After 27 years, Stone Temple Pilots have finally released the complete remastered version of their 1990 track “Only Dying.” The band had planned to re-record the song for The Crow soundtrack, but canceled those plans after the film’s star Brandon Lee died on set in a tragic accident, so this demo version is all that exists.
Scott Weiland confirmed in a November 2015 interview with Alternative Nation that the track was indeed recorded in 1990. Weiland said, “‘Only Dying’ was written way before Brandon Lee died. It was written in 1990.”
Dean DeLeo told Alternative Nation in October 2013, “The [demo] session with ‘Only Dying’ was just one session. “Wicked Garden” and “Naked Sunday” were another session. Our dear dear friend Tracy Chisum snuck us into Sound Castle when they closed their doors and shut down at 12 midnight. We went in there at midnight and recorded those two songs from about 12AM to 8AM.”
Eric Kretz told Alternative Nation in October 2013, “When we had the opportunity for The Crow it was like, we should go back in and redo that song? Because there were a lot of elements of that song that were really dark, it was just a matter of reworking in a few things. Then when Brandon died it was such a shame, so we figured we should do a different song (laughs).”
