The Smashing Pumpkins‘ Billy Corgan has joined the cavalcade of voices mourning the death of Scott Weiland. A day after the former Stone Temple Pilots frontman’s passing at the age of 48, Corgan shared a eulogy on his band’s website, processing his occasionally contentious relationship with the band and recognizing theirs and Weiland’s “native brilliance.” He reflects on the brief moments they shared together in a personal context, but mostly uses the occasion to place Weiland among his era’s greats. “If you asked me who I truly believed were the great voices of our generation,” Corgan wrote. “I’d say it were he, Layne, and Kurt.”
Read Corgan’s full statement below or at the Smashing Pumpkins website.
Having just woken to the news of this passing, I feel compelled to put pen to paper and pay my respects to Scott. And in that I will not pretend to know more than I know, or add some sad homily to how he loved his life. At least in that, may I now say he is undoubtably in the arms of grace and eternal love.
May I also offer my humble condolences to his family, friends, and band mates; who have, and are, suffering this great loss. For when anyone as vaunted leaves far too soon, we mourn all that might have been.
As any fan, I find myself reflecting on what I do have in my own treasure chest: in scarce moments where Scott and I spoke as contemporaries or competitors, and got to know each as people other past the footlights and shadows we were so busy casting to the world. It may seem trite in reflection, but I’d try to make him giggle when I saw that the manic whirl of the dumb parties we were at (in Hollywood, no less!) might be causing undue stress.
It was, I’d guess you’d say, my way of apology for having been so critical of STP when they appeared on the scene like some crazy, man-fueled rocket. And not only was the knight up front freshly handsome to a fault, but he could sing too! As any supreme actor gives a real and different voice to each character played.
It was STP’s 3rd album that had got me hooked, a wizardly mix of glam and post-punk, and I confessed to Scott, as well as the band many times, how wrong I’d been in assessing their native brilliance. And like Bowie can and does, it was Scott’s phrasing that pushed his music into a unique, and hard to pin down, aesthetic sonicsphere.
Lastly, I’d like to share a thought which though clumsy, I hope would please Scott In Hominum. And that is if you asked me who I truly believed were the great voices of our generation, I’d say it were he, Layne, and Kurt.
So it goes beyond tragedy to say it is we who lost them, and not the other way round…
WILLIAM CORGAN
