Promises of what I seemed to be
December 4, 2015 6:44 AM   Subscribe

 
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posted by evilDoug at 6:48 AM on December 4, 2015


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posted by Jughead at 6:49 AM on December 4, 2015


STP is the sound of high school for me. I'm not surprised by this given Weiland's struggles with substance abuse but I'm really sad. Sour Girl will be on repeat today.

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posted by supercrayon at 6:50 AM on December 4, 2015 [10 favorites]


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posted by juliplease at 6:52 AM on December 4, 2015


One of my most vivid memories from my teenage years was lying side by side with my best friend in her tiny twin bed all day on a Saturday, listening to all of Purple on repeat until we'd memorized most of the songs.
posted by Alison at 6:52 AM on December 4, 2015 [12 favorites]


There is something extra tragic about a death that comes as a surprise to no one.

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posted by bondcliff at 6:53 AM on December 4, 2015 [42 favorites]


A friend on Facebook summed up my thoughts, musically speaking anyway, so I'm reposting here...
Weiland was a buffoon, a cretin, but what made him so interesting was that he would have those moments where he transcended this utterly and made really compelling pop music. "Big Bang Baby" - Bolan-style glam at the market height of "Bush" AOR grunge. "Interstate Love Song" - just a timeless jam that we'll still be hearing on the radio in 2060. His entire "12 Bar Blues" solo record full of creaky drum machines, vibraphones, synths, accordions, and Bowie worship - it's still compelling today, and NOBODY got it at the time. The Magnificent Bastards' "Mockingbird Girl" on the Tank Girl soundtrack, perfect power pop. All of STP's "Tiny Music" record, a legitimately audacious left turn at the height of their commercial popularity. It's easy to eulogize him as king "Meatplow" moron, but I always liked that he'd throw you a curveball.
posted by naju at 6:53 AM on December 4, 2015 [23 favorites]


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posted by Rock Steady at 6:53 AM on December 4, 2015


:(

We all have childhood dreams of doing something cool with our lives, but I feel like the world has really gone out of its way with "rock musician", in particular, to say "Nope, that's a living hell actually!"
posted by selfnoise at 6:55 AM on December 4, 2015 [7 favorites]


This was inevitable; Weiland was a staple of any death pool. The saddest thing, though, is his best work with STP came long after everyone had stopped listening to them. Weiland dropped the copycat growl, sang in a baritone that could soar into a sweet falsetto, moved with the band in a more melodic direction and wrote straightforward lyrics about grownup things like divorce, fatherhood, and the depression that's so evident in songs like Black Again and Bi-Polar Bear.
posted by bassomatic at 6:58 AM on December 4, 2015 [5 favorites]


He was an elegant bachelor.

Okay, now that the snotty 90s record store clerk in me had his little comment, I want to say that this bums me out. The guy has been struggling for 25 years or something, and STP was much better than anyone gave them credit for. I wrote them off as a dude-bro Pearl Jam rip-off, but it's clear the two went off into two wildly different musical directions. (And the bands that would come later in the 90s really showed us what a shitty Pearl Jam rip-off really was.)

The DeLeo brothers were something to behold and "Interstate Love Song" is a stone cold classic song and video. I miss that sound. Crunchy guitars, rumbling yet melodic bass.
posted by entropicamericana at 6:58 AM on December 4, 2015 [16 favorites]


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posted by Cash4Lead at 7:00 AM on December 4, 2015


I was always lukewarm on STP, but this sucks for his family. I will always always love The Big Empty by them, though. I must have played this thousand times in the 90s.
posted by Kitteh at 7:01 AM on December 4, 2015 [4 favorites]


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posted by tonycpsu at 7:02 AM on December 4, 2015


I like that he was secure enough in his masculinity to take the stage as Hedwig at one of his band's shows.
posted by pxe2000 at 7:08 AM on December 4, 2015 [8 favorites]


Man. I was kind of surprised to hear this on the radio this AM. I mean, yeah the guy had problems but I still don't go around expecting it to go badly. The optimist in me wants people with drug problems to find a way to get past it. Sadly it doesn't happen as often as it could.

I still have my copy of Core from college. I think I need to give it a spin again in memorium.
posted by caution live frogs at 7:17 AM on December 4, 2015 [3 favorites]


I can't think of many others who dodged the bullet with their name on it for as long as he did.

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posted by Cosine at 7:24 AM on December 4, 2015 [3 favorites]


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posted by Navelgazer at 7:25 AM on December 4, 2015


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posted by meinvt at 7:26 AM on December 4, 2015


Totally agree with the sentiment that STP was way over-ridiculed at the time they were the most popular (dismissed as Pearl Jam ripoffs, etc.) and then it turned out long after the fact that theirs was some of the best music of its kind in the 1990s. Nobody remembers half the bands at the time that were plowing the same terrain, but Core and Purple are essential listening. As I recall, No. 4 was quite good too.
posted by blucevalo at 7:32 AM on December 4, 2015 [5 favorites]


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posted by dlugoczaj at 7:35 AM on December 4, 2015


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posted by lord_wolf at 7:35 AM on December 4, 2015


48. Shit. That's young.
posted by josher71 at 7:40 AM on December 4, 2015 [2 favorites]


I remember my dad telling me as a pre-teen in the 90's that he heard a radio DJ refer to STP as the "Syringe Toting Pilots."

I think bondcliff said it best above:

There is something extra tragic about a death that comes as a surprise to no one.

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posted by bondcliff at 9:53 AM on December 4

posted by glaucon at 7:43 AM on December 4, 2015 [1 favorite]


Is there any actual evidence it was drug-related? Lot of assumption going going here.
posted by gottabefunky at 7:43 AM on December 4, 2015 [2 favorites]


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posted by aerotive at 7:44 AM on December 4, 2015


Is there any actual evidence it was drug-related? Lot of assumption going going here.

From Weiland's FB page: "At this time we ask that the privacy of Scott’s family be respected."

I'm okay with that, given everything.
posted by graymouser at 7:54 AM on December 4, 2015


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posted by NedKoppel at 7:54 AM on December 4, 2015



posted by Gelatin at 7:55 AM on December 4, 2015


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Agreed that the DeLeo brothers were a great songwriting tandem, and there's a lot more in the guitars and bass on those STP records than is given credit for. Weiland was an early offender in the yarling sweepstakes, but he had a great melodic sense that became clear on records after STP's debut.

This feels a bit like Layne Staley, albeit a decade later.
posted by Existential Dread at 7:59 AM on December 4, 2015 [9 favorites]


Well that's a shame.
I was kind of meh on STP when they were in their prime. It was a period where every band started sounding the same, with every rock bro using that same, affected Alternative Voice which was like nails on a chalk board to me. But I really liked Big Bang Baby when that album came out; such a great, catchy riff that managed to be dark and poppy at the same time, and the video was great with that cheap cable access show quality when everything else was slick slo-mo muted film footage.

48 is insane.

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posted by chococat at 8:02 AM on December 4, 2015 [5 favorites]


Oh man, if I made a soundtrack to my undergrad years, Interstate Love Song would be one of the first songs on it. '94, right? Sophomore year. Still young enough that music was so so so meaningful in my every interaction. Teens and early 20s: they are the ages where, when you hear a song from that age you immediately go back there. So many associated memories.

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posted by gaspode at 8:04 AM on December 4, 2015 [6 favorites]


The last time I saw STP live was at the Greek back in 2008. This was one of STP's sporadic "Scott's got his shit together" tours that they would do every now and again to attempt to kickstart the band and that night at least everything clicked. They sounded great, they performed sharply and Scott was in full-on frontman peacock mode. In fact I remember being struck by how much I missed charismatic frontmen, the aughts being kind of barren for that sort of thing.
What I was really taken aback by was the sheer breadth of their catalog. If you had asked me before the show how many of their songs I knew I would have honestly answered "three or four" since they were hardly my cuppa back in their 90s heyday. But as the show rolled on, 3 or 4 became 11 or 12 became 20+. For a band that I remember deriding as a grungey-come-lately wannabe act in 1992 they certainly had the songcraft chops and probably defined what that era sounded like a lot more than other more respected acts from that timeframe.
RIP Scott Weiland. Shame you couldn't get it together but thanks for all the songs.
posted by Senor Cardgage at 8:04 AM on December 4, 2015 [8 favorites]


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posted by Thorzdad at 8:09 AM on December 4, 2015


Listening back to their songs this morning...I wasn't a fan, but I like that they had the songwriting skills to write glam-rock anthems worthy of T-Rex and Slade, and that Weiland had the charisma to pull them off. Seems like the Hedwig costume wasn't a lark, but that it worked with their music in a way I can only appreciate now.

RIP, dude.
posted by pxe2000 at 8:14 AM on December 4, 2015 [3 favorites]


>>The last time I saw STP live was at the Greek back in 2008. This was one of STP's sporadic "Scott's got his shit together" tours that they would do every now and again to attempt to kickstart the band and that night at least everything clicked. They sounded great, they performed sharply and Scott was in full-on frontman peacock mode.

I saw them in 2002, which would have been closer to their prime but right before their first formal "break-up," and had a similar experience. One of the best shows I've seen.
posted by AndrewInDC at 8:21 AM on December 4, 2015 [1 favorite]


I remember spring 1996 when the "Big Bang Baby" video came out and flipping out over how cool it was. The cheap 1981 Pacific Video style aesthetic was so perfect and such and antidote to the tired overdone Matt Mahurin/ faux-Fincher videos that dominated the rest of MTV's broadcast day at the time. Of course my basic-ass friends at the time hated it because "it looks cheap" and the ubiquitous "it's dumb", before returning to their turgid Seven Mary Three and Everclear and the like. But for me that video was where I was like "ok there's more going on than just AOR grunge here."
Naturally that single stiffed and the record company scrambled to follow it up with something more in line with Purple.
posted by Senor Cardgage at 8:21 AM on December 4, 2015 [7 favorites]


I was talking to someone about "four elementals of grunge," and I came up with:

Cobain/Air
Vedder/Earth
Cornell/Water
Weiland/Fire
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 8:28 AM on December 4, 2015 [42 favorites]


I saw them open up for the Butthole Surfers in 1993, and even then, Weiland seemed to have the same struggle that a lot of grunge frontmen did - feelings of revulsion for their biggest fan base, the fratbros. Someone threw a football at him during Wicked Garden. Dude caught it in the middle of his trademark Slamdance Of One routine, tucked it under his arm, and told the teeming sea of baseball hats and Oakley sunglasses, "You know we can just leave right now, go back stage and get drunk. We'll get paid either way." A few cheers, a few boos, and many unsatisfied grumbles. Even so, they kept going, and did their job well.

I can't say I was a fan of STP, though I loved Interstate Love Song, but that moment with the football instilled in me a sense of respect for what the guy was trying to do. RIP.
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 8:32 AM on December 4, 2015 [10 favorites]


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posted by A hidden well at 8:36 AM on December 4, 2015


"In fact I remember being struck by how much I missed charismatic frontmen, the aughts being kind of barren for that sort of thing."

As someone who was at the perfect (teen)age to be into grunge music I did my duty and listed to Stone Temple Pilots but they were never my favorite. Weiland always stood out, though, as exactly what you said: charismatic frontman. He was the natural successor to say, Axl Rose, after having been passed through a filter of 90s cool to strip out the 80s excess.

The first time I saw the video for Johnny Cash's 'God's Gonna Cut You Down' I was struck by how there could be this parade of famous faces, important people, and then BAM! there's Scott Weiland out-charisma-ing and out-sexing everyone else in under 2 full seconds of screen time. I won't link specifically to when he shows up because I think the effect is better if you just watch until you hit it.

Some people fill their calling and I think Weiland was truly born to be the frontman that he was. I don't think there's anything else he could have been. It's a real shame that it came with the price it did.
posted by komara at 8:39 AM on December 4, 2015 [10 favorites]


This makes me remember watching The Crow with pips, a friend and a bag of weed back in the day, and countless listenings of Big Empty and Interstate Love Song.

RIP, dude.
posted by jonmc at 8:40 AM on December 4, 2015 [3 favorites]


STP was huge when I was in college in the early-mid 90s. I probably wore out my copies of "Core" and "Purple". I didn't realize at the time that Weiland wasn't even all that much older than me, making this now hit even closer to home. The man leaves behind some terrific music that meant a lot to me.
posted by The Gooch at 8:40 AM on December 4, 2015 [2 favorites]


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Loved STP back in the day.
posted by oceanjesse at 8:41 AM on December 4, 2015


I still recall being in the food court at the mall, and my buddy who worked there broke for lunch and handed me a tape of the first STP album.

Considering the food court, and then the mall, closed: I guess it's fitting?
posted by notsnot at 8:43 AM on December 4, 2015


I had this conversation just last week. When they were new I sort of idly filed STP away as mostly forgettable also-rans, but as time has receded their songs stand out from the wall-o-grunge, to me, more than even any of the other big ones. Nirvana included. Interstate Love Song in particular is excellent.

Also, "I just wanted to dress up a little bit, you know, for all you macho type guys that might have misunderstood this song" was a pretty big deal at the time.
posted by dirtdirt at 8:48 AM on December 4, 2015 [3 favorites]


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posted by vibrotronica at 8:50 AM on December 4, 2015


I never really listened to them when they were first getting popular (outside of what was played on the radio), but my girlfriend in high school loved them and had all the albums and so I got to know STP and his solo album pretty well. The third and fourth are my favorites. Tiny Music has that shiny psychedelic glam rock feel while No. 4 just gets really heavy in comparison to anything else they've done. We got to see them around 2002/2003 and Weiland was noticeably thin and sickly looking, but he put on a hell of a show. Great performer that guy. Sad that he couldn't overcome his demons.
posted by downtohisturtles at 8:50 AM on December 4, 2015 [1 favorite]


📢

I was a high schooler hanging out with my friends at the Philadelphia show when STP toured with the Butthole Surfers. I still remember a kid in a Violator DM shirt in front of us going around asking everyone for weed. Good times and good music. I'm sorry he couldn't find some measure of peace. RIP.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 8:59 AM on December 4, 2015 [1 favorite]


The opening riff of Interstate Love Song is an enduring emotional nostalgia trip that can still leave me staring into space for five minutes at a time. Good journey, man.

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posted by Mooski at 9:01 AM on December 4, 2015 [4 favorites]


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posted by Akhu at 9:03 AM on December 4, 2015


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posted by fourpotatoes at 9:04 AM on December 4, 2015


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posted by cwarmy at 9:09 AM on December 4, 2015


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posted by spinifex23 at 9:11 AM on December 4, 2015


Sad to see, a troubled soul. STP were never as mega-huge here in Europe as they were in the US but I liked him a lot in Velvet Revolver.
posted by GallonOfAlan at 9:17 AM on December 4, 2015


vaporwave STP
posted by porn in the woods at 9:19 AM on December 4, 2015 [2 favorites]


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posted by juv3nal at 9:25 AM on December 4, 2015


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posted by pandalicious at 9:26 AM on December 4, 2015


I remember everyone whining about STP being SoCal grunge copycats, but grunge just sounded like all the punk garage bands I had been listening to for years, now suddenly getting airplay. STP had a bit of rock n' roll glam that actually sounded fresher to me at the time.

The crappy thing about drug abuse is that even after you're clean, your body's been wrecked. I can believe he was sober and died of an aneurysm or heart defect or something. Unlike Layne, Scott hadn't retreated into drug soaked depressive isolation- he kept working. I don't think he should be written off with a "what did you expect?"


I was talking to someone about "four elementals of grunge," and I came up with:

Cobain/Air
Vedder/Earth
Cornell/Water
Weiland/Fire


Pretty good, but I think Cobain is water. He's a Pisces! In which case Cornell would be earth (enduring) and Vedder would be air. Though I'd take Eddie off the list because he instantly got boring after Ten and stick Layne on there. A fun think to think about, anyway.
posted by oneirodynia at 9:26 AM on December 4, 2015 [3 favorites]


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posted by sarcas at 9:26 AM on December 4, 2015


No one really seems to rate 'Trippin' on a hole in a paper heart' which is still my favourite STP song.
posted by PenDevil at 9:44 AM on December 4, 2015 [10 favorites]


I saw STP (possibly for the only time? I'm not actually sure) in 2010, and just like everybody above is saying, Weiland was a great frontman. Dude was just born for over-the-top rock excess, which ... well there you go. I was never a huge STP fan, but yeah, the guitar / bass work really was killer (I think I yanked some of my riff sensibilities from the DeLeos), and you better goddamn believe that I spent way too many of my just-learned-to-play guitar hours endlessly playing and singing the unplugged arrangement of Plush.
posted by uncleozzy at 9:46 AM on December 4, 2015 [1 favorite]


I am too cool for school musically these days, and certainly have been known to blame STP for, say, Creed and Nickelback. Purple was probably among the first 5 albums I ever bought with my own money, and I still am a fan of 'Big Bang Baby.'

Mr. Weiland, it's too late, but I'm sorry I blamed you for the shitty butt rock that was actually not your fault.

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posted by palindromic at 9:47 AM on December 4, 2015


1 - I've put the Hamilton cast recording on hold for the first time in over a month to listen to Stone Temple Pilots. I was never a huge grunge fan growing up, but STP was my favorite of the grunge-classified bands, the one I eventually learned to tell apart from the other mumble-growlers on the radio. I only listened to their first 3 albums, I think, and none of Weiland's solo work, so I'll be exploring that soon, from the distance of decades.

2 - When I was making my very emotionally difficult move from Baltimore down to Atlanta, I listened to Interstate Love Song on repeat a lot. (I've moved a lot. I always have theme songs for my moves.)

3 - Sex Type Thing is SUCH a weird song, where it's catchy and great, and it TOTALLY makes sense that it's COMPLETELY ironic, but the way he sang it with such urgency and empathy, also makes me sad sometimes - there's no "hey this guy has a good point" sense to it all, just a kind of desperate sadness for that kind of man, to be so pathetic yet utterly convinced of himself. I don't know how to describe it.

4 - Weiland grew up in a strict Catholic household, which, he believes, explains much of his lyrical conflict. "For me, faith is a constant struggle," he says, sipping a glass of sangria. "I believe in God, but I'm anti-religious. I don't believe that Christians, for example, are the only ones who have a place in that paradise called Heaven. But that's what they preach. I hate the separatism and persecution that makes people believe in a certain way. I believe in a God who is the same God for the Jews, the Christians, the Buddhists, everyone. And I don't think that God would want His brothers and sisters treating others poorly in His name. But the guilt in Catholicism is so intense and so overbearing that, even though I've come to grips with my beliefs and perceptions of God, there's still something inside me that says I'm evil for thinking this way. Writing helps me figure out where I'm at."
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STP does not exploit addictions in its music. "I can't brag about being a heroin or crack addict," Weiland says with mock sorrow, admitting that his only addiction is playing Sega Genesis video games. "After the whole sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll thing was spawned, each new generation of rockers feels they have to live up to that atttude and become a decadent, coke-breathing monster. It would be hypocritical for me to say someone's using too many drugs, because I like to drink a lot. But as far as writing whole albums about an addiction, I guess I feel there's more to be written about, more to be explored. People get caught up in what they think is romantic about being a rock star, and they misuse that identity."


Rest well, Weiland.
posted by susoka at 9:47 AM on December 4, 2015 [1 favorite]


Nicely done post, graymouser, thank you.

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posted by wallabear at 9:48 AM on December 4, 2015 [1 favorite]


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I hope he's found some peace.
posted by nevercalm at 9:53 AM on December 4, 2015


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posted by Joey Michaels at 9:54 AM on December 4, 2015


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posted by annsunny at 10:00 AM on December 4, 2015


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Purple was the second CD I ever owned.
posted by hopeless romantique at 10:12 AM on December 4, 2015


I saw STP in 2008 and 2011, and was struck by how good Scott looked and sounded, yet I felt a distance when he spoke between songs. He could perform on the drop of a hat, but his humanity felt guarded or behind a fog. I wonder if it was chemically induced, or he just didnt give a rip about stage banter.
posted by Turkey Glue at 10:45 AM on December 4, 2015


I agree with a lot of people here that STP really held up well over the years. I was never all that thrilled with Core, but there are songs on every album from Purple on that I still think are excellent. I feel like by the time Purple came out, Weiland found his voice and didn't have to do the whole Bellowing Grunge Man thing that seemed superfluous to me when Core came out.

Thanks for the great tunes, Weiland. RIP.
posted by Hoopo at 10:58 AM on December 4, 2015 [2 favorites]


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posted by inconsequentialist at 11:04 AM on December 4, 2015


Rock solid band. Great frontman. A good barometer for the 90s grunge bands to me is how well they did in their Unplugged performances, and these guys exceeded expectations there. But my favorite thing about STP and Weiland's voice was always how thoroughly my parents HATED them.

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posted by dogwalker at 11:39 AM on December 4, 2015 [2 favorites]


Man, Apple sent me a news alert about this on my phone just as I was waking up, which was odd — I think I'd turned on alerts in general because of the SanBdoo shooting — and it's always a little spooky when their demographic algorithms hit on something that you might not have even realized would be as affecting as it is.

I'm glad to see a pretty measured discussion here. I still remember the first time I heard Stone Temple Pilots, sometime in early September, 1992. My mom was driving me from one high school to another, since I was a dualie, and 89X played "Piece of Pie." I remember it because we didn't hear the back-announce, and it took months to figure out what it was and hear it again. 89X was only about a year old then, and was the first "alternative" station in the Detroit market, so it wasn't like it was being played anywhere else, and since 89X still had human DJs back then, they were prone to playing album cuts and other non-single tracks.

My mom loved the album, and being a snobby teen that meant that I was pretty ambivalent — I liked the riffs, and my mom was cool, but it's my mom, you know? A couple months later, when she finally heard the full announce, she picked it up. By then, the backlash had started, but it was still full of ROCK, and for all the digs on whether e.g. "Sex Type Thing" was pro-rape, it sounded pretty subversive and ironic to me.

It's weird to realize now that I'm the same age as my mom was when she heard that album, and, y'know, thank Christ for no snotty teen progeny to sniff at my music.

By the time Purple came out, well, it was no Vs., and I pretty much wrote them off as getting soft. I was getting more and more into industrial — 1994 had Die Warzau, Sister Machine Gun, KMFDM, Stabbing Westward, NIN, the Wax Trax Black Box — and what seemed like a shift toward post-grunge radio pop chasing just wasn't something I was interested in. And by the time I came back to it, it was too late for me to appreciate what they were doing in the context of their time. I'll be going back and giving Tiny Music and some others another spin today, just to see whether they've actually held up for me — since YouTube went from Core to Dirt, it did remind me that while I LOVED AiC at the time, Dirt is a pretty self-serious and turgid album, and "Angry Chair" makes me giggle now when I would have treated it like srs bzns at the time.
posted by klangklangston at 11:44 AM on December 4, 2015 [3 favorites]




I heard this news early this morning. After dropping off my daughter at elementary school today, I cranked up "Plush" and sang the whole song while driving my beat-up old Scion, rocking out all the way. If you were in Richmond today and saw a crazy person, it was likely me.

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posted by 4ster at 12:24 PM on December 4, 2015 [1 favorite]


The crappy thing about drug abuse is that even after you're clean, your body's been wrecked. I can believe he was sober and died of an aneurysm or heart defect or something.

I was thinking along similar lines when I saw this. It gets to me way more when former drug addicts drop dead at 40 than when current drug addicts OD at 27. Because I'm... you know, though probably not for nearly as long as someone like Scott Weiland.
posted by atoxyl at 12:25 PM on December 4, 2015


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posted by Token Meme at 12:29 PM on December 4, 2015


I remember getting dragged to the movies to watch "Great Expectations," and when I heard Scott's incredible singing come on, I sat straight up in my seat and resolved to go buy the soundtrack the minute we got out of the theater.

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posted by evoque at 12:35 PM on December 4, 2015


Just last weekend, for no specific reason I can recall, my best friend and I were talking about STP. He, like most of my friends and peers who grew up around that time, was a big fan. I never really liked STP, except for a few songs, the obvious ones: The Big Empty, Interstate Love Song, a couple others. We've been having this discussion on and off for twenty years. I think we wrapped up this iteration with me agreeing to give Purple another listen and both of us agreeing that Interstate Love Song is still one of the best songs either of us have ever heard. Synchronicity's a funny thing.
posted by Errant at 12:50 PM on December 4, 2015


Never a big fan, but they did help to shape the sonic landscape of my teenage years and I had respect (and, it turns out like another poster above, I knew more of their songs than I thought I did, though I literally never knew the name of "Plush" until today), and Scott Weiland for all his hot-messery really could sing and really was a hell of a frontman. So a dot for you, sir.

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posted by angeline at 1:04 PM on December 4, 2015


I Used to Play Board Games with Scott Weiland: Memories of days spent playing Dungeons & Dragons in rural Ohio.

"Scott Weiland always played a Chaotic-Neutral Elven Thief."
posted by graymouser at 1:06 PM on December 4, 2015 [6 favorites]


"Scott Weiland always played a Chaotic-Neutral Elven Thief."

Well, chaotic-neutral is the most punk alignment.
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 1:13 PM on December 4, 2015 [3 favorites]


The last time I saw STP live was at the Greek back in 2008.

Senor Cardgage, I think we were at the same show. I had just moved to LA and my boyfriend was out of town, so I went to this show with a friend on a lark. I fully expected to hate it, but I was entranced and sang along like a fanboy.

Also, "I just wanted to dress up a little bit, you know, for all you macho type guys that might have misunderstood this song" yt was a pretty big deal at the time.

I was 13/14 when Interstate Love Song came out. Weiland had gone from growler bro to a dandy doing a little no-fuss swish dance in a pink feather coat and cowboy hat. God that was a nice salve for a gay lad in the mid 90s.
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 1:30 PM on December 4, 2015 [2 favorites]


Also I am loving everyone's stream of consciousness memory associations with STP songs. I love reading that sort of thing. It's a very decent honor to the power of an artist's work if you can remember the details of a moment through the fog of time because their art connects you to your memory in ways that are more precise than your own memory.

For me: late summer, probably 94 (maybe 95), riding in my mom's Chrysler minivan with the middle seat taken out. Driving to Dallas. Lying on a quilt on the floor of the car, in the spot where the middle seat had been. The CD boombox I'd gotten from my sister last Christmas next to me, all 8 D cell batteries loaded up, headphones on, listening to my sister's CDs because I only had two of my own (Madonna's Erotica, Portishead's Dummy and Suede's first album). I must have played Purple on repeat a dozen times. I get distinct visual associations with the inside of that Minivan when I hear that album, and Six Flags. And southern summer parking lot heat.
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 1:36 PM on December 4, 2015 [5 favorites]


Pearl Jam ripoff? I can't be the only one to hear Nirvana when I listen to 'Interstate'. But wait, the resemblance goes deeper. From Bobby Fuller and Marvin Gaye right on up to today.

What's the price people have to pay to be pop top entertainers in our times? It's written in every line. We fans insist.

Luckily for Scott, he missed out on the 27 Club. But I'm reminded me of the last words in the Bourne trilogy: "Look at us. Look at what they make you give."

What do we ask from our sacrificial offerings? besides The energy. The physical pains. The tours. The depression. The needles ? And the beat goes on.

I'm reminded again of another line, a line from Blade Runner, spoken by Batty before he breaks Deckard's fingers: Proud of yourself, little man? This is for Zhora!
posted by Twang at 1:45 PM on December 4, 2015


I forgot to include STP's cover of Dancing Days in the OP. It was a great showcase for Weiland and the DeLeo brothers, and was never a single but still got radio play.
posted by graymouser at 1:58 PM on December 4, 2015 [3 favorites]


In lieu of cards and flowers, Scott Weiland's family asks instead that you never, ever, ever listen to that Christmas album he made 4 years ago.
posted by Senor Cardgage at 2:19 PM on December 4, 2015 [4 favorites]


If Big Bang Baby was all Weiland ever did, he'd have earned his place in sleazy rock heaven. That he could also gift us with a bizarre, gorgeous Beatles-Weill hybrid like Lady, Your Roof Brings Me Down shows us that this was a hapless, skinny misfit junkie who contained pop music multitudes.

(Seriously, I'd say those are two of the most amazing and underappreciated tunes of the 1990s, and they're from the same dude.)
posted by Ursula Hitler at 3:17 PM on December 4, 2015 [4 favorites]


“In Honour of Scott Weiland,” William Corgan, The Official Smashing Pumpkins Nexus, 04 December 2015
posted by ob1quixote at 3:18 PM on December 4, 2015


Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. Requiescat in pace.
posted by ob1quixote at 3:20 PM on December 4, 2015


(Also, I just love how fucking happy the guys seem in the video for Big Bang Baby. When they're all singing in the love hearts it's like the Monkees or something.)
posted by Ursula Hitler at 3:20 PM on December 4, 2015 [2 favorites]


Let’s Remember the Real Scott Weiland, Not the 90s Caricature by Maura Johnston
posted by naju at 3:40 PM on December 4, 2015 [1 favorite]


I had to go back and break out Still Remains, which might be my favorite STP song.

If you should die before me ask if you can bring a friend
Pick a flower, hold your breath and drift away

posted by Existential Dread at 5:11 PM on December 4, 2015 [3 favorites]


I never really got into STP, but Big Bang Baby is easily in my top ten favorite songs of all time. That song is gold. It never got much airplay, so I always got over the top excited when it came on BRU. I'm glad to see it getting so much love here. Thanks for the song, Scott.

And yes, the happiness in that video is a joy to watch.
posted by Ruki at 5:12 PM on December 4, 2015


Cool Papa Bell: "I was talking to someone about "four elementals of grunge," and I came up with:

Cobain/Air
Vedder/Earth
Cornell/Water
Weiland/Fire
"

Staley/Heroin
posted by symbioid at 5:15 PM on December 4, 2015 [1 favorite]


(OK, I mean, 3/5 of them are Heroin, but still... Staley shouldn't be dropped from a Grunge elements list).
posted by symbioid at 5:15 PM on December 4, 2015 [1 favorite]


Where does Jerry Cantrell fit in, then? He was a cornerstone of AiC, a new incarnation of which is still putting out some solid tunes.
posted by Existential Dread at 5:18 PM on December 4, 2015


Also - so STP, and actual commentary... Man, I had Core, it was... OK. I think already the yarling was a bit silly by that point (little did I realize how ridiculous it would become in future years)...

I think Purple really sold me on them, and I remember going to Cornerstone festival in whatever year it was, jamming to that album a lot. "Our second album..." what a great song.

Tiny Music came out when my band and I moved to Madison. I remember listening to that album a lot when we were in transition over months, jam sessions, lots of vodka, getting high, donating plasma, drinking Surge. Good times.

Yeah, they were definitely talented and I never heard No. 4. Maybe I should check it out. I was never impressed by his other non-STP work, from what little I'd heard, but I'd generally moved on from rock as a genre by that point anyways.
posted by symbioid at 5:54 PM on December 4, 2015


No one really seems to rate 'Trippin' on a hole in a paper heart' which is still my favourite STP song.
posted by PenDevil


Maybe I'm outing myself as a musical pedestrian or whatever but I totally agree with this, and it's the one song that's gotten multiple listens today. The "I'm not dead and I'm not for sale" line hits a little harder now, and apparently Weiland liked it enough to use it as his autobiography title.

.

I am too cool for school musically these days, and certainly have been known to blame STP for, say, Creed and Nickelback...Mr. Weiland, it's too late, but I'm sorry I blamed you for the shitty butt rock that was actually not your fault.

This seems weirdly revisionist - given dates of formation for both bands I feel reasonably confident in stating that Creed and Nickelback were about 85% Chris Cornell's fault (both were trying to recreate Superunknown if you want to get specific), and at worst Weiland splits the remaining blame with Vedder. Even at peak bro-grunge STP were just slightly too weird - a little too willing to throw on a frilly pink scarf and playfully kiss a same-sex bandmate on early 90s MTV, compared to the dead-earnest alpha-brooding of literally any early Soundgarden video. Velvet Revolver was a post-Crickelback cash-in ouroboros, not pre.
posted by Ryvar at 5:57 PM on December 4, 2015 [6 favorites]


Saw this show from just a week ago
--- Not to be unkind or morbid, but he looked like a shell and had empty eyes.....just creepy knowing he is gone now. RIP Scott.
posted by shockingbluamp at 7:17 PM on December 4, 2015


Not to be unkind or morbid, but he looked like a shell and had empty eyes
You know, I don't know him personally or know what his "normal" is, and yeah he looked a bit chill and wavy at the start of the song, but he nailed every note and belted that song out proper in the clip you linked.
He's fucking 48 in that clip. A year older than me.
If people were judging me for how I look now, based on what I looked like when I was 25, they'd think I was on the worst kind of boozy heroin diet and that I slept every night marinating face-down in a pan of hot fat.
posted by chococat at 7:54 PM on December 4, 2015 [6 favorites]


Picking up a copy of Blaster, it's solid. One of those things you didn't know existed until... you know.
posted by wallabear at 9:08 PM on December 4, 2015


So many memories. This band was one of the first rock bands that I found myself actively following rock/music news. A definite loss to the music world.

.
posted by Fizz at 5:44 AM on December 5, 2015


Man, Fall to Pieces really hits home.

Excellent post, graymouser. Thank you.
posted by raider at 11:04 AM on December 5, 2015


Whoa, sad news. My 14 year old and I were just playing "name that band" last hour as we flipped stations, and he was stumped on Sex Type Thing. (He usually destroys me on any 70's/80's rock, so I revel in any 90's tune to play catch up.)
posted by klausman at 3:39 PM on December 5, 2015


From Weiland's ex-wife: Don't Glorify This Tragedy.
posted by graymouser at 2:51 AM on December 8, 2015 [9 favorites]


Not a surprise that he wasn't a great dad, but I am shocked he didn't even invite his kids to his most recent wedding.
posted by Area Man at 9:01 AM on December 8, 2015


That is an important and sobering read.
posted by naju at 9:05 AM on December 8, 2015


No one really seems to rate 'Trippin' on a hole in a paper heart' which is still my favourite STP song.

The only good STP song in my opinion.
posted by josher71 at 10:40 AM on December 8, 2015


In news that will shock no one, Weiland died of an accidental drug overdose.
posted by graymouser at 7:58 AM on December 19, 2015


STP has released a live track of the recording of "Atlanta" from No. 4 as their memorial for Scott. Find it here.
Together, let’s honor Scott…Memories of Candles and Incense. Having the opportunity to listen to these tracks individually reveal the beauty of Scott’s lyrical and melodic gift. This is one of the many musical moments we shared together. It is in this way we would like to remember Scott.
posted by graymouser at 1:48 PM on December 21, 2015 [1 favorite]


Another piece of vintage Stone Temple Pilots material has emerged in the wake of Scott Weiland's passing: the full, 37-minute clip of the band's Saturday Night Live rehearsal footage circa 1993.
posted by graymouser at 5:33 PM on December 28, 2015


The Adam Carolla podcast re-posted his 2010 interview with the Stone Temple Pilots. It's a good interview because you had the band back together and talking about how they started. But it's also sad because Weiland was clearly not in good shape. He was speaking really slowly and the other members kept having to politely correct his memory of past events.
posted by riruro at 11:07 AM on December 29, 2015 [1 favorite]


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