Song: "Interstate Love Song" (acoustic)
Artist: Stone Temple Pilots
Album: Taken from VH1 Storytellers
Year: 2000
IN MEMORIAM:
SCOTT WEILAND
1967-2015
Normally my song of the week comes with a small description of what I think the song is about, the artist's releases and a little bit of the band's history and possibly what's in store for the future. But every now and then, one of these artist's passes on. So, in that case, i'd like to offer a little bit about what Scott Weiland meant to me. When I was about 16, the first band that really hit home with me was Pearl Jam, which to this day is still my favorite band. When Stone Temple Pilots debut album "Core" came out in 1992, I can admit, I was guilty of calling the band a bit of a rip off. Weiland's growl was eerily similar to that of Eddie Vedder and Weiland was also making his best Vedder facial impressions in their video for the song "Plush". Deep down however, I had to be real with myself. "Plush" was a fuckin' great song!! 1994's "Purple" was the game changer with me. To me, this was the album where STP found their sound and style. Weiland himself has said that the band was trying to latch on to the grunge movement with "Core". He identified more with glam rock and even pop punk. He was more L.A. than Seattle. He found his voice on "Purple". And it was not that deep "Vedder" like growl. He was our generation's Bowie. Glammy, yet he explored several different musical avenues with his music. He could be psychedelic, he could be grunge, he could be mainstream arena rock, he could be trashy and he could be soft. His lyrics were often deep, routed in failed relationships and losing battles with addiction. In my mind, Stone Temple Pilots was Weiland's mark. Yes, he did release 2 very good albums with the all star group Velvet Revolver which featured ex- Guns'n'Roses members Slash and Duff McKagan. And he also released very eclectic solo albums. It was STP that made Weiland the star he was. He was an enigmatic frontman. He controlled both the stage and the crowd with his slanky like movements and powerful voice. Years ago, I paid tribute on this site to Tony Sly, frontman of punk band No Use For A Name, and in that tribute I mentioned that there's something to be said for bands and songs that you grew up on. I began following STP at 18 years old. Still trying to figure out what I wanted to do in life and which direction I wanted to go and to be honest, like so many kids, I had no idea. But whatever I did, I was always provided a great soundtrack through it all, and Scott Weiland and Stone Temple Pilots was heavily featured in that soundtrack. Just think back to how trully great their songs were. "Plush", "Interstate Love Song", "Dead And Bloated", "Unglued", "Big Empty", "Wicked Garden", "Trippin' On A Hole..", "Big Bang Baby", "Days Of The Week", "Between The Lines", "Down", "Sour Girl" and so on and so on. There's just so many great tunes by this band. If you can do drugs recreationally, God bless you. When they begin to control your everyday life, they begin to destroy you. Scott had his demons and his constant struggles with drugs and like Layne Staley and even Kurt Cobain, they destroyed him. And that is the tragedy, because he had more songs in him. Songs that would impact people in ways that maybe he himself could not imagine. I only know the man from his music. So my only tribute to him is to still play his music and feel the enjoyment of listening to it. The music world lost another great talent. And while his songs remind me of my youth, his passing acknowledges i'm getting old.
R.I.P.
Scott Weiland
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