Soup’s release was met with scathing reviews from the press. Very few writers gave the record a positive review and most brutally attacked the record and the band. Poor reviews resulted in the record debuting in the billboard charts at a disappointing 28 and it disappeared completely only a few weeks later. The poor initial reaction to the record meant that pressure was put on the band to tour. The band’s management were warned that sending their singer out on tour could prove disastrous. The people working with him in rehab insisted that it was a mistake and that Shannon needed a further six months intensive treatment before he should be allowed back on the road. However, Rogers disagrees, “He wanted to go on tour and he felt like he was ready. This was not a pressure situation. ... I think that Shannon was healthier when he was out playing and singing every night and getting his emotions out on stage." And he insists that Shannon "was crazy from the day I met him," that fame had nothing to do with his downfall. He would veer from pulling practical jokes to displaying what Rogers called "completely irrational behavior. He wasn't doing it with a safety net and he wasn't overly cautious. He was proceeding with this sort of abandon that you did your best to try to curb." Rogers says the band forced Shannon into rehab twice and kept all mind-altering substances out of the band's circle. "There were so many times I can't even tell you that in the middle of the night, I'm grabbing Shannon by the ears and telling him, 'You're going to kill yourself and you're going to ruin everyone's life around you. There's a lot of people that you would just write off in that situation, but he was so amazing and he made up for it in so many other ways that you wanted to stay with him.”
Shannon
was honest in interviews saying that he did not really want to be on the
road. He said he missed his family and his baby daughter. He
would record children’s stories onto tapes and send them back to Nico just
so she could hear his voice. "This is all fun and youth-prolonging," Shannon
said of his career, "but I want to be a father, and it's hard to be when
you're away. I’d be lying if I said I was enthusiastic to be back
on tour. It’d be easier if I had Lisa and Nico with me.”
The band again travelled to Europe where they again played prestigious festivals in various countries including the famous Reading festival in England. During September, they were back in North America opening for Page and Plant at some shows and also playing their own headlining dates. On September 12th, the band did an intimate and interactive show for MuchMusic television in Toronto, Canada before heading back to the states to continue their club tour. The band were also the guest presenters on MTV’s 120 minutes show for a night.
The
band’s manager, Chris Jones, attempted to enforce an alcohol-free policy
on the tour and sent a minder from the Exodus Centre named Bobolu, to watch
over Shannon. The aim was he was to keep Shannon from taking drugs.
It failed badly, within days Shannon was smoking crack right in front of
the counsellor. "We really felt that Shannon was doing things to spite
this guy, to get to him, to make him try to leave," Rogers said. "It just
seemed like it was counterproductive. I felt that Shannon was going to
get malicious towards this guy and we didn't think it was right." He joined
the band on the road on October 11th and was fired on the 14th. Chris
Jones admits that he regrets sending Blind Melon out on the road.
But he also points out that Shannon as with any addict could be his own
worse enemy. “Ultimately, there’s nothing that killed Shannon except
Shannon. It wasn’t the industry. It wasn’t touring. It
was that he gave up. Or that he didn’t believe that he had a problem.
He lived in denial, and that’s what killed him.”
