Scott Weiland Biopic in the Works

Many years ago, I read “Fall to Pieces” because I wanted to know what would push a woman so far as to send her then husband’s expensive wardrobe up in flames. I was astounded by the stories shared by Mary Forsberg Weiland, the second ex-wife of the Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver frontman, Scott Weiland.

There is now movie in the works about Scott’s life, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The film will be adapted from the book “Not Dead & Not for Sale” and will tell the tale of the rockstar’s life that was cut short by an accidental drug overdose in 2015 at the age of 48.

Stone Temple Pilots debut album, Core, plunged the San Diego based band into the musical mainstream spotlight with its release in 1992. Weiland’s lyrics filled the band’s emotionally charged songs until 2002, when he was recruited to join Velvet Revolver and smash out two albums before breaking up in 2008.

Weiland re-joined Stone Temple Pilots in 2008 but was fired from the band in 2013.

Stone Temple Pilots was one of the most successful bands of the 90s. Scott Weiland received a tribute from Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins, posthumously, calling him “One of the greatest voices of their generation.”

I Want the Airwaves, Baby

1989 was a huge turning point of my life growing up in Dallas-Fort Worth. Our FM radio Airwaves choices were shit and mostly still are my opinion. On New Kids on the Block might have made other teenage girls swoon when they promise that they'll be “loving you forever”, but this boy band was a hard pass for me. Songs like “Don’t Know Much” only solidified my belief that I'd rather watch paint dry than here Aaron Neville sing any day of the week and Chicago's “Look Away” made me want to run away from all hope of music. It all felt like a tidal wave of awful, attempted love ballads and I wasn't having any of it.

l am self-admitted channel surfer. At a moment's notice, I will turn the dial to another channel frequency like it's nobody's business even if I'm in a car and not the one driving.  It drives people who are around me nuts, but I can’t help that my brain gets bored easily and seeks out a new experience constantly.

It was during one of these millions of channel surfing times that I stumbled across this radio station that I could barely get any reception, but there it was with barely any commercials but what stood out was that the this genre music that came pouring out of my bedroom radio was unlike anything I've ever heard of my life in my life it was a rock and it hit me right in the soul was Johnette Napolitano of Concrete Blonde a and Ross y voice raspy voice hit me like a brick being thrown through the shattered glass she openly sings about life death and gunshot victims and God is a bullet I needed more of this but I would have to wait one more year to discover the heartbreaking realism of trying to love an alcoholic that haunts us in the song “Joey” which is rumored to be based on her relationship with Wall of Voodoo’s Mark Moreland. The little, static-filled radio station then known as KDGE The Edge and it was my life. I was introduced to bands like Social Distortion, Sonic Youth, Jane's Addiction, Faith No More, The Pixies, Midnight Oil, and they fucking rocked my world. I couldn't get enough and I would sit in my room and write poetry while listening to a wave of music that was just about to explode. This music was about to be in the bedroom of every angsty 90s kid because we could relate to these songs in some way.

I then discovered 120 Minutes on MTV, even though it had been running since 1986 and fell even more in love with alternative rock, which only lead me further down the musical rabbit hole. I found the hidden treasure of goth and Industrial.

I can distinctly remember where I was the first time I heard head like a hole I was at my middle school dance. I was one of three of us in a small group of friends that even recognized it and we all jumped up and down clapping that the DJ even recognized the brilliance of a then barely known Trent Reznor.

I am a huge Ramones fan and feel very fortunate to have seen them before most of the band members passed away. I even met Johnny Ramone on the floor walking through the crowd at the show. What stood out to me the most, was how kind he was - and completely approachable. I recognized that chili bowl haircut anywhere and my meeting him really set the bar for how I feel celebrity interactions should be. Some should probably take a page from Johnny's book and be kind to the people that support you.

Nothing felt like it could stop alternative rock. It was a force to be reckoned with and it felt like it would never die – until it did in 1996.  

I still celebrate this musical Journey often, even if it was 30 plus years ago.