I'm not saying STP didn't have talent. Weiland was a great vocalist (emphasis on was), and on those first two records they had some really, really great songs.

"Plush" and "Big Empty" specifically.

STP were a terrible band, but why wouldn't I group them with those other bands? They played music that fit under the same vague umbrella as the others and were from the same time period. They're actually slightly older than Pearl Jam and Nirvana.

I also agree that STP would be under the grunge label, although they always had a slight different sound & style as some of the others bands did from the same era, (in my opinion) especially later on in their career with their '99 album release 'No.4' with the single Sour Girl, when compared to the traditional rock sound of STPs music, with other singles from the same album No.4 (singles) Down and No Way Out
But their debut album 'Core' was as grunge as you would want with singles like Wicked Garden, Plush and so on, in my opinion STP started to develope a more distinctive sounding personality musically with the release of Purple in '94, with singles like Interstate Love Song & Vasoline.
Core is my favorite album by STP, but I also liked the progression of their musical style with the album No.4 and the single Sour Girl, for example.
Their 2001 album release of Shangri-La Dee Da with the single, Days Of The Week, was even more to my own personal liking musically, Hollywood Bitch, etc.
I always liked Robert DeLeo as a bassist, underrated in my opinion.

SOUNDGARDEN. YouTube - Soundgarden - Spoonman

LOL, praising STP and taking shots at Bush...

Soundgarden is pretty sweet. I really enjoyed Superunknown and Down on the Upside. To bad they had to split. They seem to be okay with reunions, so why can't they go in the studio and record!?

They were replicating the sounds of those Seattle bands, they didn't create the sound themselves.

That is the difference.

I think what he meant to say was that STP was considered as a grunge band as well also along with the other bands from the same era, their debut album Core was released in '92 so...
STPs style was a little different than the other grunge bands from the same era, as I stated before, STP dabbled more into psychedelic and funk rock, etc. more so than most of the original grunge bands did, especially from the mid 90s and so on into the next decade.

Why is this such a big deal? Who cares if any band was grunge or not? STP started by riding the grunge wave but ended up with their own little area in music. It doesn't quite matter if someone copied another band or not to be considered that kind of music. Smashing Pumpkins were considered grunge because Billy was loosely linked with Nirvana but after Siamese Dream came out they pretty much completely tore themselves from the label. Alice In Chains, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam...they were and still are considered grunge.

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Like I said before: They're actually slightly older than Pearl Jam and Nirvana.

If you mean grunge as in the Seattle rock scene then no, STP had nothing to do with that.

If you mean the grunge style then yeah I guess they are grunge. Though I mostly apply "post grunge" to any band not from Seattle who capitalized on the grunge craze and played a slicker and more commercialized version of what came out of the Seattle scene. And so I consider STP and Bush to be the first post grunge bands.