The night before I left for Florida Hooligan Mom stopped by to drop off a forgotten Christmas present for me. This is an event that happens nearly every year as she will forget to give someone in our family a present she had bought them. It can be anywhere from 2 days to 6 months before she discovers the present tucked away in a closet. This year I had the gift she forgot to give so she decided I might need it for the trip. She handed me a large hard cover book titled “Slash” it was the life story of Slash as told by the man himself.
Now back when Guns and Roses were “The” band of the day I more or less hated everything about them…the greasy feminine looking lead singer, the permed out dirt ass of a drummer…… I hated everything with one exception….Slash. For some odd reason I endured the music just because I wanted to hear what he was playing, if you tried hard enough you could ignore the W. Axl Rose cat-getting-rapped-by-a-Yeti screeching and take in the sounds of that Les Paul in the hands of a madman.
The book did not disappoint although I think it set some form of literary record for number of times it mentions “Drunk” “Heroin” “Smack” and “Coke” its simply amazing that any of the members of that band are alive today much less alive without a tasty potpourri of venereal diseases.
One thing I found very odd though……I think part of the draw I had to Slash as a young teen was the fact that when they became famous he would always play a Les Paul Standard sunburst pattern so I just naturally assumed he had a love of the Les Paul like me, I had a solid black Les Paul Standard back in the day. In the book he talks in depth about his guitars what he used for what album etc etc. It was not until Gibson gave him the Les Paul’s that he started using them. On the Appetite for Destruction album he used a Les Paul imitation guitar that his manager gave him because he couldn’t afford to buy a proper guitar…..reason being…… the aforementioned “Drunk” “Heroin” “Smack” and “Coke”.
I found a certain feeling of disappointment reading that particular section. Much later in the success of that band his Guitar Tech had sent one of the completely destroyed Les Paul’s back to Gibson for repairs the result of an exploding neck due to a “Body Tremolo” and they sent 3 identical guitars back only this time they had a Slash Signature Series complete with the dings, scratches, and dents of the original. I am pretty sure that’s when you have “Arrived” as a guitar player.
After completing the book I wondered what could have happened if the circumstances with Slash were different I mean if he was not in a band with a narcissist screeching douche nozzle…who knows at least now there is Velvet Revolver with a quasi ok lead singer.
