Guns N Roses are now back at their best, performing their greatest hits in stadiums all over the world. But it had previously come crashing down in 1996 when Slash announced he was leaving the band. A number of reports have surfaced in the past 25 years regarding what led him to fall out with Rose and leave the band, including a disagreement over Michael Jackson. Axl even called Slash “a cancer” in the band.
Axl said Slash was “better removed”. He went on: “And the less anyone heard of him or his supporters, the better.” (Via Spinner) The Sweet Child O Mine singer also claimed Slash and bassist Duff McKagan did “damage to his ability as a writer”. He said: “At the time of the [Use Your Illusion] tours, Slash and Duff said: ‘You’re an idiot, you’re a loser.’ I didn’t write for years. I felt I was hindered for a very long time.”
In 2012, Slash appeared on CNN in an interview with Piers Morgan where he recalled leaving the band in 1996.
Slash even revealed the last words he said to Axl before quitting: “Basically it was just: ‘I’m done.’ And it wasn’t even me leaving the band, it was not continuing on with the new band that Axl put together that he was at the helm of, which was the new Guns N Roses. And I was given a contract that was basically [saying]: ‘Join this new band.'” He added: “It took about 24 hours before I decided this is the end of the line.”
In 2015 Guns N Roses fans rejoiced as the band’s original line-up was reformed, with Slash and Duff returning to the group in time for a headline slot at US festival Coachella.
Now, Slash has spoken out on a Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA) about what urged him to end the feud.
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Slash told Piers he had been offered sums of “seven figures” to rejoin Guns N Roses after he quit in 1996.
When Piers followed up by asking if he was ever tempted by the cash, Slash responded: “It’s not a matter of that. It’s a situation where nobody involved wants to revisit. I don’t think there’s a price tag.” Just after the band got back together officially in 2016, Slash commented on reuniting with his musical pals.
Slash explained at the time: “When we got back together, that whole chemistry and that thing that makes what Guns N Roses are for me and Axl and Duff, it all just sort of came together. After that long a period of time, we’d sort of forgotten what that was like.” In March 2016 the newly reformed Guns N Roses announced a tour titled The Not In This Lifetime Tour.
The name was chosen as a reference to Rose’s previous comments on Slash never returning to the band in his lifetime.
Published at Mon, 07 Feb 2022 22:10:52 +0000
Slash details the ‘catalyst’ that prompted Axl Rose Guns N Roses reunion
