The moment Slash almost joined The Stone Roses
The idea of Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash stepping into the shoes of Manchester icons The Stone Roses’ John Squire may seem ludicrous and destined for disaster. However, there was a brief period when his name was under serious consideration for the role.
In 1994, The Stone Roses finally returned after many years in the wilderness with their highly-anticipated sophomore album, The Second Coming. A significant amount of cultural change had occurred between their two records, and despite containing tracks such as ‘Love Spreads’ and ‘Ten Storey Love Song’, their long-awaited comeback failed to meet expectations.
Nevertheless, they earned an opportunity to headline Glastonbury in 1995, which would have reaffirmed their position at the top of Britain’s musical hierarchy. The top-billed slot on the Pyramid Stage was The Stone Roses’ chance to prove those wrong who had dared to write them off.
However, in the months leading up to their performance, drummer Reni left the group after a falling out with singer Ian Brown. Furthermore, they were due to hit the road in the UK in intimate venues but cancelled the scheduled run once the dates leaked and were, therefore, left without much of a practice run.
Weeks before the slot at Worthy Farm, Squire went on holiday to California and broke his collarbone in a mountain biking accident, which ruled him out of performing at Glastonbury. Ultimately, The Stone Roses pulled out of the performance, but at one stage, it was suggested that Slash would deputise for Squire at the prestigious festival.
Speaking to Clash in 2009, Brown said: “That ’95 slot in Glastonbury was our chance to show that we were back after that, as you say, hiatus. And as fate had it, it wasn’t to be. John broke his collarbone and Pulp got the break from there. So I agree with him, yeah: things could have been made different if we’d have done that show.”
When asked whether there were other reasons for their cancellation, such as band members not wanting to perform, Brown added: “The only reason we didn’t do that show is because John broke his collarbone. We didn’t want to bring another guitarist in at the time. I later learned that we could have got Slash. Slash was up for doing it, which might have been good, but it wouldn’t have been the same. We were a band and we didn’t want to perform with another guitar player.”
Squire eventually left the band in 2006, which opened another opportunity for Slash to join the group. Eventually, the position was filled by Aziz Ibrahim, who later told the Stagelift Podcast that the Guns N’ Roses guitarist was again considered, mainly because The Stone Roses knew it would anger their former bandmate.
Ibrahim told the podcast: “I know there had been auditions – Slash had offered to play. There was a lot of bitterness and anger and so forth; maybe they wanted to piss him off, so they thought, ‘Let’s get the greatest rock icon of all time.’ Slash was in England, he was in Snakepit, the management knew the Roses and wanted to manage the Roses.”
The guitarist continued: “Goldstein wanted to manage the Roses, so Slash had offered Manny or Ian – ‘I’m not sure,’ one of them said. Afterwards, they thought, ‘Yeah, yeah, we’ll get this big rock icon – that would really annoy John.’ Then [they] said something to the effect of, ‘We’re not going to work with a guy with leather pants, are we?'”
While Slash and The Stone Roses excelled in their own lanes, their paths should never cross. If people believed Second Coming tarnished their legacy, allowing Slash to stand where Squire once stood would have been an unforgivable sacrilege, which thankfully never occurred.
