HELLO, HELLO! WELCOME TO [THE] TALK SHOW!

Remember when Scott Weiland’s drug use forced the ever-talented DeLeo brothers out of the spotlight during their prime years and they hired a guy that sounded just like Weiland to record under the moniker Talk Show? Me too. That was almost 14 (!!) years ago, and whilst going through my CD collection I took a little stroll down memory lane.

The whole Talk Show fiasco — which also included STP drummer Eric Kretz — happened a year after STP released Tiny Music… Song From the Vatican Gift Shop. If that album isn’t a favorite of yours (as it is mine, but, ya know, I get why if it’s not) it’s certainly the weirdest album of their catalogue… we can only speculate as to what would’ve happened if the DeLeos had been able to follow Tiny Music with another STP album right away instead of taking a break.

I’m wondering if potential album number 4 (not what would eventually become No. 4) would’ve continued down the bizarro road Tiny Music started on if Weiland’s drug problems (and also, P.S., really good solo album 12 Bar Blues) hadn’t derailed STP in between. I posit that Weiland was (is) a more important part of the band songwriting-wise than people have given him credit for, and that what ended up being Talk Show isn’t what would’ve ended up being potential STP album number four had Weiland been in the picture. Talk Show certainly had hints of crazy on tracks like “Wash Me Down” and “Behind” but I’ve a feeling Weiland was the wild card that made Tiny Music as wonky as it was, that extra special sauce to the DeLeo bros. winning recipe of qualité ingredients. Hello Army of Anyone, anybody? Similarly ‘aight but not spectacular. Further complicating matters is the fact that the DeLeos were at their creative peak when Weiland unscrupulously plucked them from the spotlight; oh, to know what could’ve been! No offense meant towards Dave Coutts; he was a perfectly alright singer.

Anyway, enough with hypotheticals. Talk Show was an ok record but lead single “Hello, Hello” was definitely the best track. I guess we’ll never know what could’ve been, but at least we have “Hello, Hello.”

-VN