Since you’re on the internet, you’re most certainly aware Scott Weiland died yesterday. Like too many musicians, he was younger than he should’ve been. And as we could’ve guessed, drugs is at least somehow connected (reports are coming out about cocaine being found, albeit small amounts). Scott had been in and out of relationships with hard drugs throughout his career, and it’s not a story I care to tell.
I don’t listen to a lot of STP anymore, or much of any grunge really (I’ll listen to the Nirvana Unplugged album anytime, but that’s generally the exception), but I still have fond memories of them. When I think of them, I tend to remember being a youngster taking bass guitar lessons and asking my instructor to teach me “Creep”. He said they reminded him of Led Zeppelin, which 15 year old me thought was blasphemy. But with a little perspective added, I got what he was saying. Regardless, I put them squarely in the top 5 for bands of the grunge era. Not as much longevity as Pearl Jam or as edgy (in some ways) as Soundgarden, but I think they had better songs than both. I suppose that puts them in the top 3 from that genre. It helped that they weren’t a Seattle band too, giving a different take on the sound, especially in their later albums where they mixed in a lot of 60’s California pop.
Anyway, I have nothing profound to say as a retrospective. Magazines and blogs will put out long “in memory” pieces, and they already have in many cases. But still, I’m glad Weiland and Stone Temple Pilots existed. They made good music and helped proved brothers can be in a band without constantly fighting or being weird. So long, Scott.