Scott Weiland Quotations

I prefer to break new ground, but it gets harder and harder with the territory that's already been walked on.

Making an album should be an honest experience. It shouldn't be about trying to gauge where popular music is today; it should be about artistic expression and putting down what you want to put down.

Music, as many people have said, is the universal language. Of course points are made which make you think about things, but ultimately it makes you feel. And that's why people remember more songs that have meant something during their life than films. They start to define periods in your life, and that's kind of the beauty of it.

The thing is, unfortunately, I write the best songs when I'm miserable.

I suffer from manic-depressive disorder, and I've chosen not to take medication for it. Because of that, every once in a while I go through manic episodes and really depressed episodes.

Processed pig is white trash meat. Some people call it Spam.

Shoot the bad guys and I'll gladly sing a tune for you.

Computers and the Internet have made it really easy to rant. It's made everyone overly opinionated.

Dead fish don't swim around in jealous tides.

When you're in love, you've found your soul mate, you think life is going one way, and suddenly it's completely apparent it's not. You have to rethink your whole purpose.

I want my ex-wife and children to be happy.

When people ask me if I have a hobby, a lot of times my answer is that I like to surf in warm water. I like to ski, if I have the opportunity. But really, I like to go to my studio and write music that I want to write, where there's no pressure to come up with a hit single.

I want a performance style that's more cerebral and emotional than physical. I want to be a creative artist, not a whirling dervish.

It doesn't matter what kind of problems a family is having; it should always stay in the family.

Well, a lot of successes come by mistake.

As horrible as jail was, there were some first-rate guys in there.

It seems like everyone's got an agenda, and the agenda seems to be selling magazines or air time with sensational stories.

I had a period in my life in the '90s where I was definitely young, dumb, and full of even more dumb.

Having children showed me a whole different kind of love that I had never known. It was something that had always been missing. Complete love. I would die for them.

If I was in a zombie apocalypse, I wouldn't be playing music, because that would attract zombies.

But at this phase of my life, I want to write and not have to think about whether a song is going to be a hit. I want to explore the music that inspires me, and I don't want to ape myself.

A lot of journalists like to suck up to celebrities, and then as soon as they're a safe distance away at their computers, they take shots. But that's the way society has become, especially in pop culture.

I prefer a three-piece suit myself. Very sixties rock and roll. But they're not too quirky. Businessmen could wear them.

Great classic music that I've been turned on to has not only inspired and influenced me, but it has had an effect on my songwriting.

When I was around nine years old, I was a fan of Shaun Cassidy's first album.

When you become a television personality, it's difficult to maintain your musical credibility.

Lyrically, there's a lot of songs that are influenced by my wife. They're about my wife and I.

Life doesn't make any sense unless you can enjoy the journey, and sometimes I take that for granted.

One thing that has really influenced me with Bowie where I've taken an approach from him is how he changes from album to album and has always modified his sound and his appearance. I think that's an important thing.

My family is the most beautiful thing in my life beyond anything else, even music.

My favorite hobby is writing and recording songs at my studio. I like to surf, but I don't get a chance to do that as much as I'd like. I don't live close to the beach. I also like to ski, but I don't get to do that much, either.

When I put out a record or single I don't allow myself to set up expectations like, 'This song must be a number one hit. Its got to sell X amount of records.'

I was just a kid in 1987 when I heard of the Pixies, the year after I graduated high school. But I had my band together, and my best friend at the time, Corey Hickock, who was the guitar player in the band that would become STP, Mighty Joe Young, turned me on to the Pixies.

I think to stay in one sound is a career killer.

I still love making records, and I'm able to do it because I own my own studio, and I try to do it as much as possible.

I was on the pro-Nirvana, anti-Pearl Jam bandwagon.

When I formed the band and created the Wildabouts with my friends, we decided we wanted to make a band-sounding album, a rock-sounding album. I made two solo albums before that were more experimental albums, and I think that they didn't really resonate with my fan base because they were too out-there, too artsy.

Who you are as a person has to do with what you think and how you feel. It has to do with how you love and how you care for people.

When bands got really big and sold a lot of records back in the day and did really well on the road, everyone developed a certain ego. And there's a certain entitlement that comes with that. And it stops people from communicating the way you used to communicate when you were in a band together and it was all for one, one for all.

You can't be seen in your mid-40s wearing leather pants. No leather pants anymore.

You have to spend a lot more time on the road these days if you want to make a living with music.

Bowie is probably my favorite all-around songwriter and performer and personality. His ability to change over the years is such an inspiration. I love 'Young Americans' and 'Fame.'

Every single thing I've done has made me who I am today. The only thing I would take back is hurting the people that I love, and the people who I love have already read my lyrics and heard my apologies. But the rest of the world, I don't need to apologize to them. My life doesn't have anything to do with the rest of the world.

Electric red hair is more for, like, people in their 20s and early 30s.

I used to just write about my own apathy, but that youthful, apathetic way of looking at things grew thin as I got older.

I've seen guys on the street who look the part of a rock star just as much as any rock star. If you feel it and you believe it, then you can get away with it. Rock on!

People read things on Google, and they have these perceptions, these misconceived perceptions of who you are. At times that hurts, because they really don't know who I am.

Anytime I feel squeezed into a box, I just lash out. My gut reaction is to strike. It's a different character onstage: there's a whole dark sexuality that's completely different from me. You know, I don't let anybody know who I really am.

As I've gotten older and my life is a lot more stable, I've gotten more into storytelling.

It's a horrible thing to have someone pretend like they know what you're about and call you a fraud when they haven't given you a fair shot.

It's the same as Keith Richards. People still ask him the same questions they asked him 30 years ago, even though he's a completely different person. And I'm a completely different person than I was 15 years ago.

Do I show up onstage late sometimes? That's something I could definitely work on. I'm human.

It's like, hey, some people cook for a living, and some people milk cows. I write songs.

Not sure how I can be 'terminated' from a band that I founded, fronted and co-wrote many of their biggest hits. But that's something for the lawyers to figure out.

The Beatles have always had a big effect on me.

There was a period when STP and I weren't making music - we weren't getting along very good at all. But I had my studio, so I was writing and recording a lot of music. But something told me not to put it out. It was all stream of consciousness; it was clever, but it didn't really have substance.

There was a period of time where I really hated rock music.

Not many people are able to say that they had in their professional career the chance to perform in two bands that won Grammys and were multiplatinum bands.

Any time you're stepping out on a limb as an artist, it's scary, especially when you have a lot of success. When you're reaching a lot of people, the masses, it's easy to stay in that niche, you know? Especially when you're making a lot of money and you know there's a formula, it's easy to stay in that rut.

In my creative life, David Bowie is definitely an enormous influence on me, being one of rock's greatest shapeshifters.

I'm one of the luckiest people in the world that I was able to do what I fell in love with and be able to make a living doing it.

I listened to a lot of Bob Dylan songs to see how he works. I've gotten into writing story-songs.

I'm beyond the point of thinking I'm powerful enough to solve my own problems.

I had always sung in choirs. Even when it was something to be laughed at or made fun of, you know, in school. And I was always the kid who was picked at the Christmas concert to sing the solo, you know, while the other kids snickered in the front few rows.

I like wearing fitted jackets mixed with jeans, a button-down shirt and a tie. I like to keep the rock and roll feel but class it up a bit. As far as stage clothes, I prefer John Varvatos and All Saints. They have clothing that is really accessible for wearing every day as well as for wearing on stage. I also love J. Lindeberg's suits.

I really have paid no attention to social media. It's never been something that I've done. There are people that put up tour dates and basically say what's going on, but I need to get more involved, because I hear about rumors that are absolutely ridiculous.

I played in Velvet Revolver, which is a raw, bombastic blues band with a punk rock edge to it. It's like everything is based around the blues, no matter what the groove is.

I really didn't get obsessed with Bowie until my freshman year in high school. I remember listening to 'Starman' and thinking it sounded like it was a song for kids, like a lullaby. The Thin White Duke is my favorite look that he created.

I don't want to stay on the road for the rest of my life. I have two kids.

For the most part, rock fans don't go and buy CDs any more, very rarely. It's pretty much about downloads and streaming.

The great thing about kids is the immediate gratification. As soon as I get home from touring, my wife and kids become my life. There is nothing sweeter.

It's better to not set your expectations high. And that's what happens when you have a long career - not every album is going to be record setting.

It's got big riffs and really it's a rock and roll album. I think Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver fans will relate to that

I'm not sober. I haven't done drugs in 3 1/2 years, so I call myself clean.

Bowie's obviously my biggest influence.

To be appreciated by a whole 'nother generation of fans, all of a sudden discovering you, it's kind of what I did with the classic bands I love - the ones that influenced me.

As I've gotten older, I've found that I'm not afraid anymore to throw my influences into making a record.

It's incredibly stressful when the person you love is having a child.

I can't read sheet music, I have to just listen to it, and then just go for it.

Eventually I want to subsidize my income with other creative outlets that are going to not keep me tied to the road so much.

There's a beauty in being part of a band, when there's equality and trust.

I'm going to take care of myself because that's what I need to take care of.

You know, you've got to be careful with how you educate your kids in rock'n'roll fashion.

I sang in choir as a kid.

I've changed the way I look at things. When I put out a record or single I don't allow myself to set up expectations like, "This song must be a number one hit. Its got to sell X amount of records." I have fallen into that trap before.

Who you are as a performer is one thing, but when you're making records, you're dealing with musicians' tastes, their goals, their wants, their needs, everyone's individual pride.

When I'm not completely loaded, it's a much more vulnerable place. I can feel the music, I can feel the energy and I really have to put it out there. When I was loaded, I was just oblivious.

When you're really looking forward to something, you don't feel the sense of pressure.

I tend to get my hands into all these other things and all these distractions, and after a while I start feeling depleted.

Sing the song or keep it inside.

To be a great band it's like you have that telepathy. You know when the bass player's in back of you without even looking. You know when your guitar player's coming up to you to lean up to you and sing into your microphone. You just know these things. You feel it. You feel the energy of it.

I'd sell one of my songs for any car commercial in the world that paid enough money. But to stay in the Top Ten for weeks on end when I'm in my forties by letting Glen Ballard write songs for me? F**k that.

Writing the songs and producing the songs and arranging them and recording them is your canvas and your palette and your brush.

It's a beautiful thing to be that committed to something that you get so much joy from, but it is like a sick addiction, because sometimes it's incredibly volatile, incredibly painful, and very frustrating. A man shouldn't be defined by his work, but I am.

You are only as big as your experiences.

Rock and roll doesn't allow you to grow up - especially if you're not trying very hard to.

I see love, like art, as an obsession. Maybe that's an overly romantic view of human existence, but I'm an overly romantic human being. If love, like rock and roll, doesn't consume me 24-7, it's not love. It can be respect, appreciation, admiration, wonderment, it can be a world of glory and a lifetime of peace, but I can't call it love. Love burns me and confuses me. Love's a light that can't be extinguished.