Slash reveals the only person who could control Axl Rose: “Very much the glue”
Being in a band like Guns N’ Roses doesn’t always equate to having the most healthy group dynamic. The whole point behind the band was to have the equivalent of a street gang with guitars, and while Slash knew his place as one of the most badass six-stringers in Los Angeles, he was always matched by Axl Rose whenever they got onstage. Then again, for a band that was as out of control as they were in the 1980s, no one could have been able to handle Rose for more than a few seconds.
Compared to every other frontman in rock at the time, Rose genuinely felt like a wild animal let loose onstage whenever he played. Outside of the animated performances he gave every single time he took the stage, part of the issue came whenever he opened his mouth, usually saying something a bit more offensive than usual or making claims from the stage, like insinuating that the band would be breaking up if Slash didn’t clean up his act.
A lot of resentment can come with someone who has the microphone that often, but Rose still knew how to keep himself in check during the Appetite for Destruction era. The band hadn’t made it yet, so it was better for them to take things as they came and make sure that they kept their noses clean rather than deliberately sabotaging their own press and flame out too early.
By the time they made Use Your Illusion, though, everything went out the window. It was now the ‘Axl Rose Show’ with his merry band of musicians behind him, and that was never going to go over well with the rest of the group. Even though many people thought that they could carry on, Rose’s insistence on his bandmates signing over the rights to the name was the moment that Izzy Stradlin had had enough, quitting the band midway through a tour after sobering up.
While rhythm guitars can be seen as replaceable, that wasn’t the case with Stradlin. Gilby Clarke did the best he could, but Stradlin was the one that Rose followed to California from Indiana, and as much as people like to talk about the symbiotic stage presence of Rose and Slash, the frontman always had a better connection with Stradlin, down to the fact that ‘14 Years’ was about their friendship.
And without the punchy rhythm guitarist in the back, Slash felt that everything went out of control going forward, saying, “I realized there was a chemistry about the way that we all worked and also in relationship to Axl. Izzy was very much sort of the glue, the in-between guy that kept Axl and I sort of on an even keel, because he came to LA – basically they were both from Indiana, so they had a certain kind of a relationship that really helped how the rest of the band sort of functioned.”
The shows themselves might not have suffered that much, but the damage had already been done. Outside of the riots that the band were causing on tour or some shows when they didn’t bother to show up, everyone had the sense that any moment they came back home was usually a sign that things would be ending.
Although the band did tough it out long enough to get a cover LP in the can, it makes sense why they would have flamed out once Stradlin left. He may have been the most soft-spoken member of the band, but his absence reverberated for years after he was gone.
