"Days of the Week," Stone Temple Pilots (2001)

A sunny bop about heroin addiction

Peak: #5 on the alternative chart
Streams: 5.6 million

Sonically, Stone Temple Pilots were never one type of band. They broke onto the scene with heavy rock songs like “Wicked Garden” and “Plush,” but even that first album featured the power ballad “Creep.” Then came Purple, which veered from Southern-tinged rock (“Interstate Love Song”) to twitchy alt-rock (“Vasoline”). That presaged sharp left turns like “Sour Girl,” with its psychedelic spaciness, and “Lady Picture Show,” with its beautiful, R.E.M-adjacent melody and harmonies. (I wrote about R.E.M.’s elegance here.)

So really, it’s not surprising that the first single from the band’s 2001, self-titled album sounds like nothing they’d released before. Instead, “Days of the Week” is a power-pop explosion that might’ve come from Weezer or Fountains of Wayne.