Not Dead and Not for Sale

As a huge fan of the 90’s Alternative music scene this one was a must read for me. I am also very into memoirs so I couldn’t pass this one up from the legendary frontman of STP, Mr. Scott Weiland.

Unfortunately I read this right after I had read Mark Lanegan’s memoir Sing Backwards and Weep, and this memoir just really didn’t even hold a candle to that one.

Although it was interesting to read about STP and Scott’s early beginnings as a musician, as well as his start and subsequent battle with addiction he doesn’t really get too into detail with much about anything. This memoir mostly seems like an after thought and something his manager or publicist was really vouching for him to do. But that is only an assumption.

The most tragic part of this whole book is how its all about his triumph over addiction and his hope for his future and future work as a musician. Scott OD’d and passed in 2015. He was struggling a lot harder than he ever admitted in this book.

Although yes he may have been clean at the time of writing this, there are some odd contradictions in this book. For one he basically talks about his kids quite a bit and how his ex wife was such a drug addicted mess and this and that. Which is strange because his ex wife has publicly stated that he was a mess this whole time and barely had any involvement in his children’s lives because of all his issues.

His ex wife actually did release a memoir (Fall to Pieces by Mary Weiland) of her own, telling her side of this story. I do plan on reading it at some point.

No matter the case a seriously sad situation to all those involved.

Rest In Peace Scott, thank you for the beautiful art you gave this world.

3.5 STARS