Plush

"Plush" was written in a hot tub at the Oakwood Apartments, its music built from guitar exercises Robert DeLeo had been working through. His part combined a country riff and ragtime chords with metal stylings, and the piece came together as a slow and steady blend of grunge, alternative rock and hard rock. Scott Weiland and drummer Eric Kretz co-wrote the lyrics, drawing on a newspaper article Weiland had read about a girl who was kidnapped and later found murdered in Melbourne, Australia in the early 1990s. Weiland later explained on VH1 Storytellers that the case gave him fuel to write, though the song was really a metaphor for a lost, obsessive relationship. Dean DeLeo offered a third reading in 2017, saying Weiland and Kretz were thinking about the future of themselves and their significant others.

The title was chosen by Weiland, who was trying to get textures in with words and his thoughts, according to Kretz. The band had considered "Plush" as an album title before settling on it for the song.

Both Weiland and Atlantic Records expected the track to draw attention, and the label suggested it lead off the band's 1992 debut album, Core. The band declined, instead burying it at track nine and releasing it as the album's second single. Robert DeLeo said the move was intentional, explaining that they wanted a career rather than one huge hit followed by the question of what came next.