 Weiland 's lyrics were unique to previous albums , which had been solely focused on himself and his drug addictions . He studied lyricists to learn how to write differently . " [ In ] the ' 90s , I was so overwhelmed with my heroin addiction , and so a lot of the stuff was just from my point of view . Now , I tend to look at some of the greats like Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan . I look at their storytelling [ and ] I try to tell stories . Every song doesn 't have to be narcissistically written about how I feel on that day . " Stone Temple Pilots became the third album Weiland had ever recorded sober , after Velvet Revolver 's Libertad and Stone Temple Pilot 's first album , Core . Weiland was also influenced by his ex @-@ wife , Mary Forsberg , about whom he specifically wrote on " Cinnamon " . Weiland 's inspiration for " First Kiss on Mars " came from the music itself . He explained his lyrics succinctly : " When I first heard [ the song ] , it sounded intergalactic . " Critics and interviewers of the band noticed that Weiland 's vocalizations were drawn from David Bowie . 
