“Why did you do that”: The song Slash thought Guns N’ Roses could never play
The most important part of being in a band is knowing the strengths of everyone you’re working with. As much as people like the idea of working on something new every time they go to the studio, they shouldn’t rely on their bandmates to go above and beyond when they know it’s outside of their capabilities. But if a band like Guns N’ Roses stuck only to what they were comfortable with, that would mean Slash needed to find other outlets for his guitar playing.
As most have seen from Use Your Illusion, though, change was not a bad word for the hard rock icons. Axl Rose knew there was no way he could make the same record after making Appetite for Destruction, so their turn towards making piano ballads was a refreshing change of pace from the band that everyone saw as the most dangerous group of people in rock and roll. In fact, maybe it was a bit too much of a change.
While most of the record does its job as a gargantuan double album experience, it does have a few times where the quality starts to dip. ‘November Rain’ is a fantastic song and will forever be associated with the greatest Guns N’ Roses songs, but there are also a handful of moments where it feels like they are becoming a bit too self-indulgent, which isn’t what you want from a song that’s almost nine minutes long.
So, for someone as engrossed in straight-ahead rock music, it was no wonder that Slash wanted to work with someone new behind the scenes. And while he will forever be known for his guest spots for Michael Jackson on tracks like ‘Black or White’ and ‘Give In To Me’, there’s something about his collaborations with Lenny Kravitz over the years that feels so right whenever they play.
Kravitz might be a little more diverse in his musical tastes, but both he and Slash have the same kind of rock and roll spirit whenever they get a guitar in their hands, and ‘Always on the Run’ was the perfect way to introduce them to the world. People had already known what Kravitz could do on his own with Let Love Rule, but hearing Slash jump on something that leaned more towards funk was a nice breath of fresh air, as if they were throwing a bluesy solo in the middle of a Funkadelic song.
Although Slash did have the riff in his back pocket for a little while, he thought that it would have never worked if original drummer Steven Adler had played them, saying, “There were certain songs that didn’t make the record that I recorded with other people. And Axl [Rose] and Duff [McKagan] were like, ‘Why did you do that?’ I was like, ”Cause Steve couldn’t play ’em.’ Then we got a new drummer and we could’ve played ’em. Especially the Lenny Kravitz tune. But I’m happy I did it with Lenny, ’cause Lenny’s great, and I’m glad the way that turned out.”
And despite Matt Sorum being a more-than-capable drummer to replace Adler, it wouldn’t have the same sense of swing had they worked on it. There’s a certain downtempo swagger to the way Kravitz delivers the track, and since most of Guns N’ Roses’ rock and roll tunes from around that time kicked the tempo up as far as it could go, it would have been a tragedy to hear this tune sound like it was comically sped up.
There are only so many ways that rock stars can pull off making a midtempo song work, but listening to Slash and Kravitz work off each other is more than enough spectacle for ‘Always on the Run’. The riff itself is far from a ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ or anything, but it was always nice to see Slash take on different genres instead of planting his feet into hard rock and never budging.
