Billy Corgan Has Written A Heartfelt Eulogy For Scott Weiland

As tributes continue to flow in from across the music world for founding Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver frontman Scott Weiland – who was found dead on his tour bus yesterday following a reported cardiac arrest – Billy Corgan has paid homage to the late singer with a heartfelt eulogy.

Posting on The Smashing Pumpkins‘ website, Corgan has named Weiland as one of “the great voices of our generation,” alongside Kurt Cobain and Alice in Chains’ Layne Staley, adding “It goes beyond tragedy to say it is we who lost them, and not the other way round”.

His full statement reads:

IN HONOUR OF SCOTT WEILAND

December 4, 2015

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 [Staley], and Kurt [Cobain].

So it goes beyond tragedy to say it is we who lost them, and not the other way round…

Although Weiland’s immediate cause of death has been identified as a cardiac arrest, the underlying cause is yet to be determined.

TMZ is reporting chatter from numerous sources in the music industry claiming that Weiland had lapsed back into his former drug habits at the time of his death, but his wife has refuted those claims.

Nevertheless, police did find a small amount of cocaine inside the tour bus where Weiland’s body was found and have arrested his Wildabouts bass player Tommy Black for drug possession.

Meanwhile, Weiland’s former Stone Temple Pilots bandmates have issued a heartfelt statement of their own, paying tribute to their late founding frontman.

Check it out below, or read our own tribute to Weiland’s life and musical legacy right here.

Dear Scott,Let us start by saying thank you for sharing your life with us. Together we crafted a legacy of music... Posted by Stone Temple Pilots on Friday, December 4, 2015
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