After two weeks from reading or listening to a book, I like to reflect back on what actually made it to long-term memory. I am of the opinion that most pages in a book contain fluff, drivel and generally boring material. However, every few pages, there is generally something there that lights my bulb or surprises me. If that specific piece of information stays with me past a couple of weeks, then it was worth my time spent consuming the material. Unfortunately, there are many books that I can’t even remember a single fact or quote – that equates to once serious waste of time. Anyway, I figured it might be worthwhile to start putting some of these insights to paper (figuratively). This will also give me a way to quickly look back and recall the key points in a book – besides, you never know how long the ol’ long term memory will stay intact – every snowboard half-pipe crash I take keeps knocking some stuff loose.
So, two weeks ago I read the autobiography of Guns N Roses lead guitarist cleverly entitled “Slash”. He happens(ed) to be one of the guitarists I admire(d) and thought I would gain some insights into what makes him such a good musician and how he goes about arranging his leads. Well, I was wrong on that pre-assessment since there was little to no information on those two topics. Some information did stick, but in general, I was disappointed. Beyond the glorified heroin abuse, non-stop drinking and desire to smash other people’s things there really was not much else. I realize this is the stereotypical rock star life and this is what their marketing sector embraces, but I have not read a book yet (any Rolling Stones book, Scar Tissue, Hammer of the Gods etc.) where the author thoroughly enjoyed the experience of dependency…. and at least lived to write about it). As a public figure, I can’t help to think that making a formal statement against the bad aspects of this behavior would have a positive effect on the individuals that look up to them (and why people think these individuals are worth patterning their life after is whole different post).
Anyway, like I said, there were some things that I remember:
- Slash has a pacemaker – (what?, years of drugs and alcohol can damage your heart? – this just can’t be true..)
- David Lee Roth apparently has AIDS (probably could have come to that conclusion, but surprised Slash brought it to light in black and white)
- Slash spent his youth stealing whatever he wanted – included all the music cassettes he could stuff into his pants and his signature Hat – apparently this form of stealing is okay to the RIAA because they still got paid by the merchant. Now I will keep on the lookout for the first time Slash makes any hypocritical comment about illegal music downloads
- Axl is a tortured creative genius and a complete *ss. I of course disagree on the basis that he is really just a complete *ss – Slash also doesn’t talk to him anymore – I think we know who survived the breakup of GNR better – one is still working, the other one is fat and has a bad hairdresser.
- GNR hates Great White – which happens to be one of my favorite bands – ironically, they have at least three things in common – A) both from California, B) they had the same manager, and C) Have the distinction of both having killed some of their fans – one prefers burning them, the other prefers to go on stage hours late resulting in tramplings
- When Nikki Sixx had his infamous OD trip to the hospital and then OD again after checking himself out night…. well, the paramedics came and got Nikki from Slash’s room – although he claims he had nothing to do with it.
- One of Slash’s friends died in his arms from overdose – apparently had little to know effect on his decision to continue using drugs
- GNR squandered all their Appetite tour profits on backstage theme parties
- The lead singer and guitarist for BuckCherry (another one of my favorite bands) tried out for the Velvet Revolver band. Slash thought Josh Todd’s voice was too harsh for his band – Josh ended up taking the song they were working on (Crazy B*tch) and putting it on their latest album – a big radio hit.
- Slash was given his nickname because he was always moving (slashing) from place to place
- Slash played on a Michael Jackson album
- His mom had an affair with David Bowie
- In most of the pictures he is in, he was either on drugs or drunk
- Paul Stanley of KISS hates GNR – although it appears the Slash may have apologized for his part at an awards show
- Metallica hates GNR – for refusing to cover for them when Hatfield caught fire… resulting in the riot
- L.A. Guns lead singer hates GNR (seeing a theme here)
- He and his bandmates liked to destroy things
- Ron Wood and Slash are good friends
There you have it…. as mentioned previously, nothing about why he always uses a particular scale, why he decides to incorporate non-scale notes into his leads, details on his signature sound or how he practices his chops. I think as a whole, I actually think a lot less of Slash now – he still ranks up there with some of the great classic rock greats, but Ronnie Wood (yeah, I know his past as well) and Mark Knopfler distanced themselves on my list…. although Ron’s band made security decisions that resulted in the death of a fan as well.
Life Intrigued 