Billboard piece is out

[mrmojorisin]

This quote got to me the most.

"A lot of times I've seen Scott do coke so he could drink more," says Mohler. "If I had known he was going to die, I would have taken every bottle away from him and thrown it. Just broke it right there."

Uh what the hell did you think was going to happen?

that he would get fired if he did smash the bottles.

[StoneTempleBrett]

I can tell you that Corey Hickok did not like the article (and wanted out of it weeks ago when he saw the direction it was going).  The writer didn't even spell his name right, I wonder if that was meant to be a shot at him.

I think a piece on his downward spiral is worth doing (especially the aspects focusing on his mental health/drinking/antipsychotics he was taking/drugs/his parents having cancer), but they should have solely focused on that rather than throwing in random unnecessary dirt from the past, like him kicking Steve Stewart sometime in the late 90's (knowing Steve, I'll bet he told them a lot of positive stories as well and that's the one they picked), and trying to spin his care unit visit in high school as part of a larger narrative (Corey was adamant in saying it was a care unit not a psych ward, and that at the time Scott wasn't displaying the type of behavior he did later in life when it came to drugs).  If you're going to talk about the past, then you better talk about the positive as well rather than just throwing as much random past dirt as you can find.

Also threatening to twist the nipple of a reporter, that's something you definitely report if he's alive, but the guy is DEAD.  The only reason I ever reported negative shit like that was that so he would stop doing it, the only motif in this article is money.  The quote from Scott's book on alcohol was totally incomplete as well, I've posted it in a lot of articles, including when Scott was alive, on how he felt having a drink was like putting a lead blanket over his heart.

[StoneTempleBrett]

"The tendency to get it all out there at that point is basically a fire sale mentality of 'well, this is the last time anyone's going to care about Person X, let's shake loose everything we've got.' While someone's alive, there's also the element of 'hey, this person is struggling with their disease, don't pick on them,' but after the battle's been lost, that's no longer a concern.

My view on that is the opposite.  My logic with Alternative Nation was to dump as much information about Scott killing himself with alcohol/drugs while he was alive as I could so that hopefully someone would help him or a tour would be canceled so he could get some help.  With him being dead it seems pretty useless to me to put out shit like a story on a dead guy who was out of his mind on drugs threatening to twist a reporter's nipple.

[seattlesound]

I can tell you that Corey Hickok did not like the article (and wanted out of it weeks ago when he saw the direction it was going).  The writer didn't even spell his name right, I wonder if that was meant to be a shot at him.

I think a piece on his downward spiral is worth doing (especially the aspects focusing on his mental health/drinking/antipsychotics he was taking/drugs/his parents having cancer), but they should have solely focused on that rather than throwing in random unnecessary dirt from the past, like him kicking Steve Stewart sometime in the late 90's (knowing Steve, I'll bet he told them a lot of positive stories as well and that's the one they picked), and trying to spin his care unit visit in high school as part of a larger narrative (Corey was adamant in saying it was a care unit not a psych ward, and that at the time Scott wasn't displaying the type of behavior he did later in life when it came to drugs).  If you're going to talk about the past, then you better talk about the positive as well rather than just throwing as much random past dirt as you can find.

Also threatening to twist the nipple of a reporter, that's something you definitely report if he's alive, but the guy is DEAD.  The only reason I ever reported negative shit like that was that so he would stop doing it, the only motif in this article is money.  The quote from Scott's book on alcohol was totally incomplete as well, I've posted it in a lot of articles, including when Scott was alive, on how he felt having a drink was like putting a lead blanket over his heart.

This pretty much is where I'm coming from when I earlier said I don't like the overall feel the article gives. There's a fine line between documenting the "downward spiral" that one had in their last several months... but dishing out a paragraph of quotes used from the Boston Meet & Greet was a bit unnecessary... there are tons of ways the article could have gone along and worded things to where the reader isn't remembering multiple quotes from a Meet and Greet some time ago... for Billboard being who they are, at least supposed "professionals" when it comes to music journalism... I wouldn't expect an article to steer off course in so many little ways like this one does.

Think about the readers who are not as familiar with Scott's career, they will just remember those tid bits when the article didn't exactly call for them... at least in my opinion.

I get that Scott's days weren't some fairy tale, and I don't expect to read anything like so... but there's a fine line when it comes to what is probably going to be one of the last things Billboard would print about a person. 

[lovemachine97]

Like my friend said, dropping too much information risks offended family, friends, and fans.

Looking at the structure of the article, it starts off saying he had long-term drug problems, his last major success was a while ago (STP reunion), and he was found dead.

It first mentions his paranoia and mania as a result of bipolar disorder. Then it backs that up by describing out of character behavior for him last spring, the meet and greet stuff, the reporter issue. Then it describes how Jamie saw it early on and they figured it out. However, it reared its ugly head again last spring, which takes us back to the things described before, but also the viral Vasoline video which opened up his problem again very publicly. But then it mentions how they got him treatment and it was like 'night and day.'

In other words, I don't think it was gratuitous. It was to show that his disorder could be very destructive, both publicly and privately, but when he received proper treatment, he was better. Then it goes on to say that underneath this all were the problems with his ex-wife and kids, and then the cancer diagnosis of both his mom and birth father. THEN it turns out he has Hepatitis-C, which is yet another thing he is battling, along with cocaine and alcohol (and what no one mentions, smoking, which is horrible for the body).

So at that point the question might be 'Why the fuck was he on tour?' Well, that was answered. He was broke.

Yeah, the Steve Stewart quote might have been superfluous, but the writer seemed to take the course of 'he was suffering from addiction way more than he was sober,' though I would admit I would like to have read a really cool story about him while sober to contrast with that story.

The rest of the story I don't think anyone has a problem with. I agree in some respects, but I don't think overall it is an article that egregiously dismisses journalistic integrity and I am inclined to agree that if Mary didn't want to talk to the writer, it's possible the writer had no idea about the other service.

[Blue]

I think a lot of the 'dirt' is because a lot if these things, Scott's rude behavior and poor performances, were already in the public's conciousness. I think it comes more from an angle of them trying to explain his behavior than anything negative.

[CagedTiger]

This quote got to me the most.

"A lot of times I've seen Scott do coke so he could drink more," says Mohler. "If I had known he was going to die, I would have taken every bottle away from him and thrown it. Just broke it right there."

Uh what the hell did you think was going to happen?

I've got to admit I thought the same thing when I read that... Scott was a former heroin addict and struggling alcoholic with hepatitus C, he was clearly frail and in terrible shape. How did this guy and Tommy NOT see this coming?! They're all acting shocked but they knew his past as well as his current health issues, it was only going to end one way.

[mrmojorisin]

This quote got to me the most.

"A lot of times I've seen Scott do coke so he could drink more," says Mohler. "If I had known he was going to die, I would have taken every bottle away from him and thrown it. Just broke it right there."

Uh what the hell did you think was going to happen?

I've got to admit I thought the same thing when I read that... Scott was a former heroin addict and struggling alcoholic with hepatitus C, he was clearly frail and in terrible shape. How did this guy and Tommy NOT see this coming?! They're all acting shocked but they knew his past as well as his current health issues, it was only going to end one way.

they knew. If they did anything about it, then the meal ticket stops for the time being. Unfortunately it came to a screeching halt permanently.

[Fear 2 Stop]

One thing stood out to me...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziprasidone

That was what he was on last April. Look at the side effects. Throw in the fact he had Hep C, and...yeah. Wow.


I just....I'm sad, but I'm also really fucking angry. He made the conscious decision to use coke and everything else on top of drinking, but you know what? The way things were going, I can't blame him. Shit, my life has sucked ass for years until recently, and I think only the complete lack of access kept me from going down that same route. That, and having a wife and daughter *there*. My God, if I lost access to my little girl, I'd not be able to take that. So, I can in no way judge at all, nor will I. I'm angry that this happened. I would've given anything if he just could've been able to retire (or at least stay off the road) and not be forced to tour. I'd have happily given up ever hearing new music from him if it had meant he'd still be here.

[StoneTempleBrett]

One thing stood out to me...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziprasidone

That was what he was on last April. Look at the side effects. Throw in the fact he had Hep C, and...yeah. Wow.


I just....I'm sad, but I'm also really fucking angry. He made the conscious decision to use coke and everything else on top of drinking, but you know what? The way things were going, I can't blame him. Shit, my life has sucked ass for years until recently, and I think only the complete lack of access kept me from going down that same route. That, and having a wife and daughter *there*. My God, if I lost access to my little girl, I'd not be able to take that. So, I can in no way judge at all, nor will I. I'm angry that this happened. I would've given anything if he just could've been able to retire (or at least stay off the road) and not be forced to tour. I'd have happily given up ever hearing new music from him if it had meant he'd still be here.

The issue is Scott had to tour as much as he did because he alienated the STP and Velvet Revolver guys because of his drinking and drug use.  If he had gotten clean and sober, he would have been welcomed back to STP, and been able to tour less and ultimately made a lot more money.  Look back at 2012, STP only toured for about a month (and he did a few scattered solo shows) and that paid his bills for the year.  His last two performances with STP were headlining festivals in California that both drew 17-20,000 people.  Scott probably didn't come even close to drawing that combined on the final Blaster tour.

Even as a solo act Scott could have made more money, but he alienated fans by putting on short poor performances while drunk and high on drugs.  If Scott had gone out there sober and done an acoustic tour with 25-30 songs from throughout his career like Chris Cornell, he could have made way more money and toured less.  The root of all of Scott's problems was his addiction to drugs and alcohol, if he'd gotten clean he would have immediately been pulling in millions of dollars again doing far less work.

[STPDRU]

I've been waiting anxiously to read this article ever since I heard it was coming out. I just finished the first paragraph, and noticed that they wrote Scott's name wrong in the opening sentence of paragraph two. It says "Scott Robert Weiland", instead of Richard.


Maybe others have already posted on this, but I couldn't help myself...

[andrew]

Most people who have any sort of perception of how things "should" be have noticed that "journalism" has basically completely gone off the rails. This century has the most half assed, facepalm-inducing dipshit moron motherfuckers who for some reason think they can take themselves seriously as writers.


Some interesting, enlightening stuff in that article, along with quite a bit of word diarrhea by some fool who is likely on Billboard's payroll, somehow, for some reason....

Really makes you appreciate Corey Hickok and the anecdotes and memories he graced us with. And to a much lesser extent, makes you appreciate lil shitheads like Brett for letting the dude tell his story without trying to add his own 2 cents and random pieces that don't really bring anything relevant to the written piece at hand.

The worst part about this Billboard bile is that the writer never really lets the quotes from people who were there stand on their own.


Anywho....

[Fear 2 Stop]

One thing stood out to me...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziprasidone

That was what he was on last April. Look at the side effects. Throw in the fact he had Hep C, and...yeah. Wow.


I just....I'm sad, but I'm also really fucking angry. He made the conscious decision to use coke and everything else on top of drinking, but you know what? The way things were going, I can't blame him. Shit, my life has sucked ass for years until recently, and I think only the complete lack of access kept me from going down that same route. That, and having a wife and daughter *there*. My God, if I lost access to my little girl, I'd not be able to take that. So, I can in no way judge at all, nor will I. I'm angry that this happened. I would've given anything if he just could've been able to retire (or at least stay off the road) and not be forced to tour. I'd have happily given up ever hearing new music from him if it had meant he'd still be here.

The issue is Scott had to tour as much as he did because he alienated the STP and Velvet Revolver guys because of his drinking and drug use.  If he had gotten clean and sober, he would have been welcomed back to STP, and been able to tour less and ultimately made a lot more money.  Look back at 2012, STP only toured for about a month (and he did a few scattered solo shows) and that paid his bills for the year.  His last two performances with STP were headlining festivals in California that both drew 17-20,000 people.  Scott probably didn't come even close to drawing that combined on the final Blaster tour.

Even as a solo act Scott could have made more money, but he alienated fans by putting on short poor performances while drunk and high on drugs.  If Scott had gone out there sober and done an acoustic tour with 25-30 songs from throughout his career like Chris Cornell, he could have made way more money and toured less.  The root of all of Scott's problems was his addiction to drugs and alcohol, if he'd gotten clean he would have immediately been pulling in millions of dollars again doing far less work.

Oh yeah, no doubt. The fucked up part is, it made his problems worse, which made him use more, which made his problems worse, which made him use more...until the inevitable happened.

This sums it up for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fordPXp06h4

[Blue]

One thing stood out to me...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziprasidone

That was what he was on last April. Look at the side effects. Throw in the fact he had Hep C, and...yeah. Wow.


I just....I'm sad, but I'm also really fucking angry. He made the conscious decision to use coke and everything else on top of drinking, but you know what? The way things were going, I can't blame him. Shit, my life has sucked ass for years until recently, and I think only the complete lack of access kept me from going down that same route. That, and having a wife and daughter *there*. My God, if I lost access to my little girl, I'd not be able to take that. So, I can in no way judge at all, nor will I. I'm angry that this happened. I would've given anything if he just could've been able to retire (or at least stay off the road) and not be forced to tour. I'd have happily given up ever hearing new music from him if it had meant he'd still be here.

The issue is Scott had to tour as much as he did because he alienated the STP and Velvet Revolver guys because of his drinking and drug use.  If he had gotten clean and sober, he would have been welcomed back to STP, and been able to tour less and ultimately made a lot more money.  Look back at 2012, STP only toured for about a month (and he did a few scattered solo shows) and that paid his bills for the year.  His last two performances with STP were headlining festivals in California that both drew 17-20,000 people.  Scott probably didn't come even close to drawing that combined on the final Blaster tour.

Even as a solo act Scott could have made more money, but he alienated fans by putting on short poor performances while drunk and high on drugs.  If Scott had gone out there sober and done an acoustic tour with 25-30 songs from throughout his career like Chris Cornell, he could have made way more money and toured less.  The root of all of Scott's problems was his addiction to drugs and alcohol, if he'd gotten clean he would have immediately been pulling in millions of dollars again doing far less work.

Imagine if he was sober in 2012/2013 and they actually could have gone through with their full Core/Purple tour plans... He would have probably made enough to pay off all his debts for a while, plus the lawsuit would never have happened so he wouldn't have lost so much money on that.


The Purple to the Core tour was such a huge mistake for him. Even if he has been stone sober, there's no way little solo club shows would have made him anywhere near as much as a STP Core/Purple tour would have. Honestly, if he had just been able to take the rest of the bands' criticism constructively and took a break get sober and back in vocal shape for 2013 instead of embarking on that debacle, he'd still be alive today.

[Rol2292]

One thing stood out to me...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziprasidone

That was what he was on last April. Look at the side effects. Throw in the fact he had Hep C, and...yeah. Wow.


I just....I'm sad, but I'm also really fucking angry. He made the conscious decision to use coke and everything else on top of drinking, but you know what? The way things were going, I can't blame him. Shit, my life has sucked ass for years until recently, and I think only the complete lack of access kept me from going down that same route. That, and having a wife and daughter *there*. My God, if I lost access to my little girl, I'd not be able to take that. So, I can in no way judge at all, nor will I. I'm angry that this happened. I would've given anything if he just could've been able to retire (or at least stay off the road) and not be forced to tour. I'd have happily given up ever hearing new music from him if it had meant he'd still be here.

The issue is Scott had to tour as much as he did because he alienated the STP and Velvet Revolver guys because of his drinking and drug use.  If he had gotten clean and sober, he would have been welcomed back to STP, and been able to tour less and ultimately made a lot more money.  Look back at 2012, STP only toured for about a month (and he did a few scattered solo shows) and that paid his bills for the year.  His last two performances with STP were headlining festivals in California that both drew 17-20,000 people.  Scott probably didn't come even close to drawing that combined on the final Blaster tour.

Even as a solo act Scott could have made more money, but he alienated fans by putting on short poor performances while drunk and high on drugs.  If Scott had gone out there sober and done an acoustic tour with 25-30 songs from throughout his career like Chris Cornell, he could have made way more money and toured less.  The root of all of Scott's problems was his addiction to drugs and alcohol, if he'd gotten clean he would have immediately been pulling in millions of dollars again doing far less work.

Imagine if he was sober in 2012/2013 and they actually could have gone through with their full Core/Purple tour plans... He would have probably made enough to pay off all his debts for a while, plus the lawsuit would never have happened so he wouldn't have lost so much money on that.


The Purple to the Core tour was such a huge mistake for him. Even if he has been stone sober, there's no way little solo club shows would have made him anywhere near as much as a STP Core/Purple tour would have. Honestly, if he had just been able to take the rest of the bands' criticism constructively and took a break get sober and back in vocal shape for 2013 instead of embarking on that debacle, he'd still be alive today.

I think Kretz touched on the Purple to the Core tour in the David Fricke article in Rolling Stone. Every decision Scott made was just bad. His entire life was on a downward trajectory.  All of it. It's incredibly sad.