Scott Weiland's Best Albums - A Buyers' Guide

In his 30-year career, Scott Weiland went from grunge whipping boy to one of rock'n'roll's most charismatic, if troubled, stars. Whether fronting multi-platinum San Diego alt-rockers Stone Temple Pilots , teaming up with the Guns N' Roses members who weren't Axl Rose in Velvet Revolver , or ploughing an entertainingly eccentric solo furrow, it's testament to his talents that his music was never quite overshadowed by his headline-grabbing battles with drug and alcohol addiction, nor his death which tragically followed them in 2015.

Born in San Jose in 1967, as a child Weiland bounced between California and Ohio. It was as a teenager in San Diego that he channelled his obsession with British new wave music into his first band, Soi-Disant, before an epiphany at a Black Flag concert in 1986 turned him on to US punk. Shortly afterwards he met bassist and kindred spirit Robert DeLeo. The pair formed Mighty Joe Young, bringing in DeLeo's guitarist brother Dean and drummer Eric Kretz. In 1990 Mighty Joe Young signed to Atlantic. A year later they changed their name to Stone Temple Pilots.

Initially written off as bandwagon jumpers, STP evolved into one of the great rock bands of the era. Their multi-textured, occasionally psychedelic anthems showcased an arena-sized ambition that none of their peers had, resulting in a string of huge-selling albums. But Weiland also developed a parallel career as a hopeless drug addict, which saw several albums and tours plagued by assorted drug busts and incarceration. His excesses contributed to the dissolution of Stone Temple Pilots in 2002 .

Personal and musical salvation came in the unlikely form of Velvet Revolver, the supergroup formed by former GN'R men Slash , Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum. A group of like-minded recovering addicts with a point to prove, they recorded two albums that were among the most successful hard rock records of the early 2000s. But a combination of ego, paranoia and pharmaceutical relapses inevitably got in the way, and they split in 2008.

Here, we celebrate the best of Weiland's work, and provide a handy guide for those just discovering his career of where to get started first.