Not Dead & Not for Sale

March 28, 2011
Weiland, lead singer of Stone Temple Pilots, delivers a surprisingly sober look at his career as "the guy whose hopeless addictions hadâand would alwaysâruin everything for everyone." Weiland was one of the most commercially successful rockers of the 1990s until his drug-fueled crash-and-burn lifestyle led to the bandâs breakup in 2003. He then went to similar commercial fame and personal havoc as singer for the supergroup Velvet Revolver (with Guns Nâ Roses guitarist Slash) until 2007. In part to set the record straight, Weiland and Ritz (who has coauthored books with Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and Janet Jackson, among many others) produce a straightforward, readable rock bio. Weilandâs trajectory is familiar: an early troubled life; finding salvation in music; paying dues followed by massive commercial success; losing his way in drug and alcohol abuse as well as troubled marriages; finding peace in rehab; a recent successful drug-free reunion with STP. Sadly, the writing is often bland ("I have a chameleon-like ability to sing in any style") and it displays little of the tremendous energy found in his music as well.