Dear Scott,
First, thank you for the incredible music you helped bring into the world.
As a 90s kid, I literally grew up listening to your songs, whether I knew it then or not. Back then, before I found my place in the world of rock and metal, I had no idea who you were or who Stone Temple Pilots were, but I remember hearing “Sex Type Thing” and “Plush” thinking there was no way a person could vocalize like that. The undulation of you tone and built in controlled grit and vibrato were out of this world and unlike anything I’d ever heard before.
The first time I heard “Interstate Love Song” I teared up a little, and still do a bit, even to this day. The same goes for “Still Remains.” There has always been something tragically beautiful about your work, the emotion and soul in it has always been infectious-whether it was upbeat like “Big Bang Baby,” or more solemn and evocative like “Fall To Pieces.”
When the world lost Layne Staley, it was the first time I realized how traumatic and terrifying art could be that it could make a person self-destruct. I was a junior in high school when Dimebag was assassinated and my heart dropped. That day I learned about not only the danger in rock n’ roll, but of the power of music and what some people will do to stifle it. It dawned on me that music was like religion: it touches many, soothes some, compels others, and crazes a select few.
Over the past eleven years since Dimebag’s death, I have watched as several of my idols have fallen one way or another. I’ve, thankfully, been fortunate enough to see many of them before their descent, or departure and they are memories I will cherish for a lifetime. Like many others, when you confirmed that Chester had left STP, I had hope that this would open the path to another STP reunion at which I might finally get to see you in your element. The fact that this can never happen is a staggering reality that I, along with countless other fans, sadly now have to accept.
Despite being a man people idolized and exalted for his creative genius, I never saw you behave that way. When I saw you backstage at Carolina Rebellion this year with The Wildabouts, you were so casual and completely unpretentious, mingling and chatting with whoever approached graciously. I appreciated that, and what’s sad is that more people will not have an opportunity to experience this for themselves, your humility.
Although I am saddened by the news of your passing, my thoughts are with your family and your children. While the world can’t stop talking about you today and possibly throughout the next several days while the news is still fresh, when the presses stop running your name every other hour your loved ones will still be there with your name on their lips and memories of you on their hearts.
Despite the fact that some people can’t stop talking about your past, your struggles, your downfalls, I refuse to give any more voice to them. We are all a collection of our successes and failures, walking trophy cases full of achievements and faults. You were no worse than any of us and we are no better for pointing it out, but you were better than most at what you did.
So thanks, Scott- for the music, the honesty, the beauty, and the hard lessons.
It wasn’t always pretty, but the truth rarely is...
Thank you for being real with us.
Sincerely,
Patricia Jones
Once a student, forever a fan
