Not Dead & Not for Sale: A Memoir [Hardcover]

Scott Weiland (Author), David Ritz (Contributor)

Book Description

Release date: May 17, 2011

In the early 1990s, Stone Temple Pilots—not U2, not Nirvana, not Pearl Jam—was the hottest band in the world. STP toppled such megabands as Aerosmith and Guns N’ Roses on MTV and the Billboard charts. Lead singer Scott Weiland became an iconic front man in the tradition of Mick Jagger, David Bowie, and Robert Plant. Then, when STP imploded, it was Weiland who emerged as the emblem of rock star excess, with his well-publicized drug busts and trips to rehab.

Weiland has since made a series of stunning comebacks, fronting the supergroup Velvet Revolver, releasing solo work, and reuniting with Stone Temple Pilots. He has prevailed as a loving, dedicated father, as well as a business-savvy artist whose well of creativity is far from empty. Not Dead & Not for Sale is a hard rock memoir to be reckoned with—a passionate, insightful, and at times humorous book that reads with extraordinary narrative force.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Fascinating . . . Weiland's story isn't over, but the four decades' worth of material he crams into Not Dead & Not for Sale makes for a compelling and worthwhile read." —Associated Press --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Scott Weiland has been nominated for six Grammys, winning two along with numerous MTV, Billboard, and American Music Awards. His work with Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver has sold more than 40 million records. In May 2010, Stone Temple Pilots released a highly-anticipated self-titled album, immediately the #1 rock album in the country.

David Ritz is the only four-time winner of the Gleason Music Book Award. He has collaborated with Ray Charles, Marvin Gaye, B.B. King, Aretha Franklin, Etta James, Smokey Robinson, and Don Rickles. He also cowrote, with Gaye, the song “Sexual Healing.”

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Scribner; First Edition edition (May 17, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743297164
• ISBN-13: 978-0743297165
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (79 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #332,870 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Scott Weiland has been called "the voice of an entire generation and one of the towering figures in the history of rock" by Rolling Stone magazine. His work with Stone Temple Pilots, one of the most successful bands of the past two decades, has sold over 18 million records. He returned to the stage with Velvet Revolver, whose multiplatinum Contraband was the bestselling rock album of 2004. Weiland has been nominated for six Grammys, winning two for Best Hard Rock Performance, along with numerous MTV, Billboard, and American Music Awards. Stone Temple Pilots reunited in 2008 and will be touring throughout the spring and summer, culminating with the release of their new album later in the year.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

69 of 74 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars the worst Rock n' Roll Autobio I've ever read May 14, 2011

By STP fan

Format:Hardcover

I am a huge STP fan, and have been looking forward to this books release since Mr. Weiland first began speaking of it 5-10 years ago. Given that much time to write the book and working with a talented co-author in David Ritz I felt like this was going to be a great read, from the point of view of a man that has lead one hell of a crazy life. instead all we are given is an extended recount of every article that is written about scott. There is almost no incite into the inner-workings of any of Scott's bands, or even expanded interpretations of well known story's of his life.
The book will take most people 1.5-3 hours to read, and approx. 10% of that is lyrics from songs he's written. It's 238 pages but reads like a 100 page book due to the "art", blank pages, and huge page breaks. so How do you cram great incite into the life of someone who's sold 40 Million records, been in rehab countless times, and been a permanent fixture in rock news for 20 years in 100 pages? You don't. Weiland's ex-wife Mary Forsberg's book released last year was much better written, much more informative, and much more interesting then Scott's book. Almost everything printed in this book was covered with more clarity in Mary's book.
If you really want to know about the history of STP, or Velvet revolver or Scott's solo work, there is much more information on-line then is offered in this book. It's incredible how little he delves into this actually. I haven't gone and actually counted but I'm sure the name Eric Kretz (STP drummer) only appears in the book 3 times. surely in 20 years of STP's history, Scott and Eric had SOME sort of note-worthy interaction. It almost seems that he purposely left all the interesting details of his life out. As if he started off with the intentions of baring his soul on paper like Anthony Kiedis did in his autobio, but quickly decided that he'd rather not have any information that wasn't already public knowledge released.
I have no doubt that the Story of Scott Weiland would be a compelling read, unfortunatly it appears that Scott figured out AFTER signing his book deal that he wasn't ready to let the world in on his private life.

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Underwhelmed May 18, 2011

By Lillian Rose

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

It is with sadness that I say that this is the most uninformative biography that I have read to date. I love biographies and am a huge STP fan but, feel robbed. I feel guilty for not writing a favorable review but, feel that I must in all good conscience be honest. There is no meat and potatoes in this bio. I would call it an outline and not a book. Very surprising considering Scott had help with it. I wonder if it's possible to get a refund?

40 of 46 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars not much insight May 13, 2011

By austincara

Format:Hardcover

i was really excited about this book, because i read mary weiland's account of things, and i thought it would be really interesting to see how someone else viewed the same events. scott starts with a promise of insight and helpfulness and a desire to be honest, however, when recounting events, very little is actually said. i feel like the same information could have been gotten from wikipedia. i think he had the best intentions when starting, but somehow lost interest in writing somewhere in the middle. if you don't want to share things with the world, i get it, and that's perfectly reasonable, but then don't write a book. there's very little relating of feelings toward certain subjects, and if feelings are shared, they're very superficial, that is, there's mention of guilt or bliss but no further elaborations. every now and then he puts in a random jab at his ex wife that seems to contradict everything he's just said about her. there's a lot of space filler and really just not a lot of either owning up to behavior or explaining his perspective of things. it's very dry. his drug use is more or less breezed over. not a lot of personal stories. like i said, i think he just really didn't want to tell anybody anything, and that's fair. i just don't know why i had to give him money for him to tell me that. i seriously read this book from cover to cover while my daughter watched tangled. i'm certain he could have actually helped a few people by writing more honestly.