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Severian · 12.05.2015, 05:31 PM

I'm not going to lie, I went through a brief STP phase when Purple came out, and at one time I thought Tiny Music... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop was pretty damn ballsy and inventive for a rock band...

But that was sooooo long ago. Before I was out of high school I considered them a really really bad joke. Like the Smashing Pumpkins post-1995. I made merciless fun of them when they had their little resurgence with "Sour Girl", and I was no kinder to Velvet Revolver or Weiland himself.

I think he was kind of a vapid man who was just way too proud of his endlessly mediocre music. Like Billy Corgan only not quite as unbelievably ridiculous. I can't even feel sorry for Corgan because it's like he asks for punishment with every move he makes, and then resents "hipsters" for punishing him.

But Scott Weiland... Him, I feel sorry for. When I first heard about his death, I shrugged and said "so?" (I know- I'm fucking awful... I will probably fall back on Catholic self guilt tripping to make myself feel like less of an absolute monster.)

I immediately regretted it, of course, because I'm actually quite a softy, and I believe everyone deserves respect. It was not like me. Not the adult me anyway. And when I saw his photo a few hours later, I felt like crying. Not because the world is going to be a bleaker place without his talents (it's already bleaker than hell, and he didn't have a lot of talent to offer) but because he was a person. He struggled with drugs, like so many people from our generation have, and he did it for so long that I can't imagine what kind of hell his life was actually like at times.

He had sad, uncomprehending eyes and a face like a malnourished high school student, and I felt bad for the guy underneath it all. Nobody deserves that kind of pain. Nobody deserves to be joked about in death.

It's sad. It's even sadder to think of how many people lose their lives to drugs and end up dying as a direct or indirect result of it *without* the whole world taking notice. When normal people like that die, a lot of people think, "good riddance." And that's what's been going through my mind in the middle of this.

12.05.2015, 05:31 PM	#2
Severian invito al cielo Join Date: Feb 2012 Posts: 11,741	I'm not going to lie, I went through a brief STP phase when Purple came out, and at one time I thought Tiny Music... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop was pretty damn ballsy and inventive for a rock band... But that was sooooo long ago. Before I was out of high school I considered them a really really bad joke. Like the Smashing Pumpkins post-1995. I made merciless fun of them when they had their little resurgence with "Sour Girl", and I was no kinder to Velvet Revolver or Weiland himself. I think he was kind of a vapid man who was just way too proud of his endlessly mediocre music. Like Billy Corgan only not quite as unbelievably ridiculous. I can't even feel sorry for Corgan because it's like he asks for punishment with every move he makes, and then resents "hipsters" for punishing him. But Scott Weiland... Him, I feel sorry for. When I first heard about his death, I shrugged and said "so?" (I know- I'm fucking awful... I will probably fall back on Catholic self guilt tripping to make myself feel like less of an absolute monster.) I immediately regretted it, of course, because I'm actually quite a softy, and I believe everyone deserves respect. It was not like me. Not the adult me anyway. And when I saw his photo a few hours later, I felt like crying. Not because the world is going to be a bleaker place without his talents (it's already bleaker than hell, and he didn't have a lot of talent to offer) but because he was a person. He struggled with drugs, like so many people from our generation have, and he did it for so long that I can't imagine what kind of hell his life was actually like at times. He had sad, uncomprehending eyes and a face like a malnourished high school student, and I felt bad for the guy underneath it all. Nobody deserves that kind of pain. Nobody deserves to be joked about in death. It's sad. It's even sadder to think of how many people lose their lives to drugs and end up dying as a direct or indirect result of it without the whole world taking notice. When normal people like that die, a lot of people think, "good riddance." And that's what's been going through my mind in the middle of this.
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