Last night the rock band Velvet Revolver was on Jay Leno performing one of their songs. For those of you not aware, here's the lowdown on this band:
Guns N Roses - Axl Rose + Scott Weiland (Stone Temple Pilots vocalist) = Velvet Revolver
It was very strange to see the bastard son of 2 bands I grew up with 10+ years ago.
My earliest Guns N Roses memory dates back to 1987. I remember having the Appetite For Destruction cassette in my Walkman while attending the Minnesota Twins World Series parade in 1987 with my Dad and brother Chuck. On a side note, to this day I could care less about the World Series, but hey - when you get a free legitimate excuse to get out of school for the day, you've got to jump on it.
I remember playing an acoustic rendition of Stone Temple Pilots "Plush" outside of the Cottage Grove Subway franchise at 3 in the morning with a group of friends. That was... um... 1993?
The point is this: I've enjoyed both of these bands for a long time now, I am older, they are really older, and it's weird but cool to see the two together making music.
Slash hasn't aged a day - apparently chain smoking, drinking, and not wearing shirts is the secret to staying young.
Scott Weiland on the other hand. Ouch. Not looking too good. He could give Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes a run for his money in a "most disgustingly undernourished lead singer" contest if there ever was one. Apparently substantial hard core drug use is not the secret to staying young. He is looking so ridiculously waifish from his drug addiction that when he reached up and you could see his torso, it looked like a bird cage. When the spotlights lit up behind his wee little frog legs, they're so skinny that the glare from the lights seemed to make them disappear. The man is basically a skeleton tightly wrapped in skin.
Friends/band members of Scott Weiland: in the unlikely event that you end up reading this, please take Mr. Weiland to Old Country Buffet. He needs it. And don't just take him once - I might recommend lunch and dinner there for a month or two straight, and don't let him skimp on the salad dressing. Make him drink at least 2-3 Cokes. He needs all the calories he can get. Where's that healthy looking Scott Weiland we all used to know and love in the Stone Temple Pilots videos with bright orange hair? I hope drugs haven't taken him down for good - he's one of my favorite singers from one of my favorite bands, and I'd hate to see a perfectly good white boy go to waste like that.
Dear Scott Weiland: Please eat something. There's no need for you to hook up with your old pal Layne Staley quite yet.
I'm off to Cleveland this weekend to see my brother and the glorious Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Maybe they have a jar containing Scott Weiland's 40 pounds of body mass he lost on display there? I'll let you know.
Happy Trails.
For those of you who remember Stone Temple Pilots as "that grunge band from the 90s", do yourself a favor and check out their more recent offerings such as "No. 4" and "Shangri-La Dee Da" - it's some of the best gritty candy coated rock and roll out there today.
