By RUBEN MOSQUEDA //
Weiland's top ten performances
Scott Weiland the alternative rock singer and one of the most charismatic front men of the last 25 years passed away from apparent cardiac arrest on December 3rd at the age of 48. Which to me now seems like a young age---when I discovered Weiland and Stone Temple Pilots I in 1992 would have said otherwise. The So Cal band came from out of nowhere with their debut album ‘Core’ with the lead off track “Sex Type Thing” which had a massive groove and had more in common with Seattle’s ‘grunge’ acts than the L.A.’s glam, glitter and spandex bands.
I recall the first time I witnessed Weiland and STP live and in the flesh. It was in 1993 when they had the task of opening for Megadeth a thrash act that had begun to soften up their image and had embraced a commercial sound. STP made the most of their allotted 30 minutes opening for their veteran act. The songs were there, the musicianship was top notch but it was Weiland’s performance that sold it to the crowd-----who were rabid Megadeth fans. Not exactly the most easy of people to please. STP went over fabulously---similarly to how Alice In Chains pummelled us over on The Clash of The Titans tour when they opened for Anthrax, Slayer and you guessed it Megadeth.
STP went on to platinum success worldwide selling in excess of 13 million records in the USA alone. STP went on to release six studio albums with Scott Weiland between the 1992 and 2010. Weiland was fired from STP due to friction (both substance and non-substance related) between Scott and his band mates. In 2003 a newly sober Weiland auditioned and landed the gig in Velvet Revolver which featured Slash and Duff McKagan who were eager start a post Guns ‘n Roses project. Velvet Revolver went on to issue their debut ‘Contraband’ in 2004 which was a smash they followed it up with a lackluster ‘Libertad’ in 2007 and the band relieved Weiland of his duties; Scott went solo and the other VR members went on to work on other interests. Comparing STP and Velvet Revolver isn’t fair to the respective bands but having witnessed VR once their debut album had broke---it showcased Weiland’s versatility and showed that lightning could strike twice.
In 2010 STP reunited with Scott and issued a new album ‘Stone Temple Pilots’ certainly not the band’s best work but what better excuse to hit the road? After rekindling their musical union; in 2013 STP once again dismissed Weiland. He pressed forward with his solo career but clearly no match to his work with STP or VR. 2015 proved to be a productive year for Scott as he released two magnificent records The Wildabouts’ ‘Blaster’ and he recorded vocals and wrote lyrics for the ‘self-titled’ effort by Art of Anarchy. Surprisingly, Scott denounced Art of Anarchy he claimed that he was never part of the band and that he was paid to sing on the album and that was the extent of his involvement.
It’s well documented that Weiland battled substance abuse, sometimes harder than other times and sadly it’s not surprising to most of us when we got word that he was deceased. Scott was on tour promoting ‘Blaster’ when he was found unresponsive and later pronounced dead on December 3rd, 2015. Weiland was a great singer, even better songwriter and a stellar performer. I’ve selected 10 tracks which in my opinion are Weiland’s standout performances. Check ‘em out. What are yours? Let’s hear it. Rest In Peace----Scott Weiland.
My picks for Scott Weiland’s best performances in no particular order:
“Slither” Velvet Revolver--Contraband
“Plush” Stone Temple Pilots--Core
“Wicked Garden” Stone Temple Pilots--Core
“Vasoline” Stone Temple Pilots---Purple
“Big Empty” Stone Temple Pilots---The Crow Soundtrack
“She Builds Quick Machines” Velvet Revolver---Libertad
“Til The Dust is Gone” Art of Anarchy---Art of Anarchy
“White Lightning” Scott Weiland and The Wildabouts--Blaster
‘Interstate Love Song’ Stone Temple Pilots--Purple
10. “Sucker Train Blues” Velvet Revolver--Contraband