When Slash massively disappointed Michael Jackson: “Where’s your hat?”
Slash has never been one to play up his status as a rock star.
Even when being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the body language that he had from the wings when being introduced seemed to be someone deeply uncomfortable with any sort of praise as a guitar god. He didn’t want to be the kind of musical genius that everyone else thinks of as a guitar hero, but he clearly didn’t realise the kind of persona he had until he accidentally stripped all of it away outside of Guns N’ Roses.
When the band first got started, though, they were already miles apart from anything else going on in Los Angeles. They weren’t as off the wall as a band like Jane’s Addiction or anything, but compared to every other glitter rock act strutting their stuff up and down Sunset, it was refreshing to see rockers that were rocking the cowboy boots and carrying themselves like a modern-day Rolling Stones.
But whenever Slash got onstage, he didn’t really need to do any talking. Axl Rose clearly had the frontman role covered, but whenever ‘Paradise City’s solo started, there was no one paying attention to anything else but that mane of curly hair going berserk behind the fretboard. Then again, if you know anything about Slash, there’s usually that one little element of his look that everyone ignores.
Despite the top hat being out of style ever since the dawn of rock and roll, there’s no denying Slash’s silhouette with it on every time he plays. Anyone else would have looked absolutely ridiculous, but the reason why he got calls from countless artists was from seeing that superstar who could tear up guitar solos while looking like he had raided the headwear of some 1920s aristocrat.
Even if it was the greatest look that any guitarist could have asked for at the time, Slash figured it was only a small part of what he did. The music did more than enough for him to bury himself behind his guitar and hair half the time, but when you start working with someone as concerned with image as Michael Jackson, it will be noted when you don’t look the part when you come to rehearsal.
Although Slash was used to playing sessions for everyone, he remembered that the ‘King of Pop’ was insanely disappointed to see him without his usual get-up when he first met him, saying, “I would more or less hide behind it. I remember when I started working for Michael, that I got the distinct idea that he was very much into my image. And I showed up without my top hat one time, and he said, ‘Where’s your hat?’. I said, ‘Oh, I didn’t bring it.’ Nothing was said after that, but I could see the dejection in his eyes.”
Granted, it’s not like it’s any wonder why Jackson would be pissed. Here’s a man who has spent half his career based on making the most elaborate music videos known to man, and yet he has a guitar player who could have cared less about whether the cameras were on him whenever he strapped on his guitar.
But that only speaks to the kind of artists that both of them were in their own way. Michael Jackson’s rise to the top was carefully choreographed to the point where everything sounded perfect onstage, but it takes someone like Slash to let everyone know that it was okay to fly onstage with little adornment and see what happened.
