Should The Reunion Have Never Happened At All?

[Toxic34]

It is quite evident in many ways that the death of his brother and his divorce from Mary effectively created a hole that never healed in Scott. With that in mind, did this effectively render him unable to truly perform anymore? With hindsight, should this mean that Robert, Dean and Eric should've gone to Scott and said "Look, you're in no shape for us to get back together. We can't do this again?"


After all, one of the things Scott put out in an interview that year when he began attacking VR for letting him go and saying "we understand each other now," was saying how Dean had to apologize to him over the Tiny Music cancellation and say "I shouldn't have singled you out for your addiction when I was using myself. It was hypocritical and I shouldn't have done it." That in many ways demonstrates how Scott refused to take responsibility for himself or even see the purpose behind what was done. Would it have been better, when Dean was approached about that and prompted to say it, he should instead have gone: "Fuck you, Scott. We did that to save your life, and you still haven't learned anything in more than a decade. So this whole thing is off, get your shit together with Slash and Duff, and leave us alone?"

[Flyingmerpa]

"If you run into an asshole in the morning, you ran into an asshole. If you run into assholes all day, you're the asshole." 
That quote makes me think of Scott.  No matter where he went bridges get burned and havoc is left.  STP breaking up more than once, 2 failed marriages, VR, and the fact he didn't have any tributes played for him after his death by his peers that I'm aware of.  At the end of the day only one member of STP didn't show up on time to shows.   Not to condone Dean using as well, but he was at least still professional outside of whatever he did in private and showed up and played great.

[Long Way Home]

Glad the reunion happened. Got Huckleberry and Maver out of it musically. Plus, my daughter got to hear them live once, albeit from the womb. One could argue that Scott was never going to get his act together, and that he may have passed sooner had he embarked on that solo mess with a bunch of addicts earlier.

[StoneTempleBrett]

"If you run into an asshole in the morning, you ran into an asshole. If you run into assholes all day, you're the asshole." 
That quote makes me think of Scott.  No matter where he went bridges get burned and havoc is left.  STP breaking up more than once, 2 failed marriages, VR, and the fact he didn't have any tributes played for him after his death by his peers that I'm aware of.  At the end of the day only one member of STP didn't show up on time to shows.   Not to condone Dean using as well, but he was at least still professional outside of whatever he did in private and showed up and played great.

Chris Cornell was the only big name peer who did a tribute performance for Scott. He played Say Hello 2 Heaven for him at a solo show. Now they're both dead, tragic.

[RA]

Flyingmerpa your post is spot on. Scott was always the problem. I love the guy as an artist, love his music, but he was a dick. He helped make STP great, then when they were great, he pretty much brought them down. Pretty sad.

[Blue]

As far as Scott's health is concerned, as others have said he was going down the path he was on regardless of whether or not the reunion happened.


As far as the music is concerned, if S/T had never been released then we all would have spent the rest of our lives wishing they made one more album together before Scott passed... I think that would have been far more unbearable than having them release a slightly disappointing album.

[CagedTiger]

"If you run into an asshole in the morning, you ran into an asshole. If you run into assholes all day, you're the asshole." 
That quote makes me think of Scott.  No matter where he went bridges get burned and havoc is left.  STP breaking up more than once, 2 failed marriages, VR, and the fact he didn't have any tributes played for him after his death by his peers that I'm aware of.  At the end of the day only one member of STP didn't show up on time to shows.   Not to condone Dean using as well, but he was at least still professional outside of whatever he did in private and showed up and played great.

Chris Cornell was the only big name peer who did a tribute performance for Scott. He played Say Hello 2 Heaven for him at a solo show. Now they're both dead, tragic.

I suppose it all depends on what you consider to be big name. Aaron Lewis, Corey Taylor, Halestorm, Candlebox, Third Eye Blind and Nuno Bettencourt all performed live tributes to Scott shortly after his death too, you can find them all on YouTube.


I also find RA’s post saying Scott was a ‘dick’ somewhat disrespectful. Come on dude, the guys dead. He never came off as a dick as a person, he just had serious drug and mental health issues and dealt with them in the wrong way. I’m sure that made him a nightmare to be in a band with and he was unprofessional many times but he seemed like a nice guy with a good heart deep down, but unfortunately one who struggled with his many demons.

[DankoJones]

Should or shouldn't aside, I'm glad they did.  Saw them do a few strong shows and released an album I enjoyed

[andrew]

The reunion was great until 2010, when Scott had that fall on stage and broke his heel.

Sure, there were some off shows, but overall the reviews were great, everybody seemed to be having a good time, and we got to have STP albums from 3 different decades.

I'm still bummed out about the fact that Scott died the way he did, but the dude gave us all he could give while he was still here. Sure he was a pain in the ass sometimes but he gave careers to some of the people he was in bands with, and second winds to quite a few others' careers. It's a bummer to hear people talk shit about a dead guy, but at least a lot of people he worked with softened their stances on the guy after he died alone on a tour bus.

[Pingfah]

I saw them in 08 and 10, and they were fantastic both times, including Scott. I recall there being talk of some bad shows at the time, but I think there were a lot more good shows than bad ones.

Breaking his foot was probably a really big deal, as that probaby meant pain killers to be able to do the shows, which is not a problem for most people, but for Scott... Of course, he was on a downward trajectory for the last 5 years before that in any case, but that can't have helped matters.

At the end of the day, who knows. The guy had multiple problems, there is no way anyone can say that if they had not done the reunion that it would have helped him, or hastened his decline. Totally unpredicatable.

[CagedTiger]

As far as the music is concerned, if S/T had never been released then we all would have spent the rest of our lives wishing they made one more album together before Scott passed... I think that would have been far more unbearable than having them release a slightly disappointing album.

I agree with this sentiment. I enjoyed Velvet Revolver and Army of Anyone but that whole time I still longed for another STP album. When they reunited I was so excited for the new music but it failed to deliver. That reunion album made me realise that these 4 guys no longer had the chemistry to make great music TOGETHER like they did before. If they’d never made that album though I’d have always wondered what could’ve been. Scott went on to make a better album with the Wildabouts with ‘Blaster’, sadly it sounded like he had more chemistry with those guys in the end, it probably helped that he actually wrote and recorded those songs with them though of course. S/T just sounded phoned in and disjointed.

[Pingfah]

It wasn't all bad, but 80% or so yeah. The few flashes of brilliance like Maver made it worse if anything, because they clearly could make great music together, they just weren't bothering to.

[CritterTypeThing]

It wasn't all bad, but 80% or so yeah. The few flashes of brilliance like Maver made it worse if anything, because they clearly could make great music together, they just weren't bothering to.

I do feel if they had been able to weather the storm and work on another album that it would have been much better.  The ST peace album to me had some pretty good songs, but it did come across as something not cohesive and I attributed that to the fact that they hadn't really learned to work together again at that point, but rather jumped in the studio (separately) and walked through the motions.

There's so many what ifs.  But Scott was on his track for a looooong time.  I feel that the reunion, more than anything, may have bought him some more time.  During that period he may not have been fully sober but he was functioning and outside of the initial bad NJ show the reviews were pretty strong even though Scott's showmanship and intensity had dropped from the No4 & SLDD era.  Had they not gotten back together, you could make the argument he could've slipped further and faster as he continued to play half full clubs solo.

The rest of the band I have to believe tried long and hard enough over the years to be there and help Scott along the way.  By the reunion, Scott wasn't suddenly gonna turn around and get the message (or rather get it and listen to it), the only thing that could really change was their attitude and threshold for BS.  And as it's been loosely quoted, the $$ was more than good enough to put up with it, for a few years atleast.

I agree that it would be even tougher to swallow had Scott passed and they never got the chance to get back together. 

[lovemachine97]

I think the consensus is that he was a good guy consumed by demons. My uncle was bipolar, eventually committed suicide. When he was happy, he was the lie of the party. When he was manic, he was scary. When properly medicated, he was a good, interesting dude. When he self-medicated, it was a crapshoot.

The two reunion shows I attended were good. It was a double whammy that he was using/drinking and getting older, so Scott didn't sound like he did in the No. 4 and most of SLDD era.

I think Scott was tired of being a scapegoat when others had problems, too. Like all the VR guys except Kushner relapsing, but only his being news or a problem. That said, being the singer is like being the President or a famous coach--you get all the credit, but the flip side is you also get all the blame. It isn't fair, but he knew that.

But it seems his trajectory was set after his brother died and nothing was going to change that. Ultimately, that's on him. But I am glad we got what we got from him.

[Sklashboombash]

...and to think, whether or not the rest of the band agreed, Scott was talkin' a 2017 reunion with STP - who knows, probably to coincide with the 25th anniversary of Core, and make the wrong things (Purple to the Core tour) right.

I wish he would have steered clear to that downward spiral. Still makes me sad thinking about it.
But I'll be forever grateful for all the wonderful music we were left with.