April 1998 ear candy by Matt Sager |
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Crashed Pilot --
In early 1996, Stone Temple Pilots appeared to be at the pinnacle of their
career. Despite accusations that they were poseurs cashing in on the grunge
fad, the San Diego boys had carved a huge niche for themselves in rock radio
and MTV, and despite their dubious past, delivered the occasional great rock
song. While their 1996 release Tiny Music... Songs From the Vatican Gift
Shop sounded a bit half-assed, and relied on over-production, it was a huge
commercial success and preparations were underway for a headlining tour of
stadiums throughout the U.S.
Then everything went wrong, all at once. Rumors that front man Scott Weiland
became more prevalent when the band released a video featuring the
singer looking gaunt, balding, and with glassy eyes that were barely open. A
series of TV and radio appearances to promote the album didn't help, either.
Weiland could barely speak, leaving the other band members to answer all
questions with eerily canned responses that sounded an awful lot like press
statements from their label. Weiland's live singing sounded weak, and the
hostility between him and the rest of the band was obvious.
Just as the band looked to all the world as if they were about to self-
destruct, they did. A popular Los Angeles radio show received a phone call
from Weiland one morning, saying he was in Courtney Love's house (already a
bad sign), and that he was a junkie with a long-running heroin habit. Good
radio, yes, but not such a good sign for the band. Scott's disastrous radio
appearance was followed by several attempts at a tour, all of which resulted
in cancelled dates, rehab visits for Scott, and vicious rumors. MTV, radio
and the music press were buzzing with stories that STP were either breaking up
or replacing Weiland. Meanwhile, the singer was disappearing for days at a
time and the rumors got worse. It wasn't long before K-Rock stations on both
coasts were announcing that Weiland had died from an overdose.
While those rumors proved false, the rest of the band recorded an album with a
new singer, under the moniker "Talk Show". They registered a blip on the
Modern Rock charts, and did some opening dates for the Foo Fighters.
Weiland, meanwhile, began doing serious work on his tremendous addiction, and
did his best to pick up the pieces.
The result of his labor is 12 Bar Blues, his debut solo album. The first big
surprise of the record is that it happens to be great. Don't look for any
Seattle - style grunge dirges here; Weiland has gone against every pre-
conception and taken his inspiration from mssrs. Bowie and Bolan. In other
words, 12 Bar Blues is a glam-rock record about the agony of drug addiction.
The first single, "Barbarella", is less an ode to the '60s go-go-girl from
space than it is a plea for help. "Grab a scale and guess the weight of all
the pain I've given with my name - I'm a selfish piece of shit" appears to be
Weiland's way of bemoaning his problems, drawing an analogy between Jane
Fonda's super heroine and his own desire to stick needles in himself. Wonder
how Jane's husband Ted Turner feels about all this?
The record has a few filler tracks, but even they are worth a listen, if only
for the amazing production of Daniel Lanois. 12 Bar Blues is one of the most
tasteful, not to mention rocking, releases of 1998 so far. I realize that by
endorsing the (ex?) lead singer of Stone Temple Pilots, I am either
obliterating every ounce of my cred, or lending a big boost of it to Scott,
who needs it more anyway. But put cred aside for a moment, and check out the
album. It's the sound of a man rebuilding his life, and career, with more
taste than he ever had before he blew it the first time out.
in the junk drawer:
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·the biswick files·
·mystery date·
·and such and such·
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