If you know Megadeth's Dave Mustaine at all, you know he's not one to censor himself. In a new interview with Loudwire, the metal legend outlines his many thoughts on Scott Weiland, the frontman's recent passing and the success of his band, Stone Temple Pilots. Specifically, Mustaine alleges that many other people were aware of Weiland's substance abuse, and did not take the proper steps to help him fight it.
When Mustaine first heard STP:
“It’s really peculiar the way things went down with me and Scott, because I was in Finland doing a ‘rate a record’ thing for a magazine one time and they had given us the ‘Core’ record to review. And I was listening to it and I thought, ‘Either this is a really bad joke or these guys are gonna be massive, because they’ve got a sound that’s very similar to a lot of the great bands that are in the alternative scene right now, but I don’t know if it’s a parody or if it’s the real deal.”
When he sort of takes credit for STP's success:
“And they were doing pretty good, and there was something that was just off a little bit. And I said, ‘Hey, do you guys mind if I help you with your setlist?’ And we talked a little bit about rearranging the songs and climaxing and settling down into a groove in the middle. And there was one part… it was really funny… They have an instrumental song, and Scott just stands out there on the stage, and I said, ‘What’s this song?’, knowing full well what it was. And he goes, ‘Well, it’s an instrumental.’ And I said, ‘And? Why are you standing out there?’ I said, ‘Go off to the side of the stage.’ And I told him the song where he does — I think ‘Crackerman,’ with the bullhorn thing — ‘use that as your opener because it’s kind of cheeky and it’s a cool way to kind of start the set.’ And they took off after that. Their setlist was great. The pulse, the timing and everything was perfect.”
The advice he gave Weiland:
“The thing that I regret was at the end of the tour, I told him, I said, ‘Look, Scott, you’re gonna be huge. You’re gonna have money, you’re gonna have drugs, you’re gonna have pussy, and it’s gonna be everywhere.’ And I said, ‘If you do anything, stay away from heroin.’ And I probably should have said, ‘Do as much as you can,’ because he did the exact opposite.”
On his death:
“The sad thing is that anyone who knows Scott or was around him was aware of what was going on. Just like the guy that was in Milli Vanilli, they took him out of rehab and put him on the road, and he wasn’t even done with the rehabilitation process, and he died. No song, no performance, no amount of money is worth a human life. And I think the music industry suffered a tragic loss, but, as much as the onus is on Scott for doing it, there are other people that are responsible for that.”
Watch the full interview above.
