The Rolling Stones: Slash discusses the only band he can “always listen to”
Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash is rightly lauded as one of the greatest to ever pick up the instrument. He is a complete artist in that all bases are covered, from the searing to the wistful. Just mentioning classics like ‘Civil War’ and ‘Patience’ establishes just how all-encompassing his skill has proven to be.
While Slash has several key influences from across the music spectrum, one band he particularly cherishes is The Rolling Stones. When appearing on Jonesy’s Jukebox – the hit radio show hosted by former Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones – Slash reflected on his lifelong love of the hedonistic English rock dynasty. He even called their oeuvre his “favourite music of all time”.
“The Stones were definitely the background music to my existence for a long time – and still are. My parents were really into the Stones, too,” Slash explained, as he named Beggars Banquet and Let It Bleed as some of his most beloved albums. Notably, Slash also once deemed former Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor as his “biggest influence”, showing just how deep his connection to the group runs.
This was not the first time Slash had discussed his love of The Rolling Stones. When speaking to Guitar World, he was asked if Guns N’ Roses were the 1990s equivalent to what The Rolling Stones were to the 1960s, by way of their hard-rocking music and wild extra-musical lifestyles. Given Slash’s famously down-to-earth nature, he quickly dismissed the comparison and looked back on Guns N’ Roses opening four Los Angeles shows for The Rolling Stones in 1989. He said he avoided even attempting to meet Mick Jagger and his band because the paparazzi would have made something of the two groups’ shared “bad boy” image.
Slash explained: “I don’t know. Those kinds of labels hit us all the time. That’s one reason why, when we played with the Stones, I never took a picture with them or even made an effort to meet them. I’d love to meet them, but not on that level. There were so many paparazzi around. You know the theme: bad boy band of one era meets the new model? Screw that!”
Moving on from this realistic reading of fame, Slash then placed so much consequence on The Rolling Stones to his life that he described them as the only band he can “always listen to”, whatever his mood. He conceded: “But I’ll tell you, the Stones are the only band I can listen to at a given moment, no matter what mood I’m in. I can listen to Aerosmith or AC/DC or Steely Dan for certain things. But I can always listen to the Stones; if I had to go on a desert island, that’s what I would take. But I never think about trying to be the Stones or anything like that.”
Despite Slash’s praise for The Rolling Stones, when speaking to Rolling Stone in 1988, Keith Richards criticised Guns N’ Roses and called them “copycat”. He said: “I admire the fact that they’ve made it despite certain resistance from the radio biz. I admire their guts. But too much posing. Their look – it’s like there’s one out of this band, one looks like Jimmy, one looks like Ronnie. Too much copycat, too much posing for me. I haven’t listened to a whole album to be able to talk about the music.”
Watch Slash discuss his first Rolling Stones show with Ronnie Wood below.
