At around midnight last night the tragic news came down that former Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland was found dead in his tour bus. The news sent shockwaves through the music world, as you’d expect, and many across the entertainment industry took to social media to pay their condolences. 

Among them,  Stone Temple Pilots members, who issued a statement on their Facebook page. “You were gifted beyond words,” the band wrote in an open letter to Weiland. “Part of that gift was part of your curse.” Weiland’s former bandmate Duff McKagan, who joined him in Velvet Revolver, also chimed in. “We experienced a good chunk of life with Scott, and even in his darkest times, we all had hope and love for him. His artistry will live on, of that, there is no doubt,” McKagan said in a lengthy Facebook message. 

Also paying homage on Twitter–Ryan Adams, Krist Novoselic, Tommy Lee, Chuck D, Billy Corgan and many others. Judd Apatow called Weiland’s shows “some of my favorite of all time.” 

Take a look at some of the messages below.

Dear Scott,
Let us start by saying thank you for sharing your life with us.

Together we crafted a legacy of music that has given so many people happiness and great memories.

The memories are many, and they run deep for us.

We know amidst the good and the bad you struggled, time and time again.

It’s what made you who you were.

You were gifted beyond words, Scott.

Part of that gift was part of your curse.

With deep sorrow for you and your family, we are saddened to see you go.

All of our love and respect.

We will miss you brother,

Robert, Eric, Dean

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