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Rare Slash Interview From 1997 Talking Axl and GNR


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33 minutes ago, AlexC said:

Interesting. So here he's saying that pretty much the only reason he left GN'R is because of musical differences with Axl however in his book, released 10 years later, he strongly denies this as a reason at all.

Because in the book he projected his 2007 perspective to the time of events. It's what happens with autobiographies, especially those written years later; they represent more the autobiographers' current thoughts about the past events than their feelings and thoughts the time the events occurred.

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1 hour ago, Blackstar said:

Because in the book he projected his 2007 perspective to the time of events. It's what happens with autobiographies, especially those written years later; they represent more the autobiographers' current thoughts about the past events than their feelings and thoughts the time the events occurred.

Yeah but the reason for someone leaving the band is surely that, a reason. Whether he changed his perspective overtime or not is irrelevant, there's a reason he left and he's saying here not even a year after it happened that it's because he and Axl aren't on the same page musically. For him to then not only list other reasons in his book, but to deny this completely even though it came out his mouth is just lying.

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28 minutes ago, AlexC said:

Yeah but the reason for someone leaving the band is surely that, a reason. Whether he changed his perspective overtime or not is irrelevant, there's a reason he left and he's saying here not even a year after it happened that it's because he and Axl aren't on the same page musically. For him to then not only list other reasons in his book, but to deny this completely even though it came out his mouth is just lying.

It's not necessarily lying. He might thought in retrospect that the real issue behind the musical differences (which were real, but nothing new - they had them before, but they had managed to work them out) was who would have control of the band. So he downplayed the disagreement about the direction of the band in the book, although he was emphasizing on it in interviews around the breakup. Other reasons for this could be 1) that overtime some of his musical views/taste changed 2) that by downplaying the musical differences in the book, he subconsciously downplayed his own part in the control game.

In my opinion, from the 3 reasons Slash listed in his book, only one was real at the time he left: the control game. I'm quoting myself from another thread buried somewhere in the Civil War section:

On 27/08/2016 at 1:41 AM, Blackstar said:

I would take some things Slash said in his book with a grain of salt. Autobiographies/memoirs are not considered very credible sources, and there are reasons for it apart from given subjectivity and the possibility of bad/unconsciously selective memory or even of conscious lying. A memoir, especially when written long time after the events narrated in it occurred, reflects more the writer's current state of mind and perspective of said events than his/her feelings and thoughts when he was originally in that situation; it's not something that is done consciously, it's a natural process of memory.

The two of the three reasons Slash presented for the breakup (Izzy-less and Steven-less band and Axl's punctuality issue) are not so convincing to me. Slash left in 1996, Steven and Izzy had left in 1990 and 1991 respectively. In the meantime, a few little things had happened, all of which Slash was a part of: album recordings and releases, a 2 year world tour during which he endured Axl's constant lateness, and an ill-fated attempt to record a new album; moreover, the time Slash left, the prospect of a tour was distant and uncertain, hence Axl being late on stage wasn't an immediate issue to think of and worry about. In interviews before and after the breakup, Slash had emphasized artistic differences (the ballads and Axl's fondness of grunge and industrial rock) as a main cause of tension between Axl and him, along with Axl's control game, and as a reason he eventually left. This factor is downplayed in the book; he only mentions his resentment of keyboard effects and Pro Tools, but he finally states that he would have been open to do even industrial, if the three reasons hadn't existed.

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25 minutes ago, AlexC said:

Yeah but the reason for someone leaving the band is surely that, a reason. Whether he changed his perspective overtime or not is irrelevant, there's a reason he left and he's saying here not even a year after it happened that it's because he and Axl aren't on the same page musically. For him to then not only list other reasons in his book, but to deny this completely even though it came out his mouth is just lying.

Or he was lying then not to stir more shit and questions about their rift. It's just a safe answer. And I am pretty sure, adding it all up, that musical diffferences were not the major issue between those two.

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Just now, Blackstar said:

It's not necessarily lying. He might thought in retrospect that the real issue behind the musical differences (which were real, but nothing new - they had them before, but they had managed to work them out) was who would have control of the band. So he downplayed the disagreement about the direction of the band in the book, although he was emphasizing on it in interviews around the breakup. Other reasons for this could be 1) that overtime some of his musical views/taste changed 2) that by downplaying the musical differences in the book, he subconsciously downplayed his own part in the control game.

I suppose that's plausible, I've never thought of it that way before.

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Music differences are the same as who controls the musical direction. Slash admitted he was also stubborn about what he wanted to do in Guns. 

I think Slash said in an interview that he likes music that he doesn't think really he would want as Guns. He said he sort incorporates stuff organically into his playing rather than just changing his whole style. I don't think Axl had some industrial track he wanted Slash to play on. It was more likely Tobias/Dizzy/Axl piano ballads. 

So how it played out for me is I heard Slash saying Axl wants to play industrial shit and Pearl jam and he doesn't  like guitars through sausages grinders. Then when VR came out he was getting the radio dj to play NIN. So I was like wtf. But then later he explained it. He wanted to go back to roots with GNR but outside GNR he likes all kinds of stuff. 

Hopefully their musical wants are converging again. Axl wanting to write more like AFD and Slash wanting to do more progressive stuff too. 

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10 hours ago, Asia said:

Or he was lying then not to stir more shit and questions about their rift. It's just a safe answer. And I am pretty sure, adding it all up, that musical diffferences were not the major issue between those two.

Exactly. It was CONTROL not solely musical diff. He was downplaying it here to avoid further controversy 

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