Here Today... Gone To Hell!

World Entertainment News Network is reporting that VELVET REVOLVER guitarist Slash finally decided to quit heroin when he realized his addiction meant he could not longer play his instrument properly.

The rocker, now 39, became a slave to the drug during his days with GUNS 'N ROSES, and got to the point where he no longer cared how low he was feeling.

Slash says, "One thing I always had was my ability to play guitar. When I found I couldn't even do that I knew it was time to quit, although it took me some time.

"The first time I took heroin I knew I'd discovered my favourite drug of all time. I never liked the hyped-up state cocaine puts you in.

"The sort of personality who shoots heroin is often a shy guy who wants to be cool and relaxed. But you can get to such a low point on it, you just don't care about your self-esteem."



http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=26731

You know not to turn this into an Axl vs Slash debate but shit like that makes me understand axl's actions even more. Shit if Slash could barely play his instrument no wonder Axl took control. No wonder Slash wasnt willing to work hard, he didnt wanna work hard because his heroin addiction wouldnt allow him to work hard, so he wanted to do the easiest record possible.

Maybe drugs broke up GNR not Axl.

That crossed my mind too...

No, this was from 88-89.  Then they flew him away to get sober.  Axl said in an interview during their last tour, "I must give the guy credit, he could play some great guitar while being really focked up."  Slash has never missed a rehersal due to drugs.  He was always very competant.  I think he is referring to his downtime.

Heroin is a monster. It brought so many to their end, its refreshing to see someone who was able to overcome it.

of course lol

anyone who thinks Slash couldn't play guitar from 91-93 is nuts and doesn't even know that the Illusions Era existed :rofl:

I just listened to fields of joy and always on the run.  Field's of Joy has an awesome Slash guitar solo.  Better then anything off Contraband.  More Slash is needed on next album.  Also Top Hatted, the original post implied that it was his heroin addiction that killed Guns.  And what I am saying is that Slash was off of heroin long before the break up.  Then I actually cite the time frame for which he is speaking.

And you know this as a fact because?

He died in 1992 thanks to heroin so saying he was the most fucked up in 88/89 is kinda stupid.



/jarmo

Did Slash really quit in 1989? Were they just smoking pot on the UYI tour? Because I've read lots of interviews where Matt was talking about doing lots of drugs with GN'R while on tour...I dunno...

On top of that, for what it's worth, didn't someone on here mention that they met nurses who told him that Slash is brought into the hospital now and then to this day because of overdoses?

Maybe he's at his most fucked up when he's not playing, recording or touring.(down time) It's possible that if he stayed in GNR he would be dead now... lotsa down time

Jarmo, did he die from Heroin?  Alcohol, or both.  Could have been coke.  Are you sure it was 92?  Tell me, when watching his performances then, (91-93) did it appear as if he struggled?  Maybe he wasn't drug free, but even in the BTM, he said it was the time after appetite, but before illusions where everyone got lost.  Then Axl made the famous in "Dancing too hard with Mr. Brownstone" at the stones gig.  So after that they flew him away to an island to sober him up.  His drug use had no effect on the ending of GNR.  Axl has stated this in interviews during the 2002 tour.  Also, during the BTM, they don't mention what year he died outside the elevator.  Could have been on the Aerosmith tour.  But anyway, i wouldn't be surprised if he still did dabble.  But he is not a junkie, and doesn't seem to affect his playing.  Axl did heroin too.  Maybe he had the drug issues.  Actually, his mental state was worse the the drugs.  My point is this, it is most likely during 88-90 that Slash hit his hardest times.

Actually, I don't think Slash's overdose was from heroin.  I think it may have been cocaine and alcohol combined.  Not sure though.

And just to clarify, Slash didnt "die", because if you die, YOU DON'T COME BACK!  In order to be declared dead, your brain must stop functioning.  Slash's heart stopped, but his brain obviously didn't or else he wouldn't be with us today.

Great call Dizzy.  Maybe Jarmo saying that he died is kind of stupid.

after reading the entire article, maybe it was some of this did happen during illusions.  who knows.  just glad he is straight now.

Oh, you're calling Slash stupid now?


I've died a couple of times in hospital and I've still come out alive at the end of it, but I try not to get philosophical. It's too heavy.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/features/story/0,11710,1268518,00.html



Even the man himself uses the word "died". Anyway you wanna see it, it's kinda serious when you need to have an adrenaline shot in your heart in order to make you wake up. Call it what you want, he didn't exactly pass out drunk.? ::)


OVERDOSES!
SLASH (guitar)
During his heyday in Guns N? Roses, Slash?s fondness for booze and heroin were legendary. Two bottles of Jack Daniel?s a day turned his tongue black, while he ?died? twice after overdosing on smack. It all caught up with him in 2000, when he was admitted to hospital with heart problems.

Q June 2004 Issue 215




/jarmo

From the same interview:


Slash must have been drunk in this interview (as the writer suggested), he doesn't usually go into detail like this.  I know the famous "Axl chases Bowie down street" story, but I hadn't heard this before, I wonder when this concert was.  Interesting. 

I would be in serious doubt of Slash being completely clean these days, in fact he's still high on my list of "most likely to overdose or die of alcohol poisoning". 

Jarmo, I am focking with you in my last post.  Lighten up.  I watched the same behind the music as you did D.A.  However, during the BTM, they made one beleive that the Slash got his act together after the call out at the Stones gig.  In fact, they made it appear is if it was only Stephen that had the "serious" drug issues.  He is alive, he likes to have a good time.  He seems to be okay.  Yes, he could relapse at anytime, just like Scott or Anthony Keidis could.

Believe what you want. I still think he had problems back in the UYI days. Just like Duff and Matt did.

Steven was the only one who was so fucked up he couldn't record.



/jarmo

Slash has stated that himself, that when the tours ended were the hardest periods for him and his darkest, most drug indulgent times.

I would also take Matt's debauchary stories with a grain of salt... lately it seems like he just wants to keep up with the drug/alcohol infamy of his current and former bandmates, which, clearly, cannot be easy.

Good analysis bad girl.  I think he (matt) was mainly into coke anyway. 

If it's true, I cant imagine why Axl would do that.  He originally chased Bowie because of some misunderstanding about Erin, but I assume Slash is not talking about that incident.  I wonder if he is getting mixed up - most of Axl's crazy rants are pretty famous.  If there was one about Bowie, wouldnt we have heard it already?

One night, Bowie came to see Guns N' Roses with Slash's mum Ola, the pair having been an item in the '70s.

"Axl heard he was there and started into Bowie from the stage about some bullshit," he recalls. "I was so embarrassed because David was always so polite, proper and English. He really didn't need or deserve anything like that. The thing with Axl was that he never took any drugs. Maybe he should try medication."


This pisses me off. More than CD being delayed. I can understand Axl wanting to make a perfect record, but i dont know why Axl talks like this about other musicians, especially in front of Bowie. And i always hear how upset Axl gets when hes slagged off by others.? :crying:

bowie was hittin on axl's wife and axl took offense and punched him i think if thats how i remember!

Jarmo there is a difference between overdosing and being totally dependant on a drug to keep u happy. "I used to do a little but a little got MORE AND MORE"

I'm sure Slash was dancing with Mr. Brownstone (but maybe not heroin) during the UYI-tour. But there was an interview where he said that after an overdose he got really frightened so he went off drugs. He still drinks a lot, no question, maybe less than he did in 2000, but I think the amount Slash drinks today probably would kill any of us.  :hihi: So I think he used less drugs during the UYI tour than he used back in the AFD days, but his playing was fucked up sometimes... But other people who was said to be clean had even worse voice than his guitar playing, so that's it. (And 'clean' guitarists ruin more solos than the addict Slash.)  :yes:
 
But I don't believe for a second that 'The thing with Axl was that he never took any drugs.' Hell, maybe 'taking drugs' has a different meaning for Slash than for the rest of the world. He surely meant Axl didn't use too much drugs. Maybe Axl used more, GN'R would still exist.

Slash and Duff didn't use drugs when GN'R broke up, so not drugs killed the band, but... 'ego management' and some 'psychological problems'.

He's a rock star of course he had his problems with heroin, even a new fan could see this from btm.. I have been following gnr since they started (more during the illusions) and slash was no different then the other guys in the band... He always played ,see what robert john said in btm, being dedicated... Slash was always a person that needed things to do to keep focused...

The idea about not being able to play anymore could have been during the snakept era..  I think the breakup was do to different directions...  Just hearing the boots from new gnr shows me this, in comparison to SP, n vr.. I believe slash just loves straight up rock, and I don't think axl wanted to do this...Remember his interview mentioning computer rock to advanced at the time for gnr fans, and now the synths and sound effects...They went from Afd the best album ever to pianos, keyboard and horns... I

It's definetly a difference in opinion and possibly less input from the band towards the albums..

Yet Axl is trying to remake Appetite with Chinese Democracy now, look.......

Stinson says Democracy sounds "a little like the old Guns, but a lot deeper lyrically. There's more introspective and socially minded stuff, and musically it takes a lot more risks than they ever took. It's going to be amazing." (More on Guns N' Roses)
Taken from:

I read the tommy interview... To anyone who has heard songs like for mom, and stuff off electrictears from buckethead I could see great rock songs with axl if they kept the sounds.. I fear they will be going in the other direction with buckethead...

Top hat one, he might mean uyi... I feel (jmo) that new gnr is going to have these huge orchestra ballads(not what I like) I had read some interview talking about violins, and chellos.. Doing songs like NR once is very good, but to continue doing them is not for me,,Gnr to me meant hard rock, raw kick ass rock.... I remember the first times I saw paris on pay per view I loved the sutff with lenny, and aerosmith... I just wasn't into the additions of horns, and background singers..  I just hope the new stuff isn't bloated and overdone like the illusions were becoming ... Moving on musically doesn't mean you need to top yourself/out do yourself on each album..

When gnr was five guys it was simple, less guys then a now bloated 7(2 keyboard players) :no:... It was easier to rock ,and when you have less, there's fewer people to satisfy...  Just look how long it took to do afd, lies, live like a suicide.. Matt said it best he signed up to be in a kick ass rock band, and it's not brain surgery it's rock n roll..I have been waiting for this album since the SI... I wish it would come...

Sorry I drifted..

yeah, Anthony got clean around 1988, but he had a relapse in the mid 90s.

I always knew duff had a drug problem and knew what his drugs of choice were, but, what was Matt hooked on?

According to himself, alcohol and cocaine.


/jarmo

I have to say that there are several shows that I have where Slash sounded terrible on guitar.  If anyone has the Indiana 1991 show, they know what I mean.  His solos are way off most of the time.  Then, in other shows like Paris 1992 and Tokyo 1992, he's right on.  I think the drugs affected him and some of the other bands members (Izzy in certain shows clearly played the wrong parts at times) ability to perform.  The reason why they (VR) sound so good now is b/c they are clean.

Part of slash's appeal, as well as anything live is not sounding like the studio... I've heard some really sloppy stuff from finck, doesn't mean he was stoned : ok:

kind of OT, but... its so funny to me to listen to the other guys try to legitimize Matt's bad boyness. Whenever a interviewer asks any of them about their drug past, its always "duff's pancreas exploded, Slash died 4 times, Scott was s junkie and served time, and Matt.... MATT WAS IN REHAB!!!! TWICE!!!!"  :hihi:
ooooooo, drinking AND cocaine... how dangerous!!! how did he EVER find his way out?!
 ;)

Oh thats why they do it?  I thought they were illustrating that like Scott, the other band members had problems with addiction.  But they actually huddled together before the interview and decided on legitmizing Matts "bad boyness" by pointing out that he was in rehab.  Youve figured it out.  : ok:  So when making such points, they should exclude Matt so that people who already dislike him wont construe it as an attempt to make him look like a bad boy. 


Yeah...it comes across just like that.  ::)


 ???

Now whats the point here?  Alcohol and cocaine addictions are a joke?  I guess Matts rehab visits were just for show.. :-\

Not a big Matt fan, badgirl, are we now...

actually, it does come across just like that, when you are not blinded by hero worship.  : ok:
get over it.

No, you're the one blinded here, by your dislike of Matt Sorum.  I'm not much of a Sorum fan either, but it's ridiculous to attempt (as you are doing) to deemphasize or minimize Matt's problems with drugs by comparing them to people (e.g. Slash, Duff, Scott) who have done worse.  Two stints in rehab are no small potatoes, even if Matt's bandmates have endured worse.

And I highly doubt Matt Sorum is Booker's "hero".

:rofl:?

What a lame, off-base cop-out... :no:

Matt went throw a period where he was verrrry unhealthy


leaving Guns problably put him in a deep depression which problably lead to the heavy drug use

what's truly lame is that you have the time and inclination to go through my opinion post, point by point, to try and argue with it. have you nothing better to do? there are matters more relevant to rock n roll than my opinion on Matt Sorum. So, like i said, get over it.  :D

On the chance that you didn't notice, that's what these forums are for, to offer points and counterpoints on GNR related issues.  You're the one blowing it out of proportion.