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- Intercourse
- Rep: 212
Re: Great Interview with Slash on UYI I and II
I'm sure it was a fuckin' egotistical nightmare for Axl to get Slash to solo on those ballads tho. Just a gut feeling.
I'm not so sure. Whether Slash liked the style of those songs or not, Axl set up some pretty fucking epic soundscapes for Slash to go wild on and wild he went. Axl's songs are a rock guitar players dream, in CD he still keeps huge chunks of songs open just for the guitar player to have his say.
You can hear the love in those Slash solos, they are still regarded as iconic and timeless twenty years later and cemented Slash's rep as a guitar legend.
No guitarist forced to do something he fundamentally didn't like could come up with work that sounded so perfectly in sync with the emotions Axl poured into those songs. Slash brings another level to those songs and is as important in the creation of their sonic fingerprint as Axl.
If I recall from his book, Slash felt Axl's songs were too epic, too long and too indulgent and wrong as a statement of Guns N Roses' evolving musical direction but he couldn't deny that they sounded amazing.
- Smoking Guns
- Rep: 330
Re: Great Interview with Slash on UYI I and II
I'm sure it was a fuckin' egotistical nightmare for Axl to get Slash to solo on those ballads tho. Just a gut feeling.
I'm not so sure. Whether Slash liked the style of those songs or not, Axl set up some pretty fucking epic soundscapes for Slash to go wild on and wild he went. Axl's songs are a rock guitar players dream, in CD he still keeps huge chunks of songs open just for the guitar player to have his say.
You can hear the love in those Slash solos, they are still regarded as iconic and timeless twenty years later and cemented Slash's rep as a guitar legend.
No guitarist forced to do something he fundamentally didn't like could come up with work that sounded so perfectly in sync with the emotions Axl poured into those songs. Slash brings another level to those songs and is as important in the creation of their sonic fingerprint as Axl.
If I recall from his book, Slash felt Axl's songs were too epic, too long and too indulgent and wrong as a statement of Guns N Roses' evolving musical direction but he couldn't deny that they sounded amazing.
Yes, you are correct! He didn't "hate" epics... He "hated" the amount of epics on one GNR album.. But he didn't hate the epics themselves.. His only other beef was the synthesizers, which I kind of agree, they aren't very rock in roll. But still, the songs are fucking epic and they are kind of what puts GNR up there with the Led Zeppelins of the world.
Re: Great Interview with Slash on UYI I and II
definitely
when slash tears out on the "anymore & what for" & back in around the 8 min mark before the final vocals.. it's up there..
Re: Great Interview with Slash on UYI I and II
I'm sure it was a fuckin' egotistical nightmare for Axl to get Slash to solo on those ballads tho. Just a gut feeling.
I'm not so sure. Whether Slash liked the style of those songs or not, Axl set up some pretty fucking epic soundscapes for Slash to go wild on and wild he went. Axl's songs are a rock guitar players dream, in CD he still keeps huge chunks of songs open just for the guitar player to have his say.
You can hear the love in those Slash solos, they are still regarded as iconic and timeless twenty years later and cemented Slash's rep as a guitar legend.
No guitarist forced to do something he fundamentally didn't like could come up with work that sounded so perfectly in sync with the emotions Axl poured into those songs. Slash brings another level to those songs and is as important in the creation of their sonic fingerprint as Axl.
If I recall from his book, Slash felt Axl's songs were too epic, too long and too indulgent and wrong as a statement of Guns N Roses' evolving musical direction but he couldn't deny that they sounded amazing.
Slash also admitted that he's pretty much reluctant to play on ANYTHING that challenges him. He's egotistical that way. He likes his world. Thus the reason he couldn't hold someone like Bucket's jock. Slash doesn't push himself enough.
Then again -- he doesn't have to. Slash as Slash is fucking SLASH. He's one of the greatest blues guitarists to ever live. He stays in his niche, his world, and they're he is king in a tophat.
Axl challenged him with those epics, and based on Slash's own statements, I always figured his first reaction was to disdain it, push it away and go "no, i'm not doin that, not me, i'm Slash not fuckin' Brian May"
But Slash got thrown into a position of hating what he was doing so much to the point that he put together epic solos.
And even he admitted that. The more someone like an Axl pushed him, the better and better the results would be because he was frustrated.
What's a shame is that it took Slash 20 years to recognize that. If he'd of known it in 1994-96, GN'R might still be together today. Instead the more distance they got, the more comfortable the both of them got with writing the other off. Out of sight, out of mind.
- Mikkamakka
- Rep: 217
Re: Great Interview with Slash on UYI I and II
You guys like to take that Axl comment as gospel and forget about another Axl comment about the UYI wars: "I don't do your song, if you don't do my song". They were all fighting against each other - just look at the nearly zero contribution Izzy made in others' songs. And you also forget that even if Slash was so against (this amount of) ballads, he was fuckin' 23 or 25. Using that against him now and describe him as someone playing in his safe zone is simly denying the truth, all the songs that Slash wrote or co-wrote in the past 20 years.
Re: Great Interview with Slash on UYI I and II
No it's not. You guys paint Axl as an asshole that destroyed the band on a regular basis (he did), and Slash as some sort of cool guy that got taken advantage of by bad frontmen (he didn't).
I'm just being fair. Slash is just as much a dick as Axl. I actually think Axl's nature deserves alot of credit for Slash pushing himself and performing what we got on the Illusion's.
I think if Axl had babied Slash, we wouldn't have the same NR or Estranged solos we have today.
jmho
Re: Great Interview with Slash on UYI I and II
Slash has been vindicated by CD & by history regarding Axl's songwriting tendencies & production hang-up's.
the flip side of course is what Slash sacrifices in having not written a song w/Axl in 20yrs.
but like, TWAT aside, it's only really assumed the Axl/Slash songwriting team woulda came up with more timeless material. maybe they'd already become a spent force as a creative partnership (that theory of course then suggests things are better off this way than had they fought on & become a diluted force a la Mick/Keef..)
- Mikkamakka
- Rep: 217
Re: Great Interview with Slash on UYI I and II
No it's not. You guys paint Axl as an asshole that destroyed the band on a regular basis (he did), and Slash as some sort of cool guy that got taken advantage of by bad frontmen (he didn't).
I'm just being fair. Slash is just as much a dick as Axl. I actually think Axl's nature deserves alot of credit for Slash pushing himself and performing what we got on the Illusion's.
I think if Axl had babied Slash, we wouldn't have the same NR or Estranged solos we have today.
jmho
Axl is Axl. He does rarely do something in order to achieve a goal. He's only an egomaniac frontman - you think it helped the band, I think someway it did, but on the other hand destroyed it completely.
Anyway.
Slash did those songs. Had he been so against it, we wouldn't have them in that magnificent version we all know, cause (like Intercourse pointed it out) nobody can come up with such an amazing guitar work, if he's not touched by the song and not completely dedicated. You just can't create something this great, while thinking 'this song sucks'. Maybe Slash didn't like it first and it took Axl days or weeks to convince him. But in the end it was Slash who wrote that and not Paul Huge, like some HTGTH fanboyism would suggest. Had Axl been this cooperative on the Slash stuff he didn't like first, we'd still have Guns N' Roses, and not this fake band.
Re: Great Interview with Slash on UYI I and II
Slash did those songs. Had he been so against it, we wouldn't have them in that magnificent version we all know, cause (like Intercourse pointed it out) nobody can come up with such an amazing guitar work, if he's not touched by the song and not completely dedicated. You just can't create something this great, while thinking 'this song sucks'. Maybe Slash didn't like it first and it took Axl days or weeks to convince him. But in the end it was Slash who wrote that and not Paul Huge, like some HTGTH fanboyism would suggest. Had Axl been this cooperative on the Slash stuff he didn't like first, we'd still have Guns N' Roses, and not this fake band.
Doesn't history tell us that Slash brought Axl the material that became the first Snakepit album and Axl said he'd like to work on the songs. Yet Slash said, "F that, they're fine the way they are. I'm taking them for myself."
I wouldn't call THAT being cooperative.
- Mikkamakka
- Rep: 217
Re: Great Interview with Slash on UYI I and II
That's one of Axl's versions on that story. He's changing it every time he's talking about it.
He nixed the songs and when Slash decided to do a solo album, then wanted to sue Slash for 'using GN'R material'.
