Scott Weiland has secured himself a spot as the very last celebrity to speak out about today’s U.S. presidential election. A little late in the game, the singer – famous for Stone Temple Pilots, taking a whole lot of drugs, and now Velvet Revolver – posted an anti-Bush message on his band’s website last night. Yep, last night. The night before the election.
As part of his lengthy statement, Weiland defended his late arrival on the political scene: “If you’re asking, ‘Why did you post this now? The day of?’ It’s because I want it to be the last thing on your mind before you hit that booth!”
As for the actual message, it’s a big ol’ rant that actually reads a lot like those late-night, last-minute essays we all wrote in high school. It’s brimming with questionable grammar and ambiguous assertations like “Freedom of youth is the freedom of the future.” The subject matter jumps around quite a bit (at one point, Weiland complains of the increasing frequency with which he gets searched at airports – which should actually be a good thing, considering terrorism and all) but his general point is “Vote for John Kerry.”
Hopefully all the American Velvet Revolver fans coincidentally thought to check the website before leaving the house today.
Weiland is the latest in a long line of musicians and actors trying to make political waves in the months leading up to the Bush-Kerry deathmatch. Given the United States’ celebrity-drenched culture, it will be interesting to see if all this Kerry-boosting will make any difference.
Recent artists to make musical stops on the campaign trail include Morrissey, Bruce Springsteen, Eminem and even Gwar. Everyone you can possibly imagine has made a song, appearance or statement – it’s surprising more people haven’t come out of retirement. But hey, come tomorrow morning music may finally go back to being a form of escapism.
