Scott’s death isn’t any surprise sadly. The guy lived pretty hard on booze and drugs, I think it was a pre-requisite for being the singer in Velvet Revolver due to the rest being made up of former Guns n’ Roses members. Contrary to the Hollywood narrative and AA’s pro-Jesus…sorry, higher power, bullshit, the success rate for shaking addiction is pretty low.
As for the guy’s earlier career, I initially hated Stone Temple Pilots (aka STP). Their first album was a poor-man’s Pearl Jam in sound and topic. Turgid. Loud. Boring. My opinion began to shift around 1994 with their song “Big Empty” which was also used for The Crow, their unplugged performance on MTV and they managed to pull away from the dreaded, grungy Hurl Jam sound with “Vasoline” and “Interstate Love Song.” By the third album Scott’s voice changed direction and the DeLeo Brothers’ guitars finally found a better sound. I even thought about bothering to see them perform but the tour for Tiny Music… was immediately derailed by Scott’s first public outing over what eventually killed him.
He wasn’t a favorite singer or writer of mine. He was memorable though. Scott had potential as the later STP stuff showed, especially if it changed my mind. Trust me, I still despise Hurl Jam and their terrible influence on the Nineties. The guy just suffered from the usual problem frontmen have, people always expect you to be “on.” I think he also earned the respect of his peers even if his body of work became spotty. Trust me, few legitimate rock stars from numerous genres would mourn his passing via Twitter if he were a complete hack (see Liz Phair or Axl Rose).