Lead Singer Syndrome

Welcome to another special ‘90s entry! This week, we’re going to discuss what many music fans refer to as “lead singer syndrome” (this is not something I made up, I promise). This is a disease that has affected plenty of frontmen (and women) over the years, and it’s not strictly a ‘90s phenomenon. However, there are a number of ‘90s bands that struggled with a temperamental lead singer, and many of them called it quits because of that one person’s sour attitude.

So let’s take a look at three notoriously asshole-ish lead singers (that I also happen to like a lot) and find out just where they went wrong.

Scott Weiland (Stone Temple Pilots)

Status: Fired

Why Is He an Asshole?

His highly publicized substance abuse problems led to multiple arrests, which constantly derailed STP’s attempts to tour and even release new material. Over the years, he became more and more withdrawn from his bandmates and began showing up to his own shows late or not at all (I know from experience because Scott was late to an STP show I attended a few years ago).

After STP went on hiatus in the early 2000s, Scott joined the supergroup Velvet Revolver. Much to no one’s surprise, his bad habits followed him, and Velvet Revolver eventually dumped him. He reunited with both bands later on, but that didn’t last long. Scott got a little cocky about the Velvet Revolver one-off reunion, claiming he was back with the band for good (a claim Slash immediately shot down).

STP went on another hiatus, during which Scott began a solo tour. The tour was branded the “Purple at the Core Tour,” and basically consisted of Scott performing STP songs with another band. The rest of the original STP lineup accused Scott of and essentially touring under the STP brand without permission. They warned him to cease and desist, but Scott refused, so they fired him and replaced him with Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington.

In Scott’s Defense

I made my opinion on Scott Weiland clear in my Stone Temple Pilots entry, but I’d like to go into more detail here.

Like I stated above, I happen to like the three singers discussed in this entry. Out of all three, I like Scott the most (see my embarrassingly intense crush on him in middle school). He’s an incredible songwriter and his voice is heavenly. Though I honestly believe he was a better frontman in Velvet Revolver, his work with Stone Temple Pilots is still impressive.

Unfortunately, his skills as a musician are overshadowed by his rampant drug use in the ‘90s and his increasingly anti-social behavior. For those who don’t know, Scott was diagnosed with bipolar disorder a while back, which explains a lot. Now, of course that shouldn’t be an excuse for some of the bad moves he’s made career-wise—he’s still done some asshole-ish things to his bandmates, both in STP and Velvet Revolver. And I don’t think his admittance of his mental illness was a move to elicit pity from anyone.

His autobiography, Not Dead & Not For Sale, goes into detail about some of his deeper issues (if you’re curious about his life, please give it a read), but ultimately, drugs did him in. Like Kurt Cobain, Scott found solace in heroin, and it obviously fucked a lot of things up for him. I don’t think he’s completely blameless in terms of relationships with his former bandmates, but he’s still a human being who makes mistakes and maybe doesn’t know exactly how to deal with them.

Verdict: 60% asshole (40% misunderstood)

Courtney Love (Hole)

Status: Solo

Why Is She an Asshole?

Her boisterous attitude and tendency to speak before she thinks have gotten her into many scuffles with other musicians (she once punched Bikini Kill’s Kathleen Hanna in the face for supposedly no particular reason).

But perhaps her most prominent claim to infamy was her tumultuous relationship with Kurt Cobain. Because of Kurt’s absurdly exaggerated legacy, Courtney has continuously been viewed as his ultimate downfall. She’s been called everything from a “Yoko Ono” to a murderer.

In Courtney’s Defense

Courtney Love isn’t exactly the easiest person to like, but she has a lot of qualities I really admire.

She challenges mainstream expectations of how a woman should look and act. It seems to me that people who find Courtney’s obnoxious behavior more off-putting than similar behavior from her male counterparts are perhaps caught off guard by her unwillingness to adapt to traditional feminine roles. Or people just find her annoying, regardless of her gender. I can’t assume everyone who hates Courtney is a misogynist.

She also gets far too much shit for her history of substance abuse. Scott Weiland followed almost the exact same path, yet he gets off easy compared to Courtney. But alas, rock ‘n’ roll is a boys club and girls will almost always get the short end of the stick.

But the one thing I really admire about Courtney is her ability to move past the tragedy of Kurt’s passing. No matter what you think of her, you have to admit that being in her shoes at that point in 1994 must have been incredibly difficult. But she prevailed. That takes a hell of a lot of strength.

Sure, she’s made mistakes, and yes, her public image is one of the worst in rock history, but she’s a strong woman (and she probably doesn’t give a shit what you think of her).

Verdict: 75% asshole (25% badass bitch)

Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins)

Status: Only original member left in the band

Why Is He an Asshole?

A notorious perfectionist, Billy insisted on playing all the guitar and bass parts on both Gish and Siamese Dream, which caused early internal drama with the Pumpkins.

The original Smashing Pumpkins lineup began to disintegrate by the late ‘90s, and the band eventually broke up in 2000. Billy reunited with drummer Jimmy Chamberlin to form the band Zwan, but that didn’t last long due to the rift forming between the two.

In 2004, Billy basically ruined any chance of getting the original Smashing Pumpkins lineup back together by badmouthing everyone. He blamed James Iha for the breakup and called D’arcy Wretzky a “mean-spirited drug addict.” And on top of that, he slammed his Zwan bandmates, calling them “filthy, opportunistic and selfish.” (And he did this on LiveJournal, for Christ's sake. LiveJournal.)

Though Jimmy did reunite with Billy for the album Zeitgeist in 2007, he quit two years later. Billy decided to continue releasing music under the Smashing Pumpkins name.

In Billy’s Defense

Like Scott and Courtney, Billy Corgan has his own personal issues that played some part in his behavior. He is apparently obsessive-compulsive, which explains the need for the first two Smashing Pumpkins albums to be perfect (and they are perfect). But that’s still not an excuse to be an asshole about it.

His tendency to badmouth his former bandmates (along with Courtney Love, whom he was involved with for quite some time) is definitely problematic, and unfortunately, I can’t really defend him on that.

My only defense for Billy is his musical skills. The man is a creative genius. Just listen to the perfection that is Siamese Dream. His more recent stuff is okay at best, but he knows exactly what he wants and he makes damn sure everyone hears it.

Verdict: 85% asshole (but 100% musical genius) 

Stone Temple Pilots

Sound Familiar?

“Plush,” “Interstate Love Song,” “Trippin’ on a Hole in a Paper Heart”

Who Are They?

Alternative radio mainstays and supposed grunge imposters.

As with most of the history of Stone Temple Pilots, there are two sides to the story of how Scott Weiland and bassist Robert DeLeo met: the band’s side and Scott’s side. The band said that Scott and Robert met at a Black Flag concert in 1986. The two began discussing their girlfriends, only to find out that they were dating the same woman. Instead of beating the shit out of each other in a jealous rage, the two developed a bond and decided to start a rock band (they broke it off with the girl shortly after).

Scott’s side of the story (as detailed in his autobiography, Not Dead and Not For Sale) was that he and his high school friend, Corey Hicock, pursued Robert after seeing him play live.

Personally, I prefer the band’s story (but I still love you, Mr. Weiland).

Scott, Robert, Corey and a drummer named David Allin formed a band called Swing, but after Corey and David ditched them, they grabbed drummer Eric Kretz and guitarist Dean DeLeo (Robert’s older brother). Dean flat out refused to be in a band called Swing, so the name changed to Mighty Joe Young.

The band recorded a demo tape in 1990 and played its first show supporting Henry Rollins. During the recording of the debut album, Scott and company got a call from a bluesman who claimed the name Mighty Joe Young.

In a scramble to find a new name, the band threw around various spins on the initials STP (inspired by the STP Motor Oil stickers). After briefly considering the name Shirley Temple’s Pussy, they settled on Stone Temple Pilots (thank God for that).

Stone Temple Pilots signed to Atlantic Records in 1992 and released their debut album, Core, the same year. Core was a huge success, but most critics accused the band of being “grunge imitators.”

Critics may have hated them, but STP still gained a loyal fan base. The band toured extensively with Rage Against the Machine and Megadeth and filmed an episode of MTV Unplugged.

(Fun fact: In a January 1994 Rolling Stone poll, STP was voted Best New Band by readers and Worst New Band by the magazine’s critics. Talk about discrepancy.)

Despite the critical backlash, STP won a Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance for “Plush” and released the hugely popular Purple in 1994.

“Interstate Love Song” became the album’s biggest hit, topping the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart for 15 weeks.

Meanwhile, Scott was developing a serious heroin addiction. By the time STP’s third album, 1996’s Tiny Music…Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop, dropped, most of the tour had to be canceled due to Scott’s drug abuse. As a result, Tiny Music fell off the charts and STP’s popularity began to wane.

The band went on hiatus soon after the album’s release. During this time, Scott released a solo album (12 Bar Blues) and the rest of the band teamed up with Ten Inch Men front man Dave Coutts to perform as Talk Show.

STP regrouped in 1998 to record No. 4, released a year later.

Where Are They Now?

Still technically together, sans Scott Weiland (maybe?). We’ll get into that later.

STP’s success came roaring back with a little help from No. 4’s biggest single (and my favorite song), “Sour Girl.” (I highly recommend watching the super strange and oddly sexy music video.)

In 2001, the band released Shangri-La Dee Da, which ended up being a commercial disappointment. After an altercation between Scott and Dean on the final show of the Shangri-La Dee Da tour, Stone Temple Pilots officially disbanded.

Scott joined the ultra-cool supergroup Velvet Revolver in 2003, which consisted of former Guns N’ Roses members Slash, Matt Sorum and Duff McKagan, along with former Wasted Youth guitarist Dave Kushner. Velvet Revolver released two albums, 2004’s Contraband and 2007’s Libertad, before Scott officially left the band in 2008.

Stone Temple Pilots eventually reunited in 2008 after Scott and the DeLeo brothers settled their differences. The reunion tour officially kicked off at Rock on the Range in Columbus, Ohio the same year (I unfortunately didn’t get to witness that miracle firsthand).

After the release of a self-titled sixth studio album, things began to go sour again. Hopes for a 20^th anniversary celebration for Core were dashed in 2012, and Scott was already looking to reunite with Velvet Revolver (which Slash immediately declined).

But Why Stone Temple Pilots?

As of February 27, 2013, Scott Weiland is no longer part of the band. Or maybe he is. I’m not quite sure at this point. Scott recently told TMZ, “STP is not broken up. It’s a whole thing to try to boost ticket sales.” And apparently he learned of his termination through the band’s official website, not directly from any other members. So is this for real, or is it really just a marketing ploy? It may be one of the great mysteries of the world.

What Does Sam Think?

Story time! Back in middle school, I was obsessed with Velvet Revolver (and I also had an embarrassingly huge crush on Scott Weiland, but that’s beside the point). Through Velvet Revolver, I became interested in Stone Temple Pilots. I had heard “Interstate Love Song” and “Plush” before, but I didn’t think of delving into the band’s discography until the formation of VR.

I know some people dislike this band for a variety of reasons. Some say these guys are “grunge wannabes” since their debut came out a year after Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains and Pearl Jam’s breakthrough albums. And although Core does have a grungy feel to it, STP evolved past it. There’s a vast difference between Core and Purple, and an even bigger difference between Purple and No. 4. The band kind of adapted a more psychedelic sound in later albums, with a pinch of Southern rock influence (especially on “Interstate Love Song”).

But most people I know who dislike STP cite Scott Weiland as the weak link. I know I’m biased when I say this, but Scott is incredibly talented, and I think people look past that talent and concentrate on Scott’s drug abuse. His drug and legal escapades should not define him as a musician. I’ve read his autobiography (and you should, too) and I’ve come to realize that he’s a pretty troubled guy. You really can’t hold that against him.

So if you don’t like STP (which is perfectly okay), I hope it’s because of the music and not the man behind it.

--Sam Boyer, reporting from the ‘90s