Heavy, or even somewhat aggressively performed music has largely fallen out of the mainstream zeitgeist. When Stone Temple Pilots vocalist Scott Weiland died in 2015, the cultural arbiters of our time treated their rememberances of him with embarrassed bemusement, like priests trying to explain kickboxing to preschoolers.

But heavy music is like any music - eternally relevant if done well. It is brave, and bravery tends to unsettle.

Most first wave grunge bands built their heaviness on a headbanging, moshing model. You could argue where STP fits in this chronology - they were contemporaries with Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, etc. but they have been accused of appropriating those bands. But I submit that their style of heaviness is unique from those groups. "Big Empty" draws on the Led Zeppelin school of heaviness: Acoustic blues verses, astute slide guitar, drumming layered with soft rolls and ghost notes; Choruses of exultant open chords, eschewing just driving the low fifths. The middle instrumental is also of the Zeppelin school, something "Whole Lotta Love" did with a more playful attitude.

"Big Empty" is not playful. It is earnest to the point of being mockable by those who like to poke holes. It is a Great Song. Maybe fewer can feel it today.