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- Smoking Guns
- Rep: 330
Re: Slash's 2010 solo album
I like the solo album. A greatest his from the past 3 albums would be very impressive.
Re: Slash's 2010 solo album
bigbri wrote:The lyrics are cringe-worthy on a lot of that solo album and his others. Maybe that's why Watch This is my favorite song from his solo era. Actually, I'm very hard on most lyricists nowadays. I listen to mostly instrumental music.
Ever listen to this guy?
Almost as prolific as BH.
I will now!
- tejastech08
- Rep: 194
Re: Slash's 2010 solo album
I like the solo album. A greatest hits from the past 3 albums would be very impressive.
You mean a Best Of. There is no such thing as Greatest Hits in rock and roll now because there is zero crossover with wide audiences. Gotta be a pop act to have a hit nowadays.
- monkeychow
- Rep: 661
Re: Slash's 2010 solo album
Axl has never hinted that Slash work didn't cut it.
Overall I see what you are getting at, but to me it's found in lots of small things:
1. Axl had his friend Paul Huge, an unknown guitarist at the time, alter Slash's parts on Sympathy for the Devil. GNR was already famous for Slash's guitar solos so it suggests that he felt this solo wasn't good enough.
2. Axl auditioned Zakk Wylde to join the band. Zakk is a famous lead player like slash and so this move challenged the exclusivity of Slash's role in the band. Seems wholly unnecessary.
3. The offical site linked to an Anti-Slash on UYI article.
4. Axl has said Slash was the reason they couldn't do an AFD sounding follow up. Maybe he was referring to the politics but it makes you wonder.
5. He's publicly started that it would have been better if Slash left after AFD or maybe Lies. This statement seems to assume that had that happened UYI would still have become a success, and there would be no negative consequences for the bands hits of that era - NR, Estranged, KOHD etc if Slash's guitar solos were absent from them.
6. Matt's account of quitting says Paul Huge was mocking Slash's ability, and that when Matt contradicted them and stood up for Slash, Axl got in his face and confirmed that Slash was unnecessary. That was the last of matt even though apparently they'd had other disputes over the years.
7. Robin's re-areangements of Slash's parts in 2000 and 2002 were wildly outlandish yet tolerated by Axl. It's one thing to put your style and spin on a classic, it's another to fail to play iconic melodies to the extent that it's like he's not playing the song sometimes. I've never seen anything like that in any other band that looses a guitarist - normally the successor tries to play a serviceable version of the existing melody give or take differences in player style and ability etc. I feel this also shows disrespect to the importance of those original guitar solos and Slash in the popularity of the songs.
I could probably come up with more....but don't get me wrong...it's fantastic that Slash and Axl have healed this rift...but I dunno it seems clear to me that for a time at least Axl was very much anti-slash and that it extended to everything about slash including his past works....perhaps it was through anger or hurt clouding his feelings at the time....i'm just glad it's over!
Re: Slash's 2010 solo album
I think Axl said he didn't like anything Slash had done post guns, outside some covers. Might have been one of the chats.
I actually like Robin and Bucket didn't play Slash's parts the way they were written. They were brought in because of their own sound, not because they played like Slash. Had they copied him it would have been lame, IMO. We'd have a situation like DJ, a cheap Slash replica, even Ron. They both played the old songs nearly identical to the way Slash did and that was the most boring Guns line up ever. They almost lost me as a fan.
- monkeychow
- Rep: 661
Re: Slash's 2010 solo album
I actually like Robin and Bucket didn't play Slash's parts the way they were written. They were brought in because of their own sound, not because they played like Slash. Had they copied him it would have been lame, IMO. We'd have a situation like DJ, a cheap Slash replica, even Ron. They both played the old songs nearly identical to the way Slash did and that was the most boring Guns line up ever. They almost lost me as a fan.
I can see how someone would feel that way. I'm in the middle - I liked what Robin contributed to CD and how he had his own style for that. But I couldn't handle it for the covers. To me the songs "go a certain way" - the solos are part of the melody - and it would be like a singer putting his own spin on it by changing the first verse etc. I could handle changing a word or two but whole verses no. For example Robin's 2002 versions of YCBM were just disturbing to me.
I think the whole "doing their own thing" approach would have worked out better if the album had come out earlier and the band had really moved on. Like if the album had been out around 2000 or 2002 and the band touring a finished product and less reliance on the classic hits they could have got away with it more.
But alas we're in a situation where Silkworms was performed live 15 years ago but still isn't out. Meanwhile the band just did multiple vegas AFD shows.....
I see what you mean about DJ but to me a lot of the problem there was the posturing on stage and that he isn't really as interesting a player as slash. I needed a middle ground - someone playing the songs respectfully as they go - but also a good enough player to excite me - someone like Douh Aldrich would have been good.
But for me with Robin it was like "Axl is spending millions on this yet my local cover band guitarist has learned the songs better" 
- Mama's Good Boy
- Rep: 25
Re: Slash's 2010 solo album
Agree that Robin and Bucket playing the old songs was 1000 times more interesting than DJ and Ron.
Robin put such a unique spin on the songs and I really enjoyed his time in the band.
On the Slash 2010 album, I enjoy a few of the songs. Didn't care for the Fergie shit, but Ghost, By The Sword, and a few others would have done well as GnR songs.
Re: Slash's 2010 solo album
A few points.
1. Axl had his friend Paul Huge, an unknown guitarist at the time, alter Slash's parts on Sympathy for the Devil. GNR was already famous for Slash's guitar solos so it suggests that he felt this solo wasn't good enough.
Slash initially recorded his own take on the solo. Axl scoffed it and wanted Slash to reproduce the Keef version. Then, Paul Huge was brought in to play the same Keef solo in a different tone to give the end result that 'call and response' effect. A compromise would've been to use the Slash version and have Slash himself do the underlying response.
2. Axl auditioned Zakk Wylde to join the band. Zakk is a famous lead player like slash and so this move challenged the exclusivity of Slash's role in the band. Seems wholly unnecessary.
At the time, Zakk had been on tour with Pride & Glory and was managed by one Doug Goldstein. They were in negotiations with Ozzy regarding Zakk's touring contract. Meanwhile, Guns was set to become inactive with Slash about to leave town to promote IFOCS. The whole thing might've happened with Goldstein facilitating a bargaining chip for Zakk - to insinuate to Ozzy and Sharon that he'll play with Guns unless they meet his price. It also made Guns seem more active than they actually were at the time. But certainly, it was Axl's call - yet Goldstein may have persuaded him to give it a shot.
4. Axl has said Slash was the reason they couldn't do an AFD sounding follow up. Maybe he was referring to the politics but it makes you wonder.
That's a weird comment from Ax, as Slash would've probably loved the idea. It's more like, the absence of Slash prevented him.
6. Matt's account of quitting says Paul Huge was mocking Slash's ability, and that when Matt contradicted them and stood up for Slash, Axl got in his face and confirmed that Slash was unnecessary. That was the last of matt even though apparently they'd had other disputes over the years.
Apparently, Matt and Axl did indeed have an argument - the thing is, Matt was fired. He likes to tell the story like he was the stronghold of integrity in the band and that the argument was about Slash. Just that I think this is a bit revisionist history on Matt's part. Early on, he admitted that he was indeed fired, and Duff likewise noted that the argument was about band scheduling and that Matt felt Axl was wrong in his predictions.
Calling out Axl on his master plan was a bit of a dumb move, I guess. Hard to say how Paul exactly fits in, but he was the one who went after Matt, asking him to just come back and to say he's sorry. Matt was pushing his luck. He was just going to walk out, thinking Axl will call him in a day or so. Just the fifth or so time he'd been fired from the band, a day at the office.
Having said that, Axl was waiting for an excuse to let Matt go. The atmosphere in the band, at the time, could be described as toxic.
- Smoking Guns
- Rep: 330
Re: Slash's 2010 solo album
Robin didn't play solos like Slash because he didn't try to or was unable to. Very lazy if you ask me. Bucket got away with it because he did his badass shred thing over them and tried to make it kick ass.
