The Stone Temple Pilots are often associated with the grunge alternative burst of the early 1990s. Their debut album Core and sophomore release Purple shot the group into mainstream success, although critics accused them of ripping off contemporaries Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains. The criticisms were overshadowed, however, by an abundance of fans who lapped up their catchy tunes littering alternative rock stations and MTV in the band's heyday. Cribbing was just one of Stone Temple's bad press ghosts; another was lead singer Scott Weiland's well-publicized heroin addiction. Weiland's ins-and-outs of drug addiction and other personal problems lead to the band's popular demise in the late '90s. Weiland took off to purse a solo career and later joined Velvet Revolver with ex-Guns N' Roses cronies Slash and Duff McKagan.