Even if you never owned the cassette version of Use Your Illusion II, this recent interview with Slash can’t help but entertain. We’ve loved the man ever since seeing him avoid self-immolation by ever-so-calmly removing a dropped cigarette from his knee-high boot. (Such are the perils of falling asleep on talk-show couch, apparently.) Oh, and the guitar solo on “Paradise City” really makes us want to bench press something. Yet Slash also has a keen and curious mind, which led him to approach rock-and-roll debauchery in a manner befitting a university student. His sage teacher? None other than Ziggy Stardust himself:
I did get advice from David Bowie at one point when I was really deep in my drug thing in 1989/90, where he basically gave me a philosophical look into where I was mentally and spiritually in those days, saying: “You are exposing yourself to the darker realms of your subconscious being.” Which was very handy and it stuck with me! I don’t know if he felt quite responsible [he would party with Slash’s mother when Slash was a child], it was more that he felt obligated to share some of his wisdom with me at that time – you know from an outsider looking in. I was desperately in need of it.
As parents ourselves, we also appreciate the fact that Slash saw fit to ditch his cobra collection upon the birth of his first child. Even the speediest kid is no match for a Naja siamensis.
(Image via Celebrity Rock Star Guitars)
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