FEATURE:
Back to Paradise City
PHOTO CREDIT: Gene Kirkland
Slash at Fifty-Five: His Finest Works
___________
I like putting together a birthday playlist…
IN THIS PHOTO: Guns N’ Roses/PHOTO CREDIT: Ross Halfin
as it gives me a chance to collate the essential cuts from a popular artist. As Slash is fifty-five today (23rd July), I have compiled a playlist of the best work from the Guns N' Roses legend. I am a big fan of his guitar work, and I think he has one of the most distinct styles ever. Not only is Slash synonymous with his Guns N' Roses riffs; he has worked with a lot of other artists. In this article from The Guardian that was published last year, Slash selected his favourite tracks/moments and, when talking about his work on Lenny Kravitz’s Always on the Run, this passage stood out:
“The story goes that Slash took the riff of Always on the Run to Lenny Kravitz because Adler wasn’t a funky enough drummer to play along with it. “I don’t recall ever saying that,” Slash says with a raised eyebrow. “It was a riff that I came up with that I didn’t present it Guns N’ Roses because it didn’t seem appropriate.” The truth is that Kravitz heard Slash playing the riff while working on his second album, Mama Said, and asked if he could have it. “It was a free piece of property, so …”
The list of artists who have asked Slash to play on their records reads like an awards ceremony lineup: Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson, Iggy Pop, Motörhead, Carole King, Rihanna. Sometimes, though, it didn’t work out as expected. Such as when he went to record Wiggle Wiggle with Bob Dylan in 1990. “I go in and I did what I consider to be a really good one-off in my own style,” he says. “A couple days later I asked Don [Was, the producer], ‘Can you send me a rough of what it what it sounds like?’ I’d done an acoustic rhythm track through the whole song. I’m listening – it’s Bob Dylan, cool!” But Slash’s solo hadn’t made the cut. “Bob said it sounded a little bit too much like Guns N’ Roses. So he just took it off”.
In honour of the great man turning fifty-five, I wanted to tip my cap and salute his brilliant. I am going to wish Slash a happy birthday and end with a playlist which proves why…
HE is such an iconic musician.