In his autobiography, All These Things That I’ve Done: My Insane, Improbable Rock Life, Matt Pinfield, host of MTV’s highly regarded 120 Minutes, revealed an interesting tidbit regarding late music superstars David Bowie and Scott Weiland.
Knowing that the famed Stone Temple Pilots (STP) singer was in a dark place, Bowie reached out to a mutual friend — Pinfield — and asked him to get in touch with Weiland just shortly before their tragic deaths, a mere month apart from each other.
READ MORE: Former Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland dead at 48
The STP frontman was found dead on his tour bus in December of 2015. He had just played what would be his last show (in Toronto) only two days’ prior. He died of an accidental drug overdose. Bowie passed on only one month later in January 2016. He succumbed to liver cancer after a lengthy battle.
Pinfield recounted the last time he saw Bowie in his 2016 autobiography:
“At the end of our conversation he pulled me aside and said, ‘I know you’re friends with Scott Weiland. Please let him know that I’m here to talk if he needs someone.’ I think he spotted in Scott a kindred soul. Not only musically, but in terms of the demons he was fighting.”
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Weiland was a huge fan of Bowie, and throughout his career paid homage to the legendary superstar.
When Pinfield suggested a cover of 1973 classic Panic in Detroit, Weiland politely turned him down. “He seemed game, but thought my idea of a Bowie cover album was a bit much. ‘Yeah, that would be cool, but it seems a little too obvious, though,'” he wrote.
“Most of my favorite David Bowie songs were from Low, Lodger, and Heroes,” Weiland said when referring to Bowie in an interview with Alt Nation. Over the years, he would cover countless Ziggy Stardust hits with STP, Velvet Revolver and with his solo band, the Wildabouts.
WATCH BELOW: Scott Weiland & the Wildabouts take Bowie’s Jean Genie on House of Strombo
READ MORE: Scott Weiland’s ex-wife posts emotional, heavy letter in Rolling Stone
Pinfield added, “You can hear the Bowie influence so powerfully on STP songs like And So I Know on their third album, and Kitchenware & Candybars, on Purple.”
Towards the end of 2015, Pinfield managed to catch the Wildabouts on their U.S. tour. He extended Bowie’s message of sincerity to Weiland:
“So backstage at one of his shows I passed along that offer to Scott, and he said, ‘I’d love to talk to him.’ That was my final encounter with Scott. By the start of 2016, both he and Bowie were gone.”
Bowie’s bandmates, a literal plethora of British music legacy, have just revealed they’ll soon be hitting the road for a world tour titled A Bowie Celebration.
The David Bowie Alumni Tour is the full name for this extensive trek, and as of this writing will hit 11 countries throughout North America, Europe and the U.K. Overall, there will be 54 shows, with more concerts yet to be announced.
adam.wallis@globalnews.ca