Chester Bennington: Stone Temple Pilots Singer???

[Alex]

So at the start of the year Stone Temple Pilots confirmed they'd fired Scott Weiland from the band. Weiland had been the singer of the band since it's inception. The band broke up in 2003 but reformed in 2008 with Weiland and releasing a new album in 2010.

Scott Weiland has had numerous drug issues over the years with alcohol, heroin and cocaine, often relapsing. He also has bi-polar disorder apparently and doesn't take medication for it. With these issues he is apparantly a handful to work with so the rest of Stone Temple Pilots probably thought it was better to cut their losses and find someone who's less hassle.

Enter Chester Bennington of Linkin Park. (Apparently already recording new music with the band)

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Chester Bennington can sing and sing well. While Mike Shinoda is certainly the brains behind Linkin Park, Chester Bennington is certainly the voice.

Personally I'm cautiously optimistic. Bennington can sing and can certainly do the things Scott Weiland can do. I'm just not sure about the lyrics (I'm a lyrics guy) Weiland's lyrics were one of the big reasons I like Stone Temple Pilots and I'm not sure how they're going to handle that aspect. But as to finding a new person to sing for them there are certainly worse people.

I just wonder how Weiland is going to react to this

 

[HBsam31]

This just isn't going to work if they decided to do all of their old stuff. I get that Weiland is a junkie, and that not working with him is probably a good idea, but Weiland kinda is Stone Temple Pilots. The determining factor here is what they are going to do with the band. If they are going to only make and perform new stuff I am fine with it I will just choose not to listen, (I despise Linkin Park by the way) however if they become one of those self tribute bands and Chester starts trying to belt out Plush I am going to be pissed. Weiland also was a pretty good showman as well. Have you ever seen an STP show Alex? I am not sure Scott can be replaced as easily as you are making it out. Sometimes I think bands need to call it a day sooner than they do or at least change the name of the band when the frontman leaves. I had no problem at all when Chris Cornell sang with the other members of Rage Against the Machine because they were different and changed the damn name of the band. I think you can tell I am a huge STP fan, and am a bit more passionate than I should be about this, but it's not STP without Scott Weiland. I get why they don't want to work with him anymore I do, and to be perfectly honest Weiland's music is much better when he is F'ed up. It's sad but true. Weiland maybe needs to leave music to get his shit together, but I just can't support a band that's not a band using the bands name.

 

[Alex]

I haven't seen Stone Temple Pilots live at all unfortunately. I have seen videos on youtube and the like and Scott Weiland is a great showman to be fair. Bennington has always been a pretty good singer just limited because of the Linkin Park material. Although I will agree in the showman departmant he's far inferior

As to whether they should change the name. I really don't mind. There have been plenty of bands who've changed members and have kept the name such as AC/DC, Alice In Chains (probably my favourite band btw), Faith No More etc so long as it stays true to the band concept I don't really have that much of a problem.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

Not feeling it, but I think it's being driven by the fact that I'm a Weiland fan, not an STP fan, so any incarnation of the band without him is a bastardization of it's name to me. Weiland's vocal style is what defined the Pilots sound. Sorry, Chester, but you just don't match up at all.

I'm fine with the group finding a new singer, but find a new name while you're at it as well. Velvet Revolver had the balls not to call themselves Stone Temple Pilots or Guns N' Roses, and Audioslave did the same by not calling themselves Rage Against the Machine or Soundgarden, because in both cases they were not their previous bands. They were a new act. I can't stand when new acts retain the old band name and try to sell tickets based on it.

Imagine Pearl Jam without Eddie Vedder. Still Pearl Jam? How about Nirvana without Kurt Cobain? Soundgarden without Chris Cornell? Every single one of these bands were identified by their vocalist's signature sound. You remove that sound and you remove everything that made the band the band.

 

[HBsam31]

I haven't seen Stone Temple Pilots live at all unfortunately. I have seen videos on youtube and the like and Scott Weiland is a great showman to be fair. Bennington has always been a pretty good singer just limited because of the Linkin Park material. Although I will agree in the showman departmant he's far inferior

As to whether they should change the name. I really don't mind. There have been plenty of bands who've changed members and have kept the name such as AC/DC, Alice In Chains (probably my favourite band btw), Faith No More etc so long as it stays true to the band concept I don't really have that much of a problem.

Man too bad you didn't get to see them. They came out when I was about 13 or so and when I got older I saw them all I could. I saw them twice as head liners and once at a rock festival. Great great stuff in their prime. See if you can find a video of Crackerman when he sings through a megaphone.
Like I said in my rep I am not usually this passionate about things like this, but this is dealing with one of my favorite bands ever coming together with a singer of a band I absolutely hate. I still don't like the idea, but I suppose I will give it a chance just so I can hear what I am bitching about. Of all the wrestling topics I post about I never get that wound up lol. Thanks for the thread man.

 

[IT Factor]

I am a Linkin Park fan and not much on Stone Temple Pilots. It never works trying to juggle being the lead singer for two bands at once. Let alone two very successful bands like LP and STP. It just will not work.

 

[Cena's Little Helper]

Fucking stupid. That about sums up my feelings on this. Why in the hell would STP even continue without Scott Weiland? My guess is that their identity is so tied up into what Weiland created that they couldn't leave the name behind and form a supergroup with Bennington a la Audioslave or Velvet Revolver (if this is actually the case then please pardon my assumption here).

 

[Pay Per Ghost]

They shoul've made just made a new supergroup, but I've heard multiple times about how Chester has been itching to be in a ROCK band.

Camp Freddy was short lived but he was into it.