br />position
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
!scope="row"| UK Albums (OCC)
|align"center"| 101
|-
|-
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+2024 weekly chart performance for No. 4
|-
!Chart (2024)
!Peak<br />position
|-
! scope="row"| Hungarian Physical Albums (MAHASZ)
| 21
|}
Year-end charts
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+Year-end chart performance for No. 4
|-
!Chart (2000)
!Position
|-
! scope="row"|Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)
|176
|-
!scope="row"|US Billboard 200
|161
|}