Slash: Young Musicians ‘Just Want to Grab a Bunch of Cash’

[Blacula]

He can't judge ordinary people, for he's a hyperactive workaholic. I remember reading his book I was like "God I'm lazy bitch! This junkie didn't miss a single gig and I take day off everytime I feel tired".

[Russel Nash]

In other words "don't follow your dreams because I happen to have limiting beliefs about them", what most parents tell their kids instead of supporting them.

more like, follow your dreams, but be realistic kid.

Which amounts to the same thing.

Being "realistic" is exactly what keeps most dreams from happening.

And no, I don't take this as a personal attack : I just see this thing exactly the other way.

Every person who ever was successful, at some point, no matter how talented they actually are ( if it's even possible to quantify it ), put their dream before earthly considerations.

The only reason I'm a teacher and a part time musician, who is getting paid to create music every once in a while, is because I chose not to listen to my parents when they told me both were more or less impossible.

I have 3 kids. I would like them to follow their dreams and i don't want them to fail. If they want to be Astronauts, they got to know that they have to study and work a lot on that. I can relate with Slash, he's saying that if you want to be a guitar player, you have to practice a lot, and you have to like spending time on that.

It's not like i'm going to the store and buy the Slash Les Paul and boooom, im Slash. I want to be famous. I look good in the mirror.

[jmapelian]

Easy for a millionaire to say.

self made milionaire that he is - and you do realize his entire solo career has been self financed

[Apollo]

Easy for a millionaire to say.

self made milionaire that he is - and you do realize his entire solo career has been self financed

:thumbsup:

[Bumblefeet]

He should be grateful he came up in a time when rock stars were still worshipped as gods and paid as such.

Edited September 29, 2014 by Bumblefeet

[Rovim]

He should be grateful he came up in a time when rock stars were still worshipped as gods and paid as such.

How did the comments he made in this interview make him ungrateful? all he said was that you should do music for the love of it, you should understand going in as a musician that it won't be easy financially and the chances of making it in this business are slim. This is true. He even said he'll support his kids if they'll ever want to become musicians.

[Bumblefeet]

He should be grateful he came up in a time when rock stars were still worshipped as gods and paid as such.

How did the comments he made in this interview make him ungrateful? all he said was that you should do music for the love of it, you should understand going in as a musician that it won't be easy financially and the chances of making it in this business are slim. This is true. He even said he'll support his kids if they'll ever want to become musicians.

I don't see why he should be talking of young musicians this way (and wonder who he met to come to such an opinion), if you want to make a criticism of the music industry (which he was doing), why not discuss the labels and the bad deals bands are getting?

And if you do feel artists are that way, name names. Be a fucking rock star for fuck sake and start some feuds. I'm sure there are lots of artists out there who'd like to prove him wrong.

[Iron MikeyJ]

I agree with Slash.

[MEXzilla]

Easy for a millionaire to say.

self made milionaire that he is - and you do realize his entire solo career has been self financed

My point is that he probably wanted that money way back then in 1985. It's easy for a man to change history when he's the only one that knows it.

[Turn_It_Up]

Seems way taken out of context. Slash has talked endlessly in interviews about the state of the music industry in general, and rock specifically, and he's never had anything close to a tirade against musicians other than to say everything today is pop centric. And for those in rock you better love doing it for the music because it's not where labels and $$ are.

This article starts out saying he was "sneering". What was he reacting to, what was the context? Even in the vid below the article where he's taking about the state of rock, he's totally calm and consistent with past thoughts.

Sneering? Really?

[Rovim]

He should be grateful he came up in a time when rock stars were still worshipped as gods and paid as such.

How did the comments he made in this interview make him ungrateful? all he said was that you should do music for the love of it, you should understand going in as a musician that it won't be easy financially and the chances of making it in this business are slim. This is true. He even said he'll support his kids if they'll ever want to become musicians.

I don't see why he should be talking of young musicians this way (and wonder who he met to come to such an opinion), if you want to make a criticism of the music industry (which he was doing), why not discuss the labels and the bad deals bands are getting?

And if you do feel artists are that way, name names. Be a fucking rock star for fuck sake and start some feuds. I'm sure there are lots of artists out there who'd like to prove him wrong.

What way? he doesn't seem to like the kind of music that is successful today for the most part. At least not when it comes to his genre. He said there aren't really cool new hard rock bands and all the interesting shit is happening in metal in his opinion.

And why should he name names? start feuds? lol. He just shared what he thought about it in general.

Edited September 29, 2014 by Rovim

[sweetness]

He isn't wrong. From my experience, most of the younger local bands in the Michigan music scene have a bit of an entitlement issue, most of them come from wealthier backgrounds who have the majority of their gear handed to them by mom and dad. Then they go ahead and make kickstarter/indie go-go campaigns with RIDICULOUS goals ($15,000 to record a fucking album, seriously), demanding a $100+ guarantee to play a show that's supposed to be a fund raiser for charity, or even just to play a show with an all local bill, I can't believe how naive some of these fucking kids are. Yes, playing in a band does cost a lot of money to get rolling, but that's part of the sacrifice. You have to work your ass off and fund it yourself at first, and if you can actually make inspired music that's worth a shit while strategically booking shows and promoting, things will fall into place.

It's pretty easy to spot the bands who think they should automatically get paid just for having written some "original" songs vs. the bands who have put in work over the years and have had their souls crushed by "the scene" time and time again to the point of not giving a shit anymore. The latter are usually actually really fucking good, also few and far between as most bands just end up throwing in the towel after they realize their shit music isn't lucrative at all.

Still, in his day things weren't all that different. The Sunset Strip was littered with bands riding the hair metal coat-tails to money and chicks. There were also some honest hard working talented musicians, and there definitely still are today.

Edited September 29, 2014 by sweetness

[Turn_It_Up]

How do you twist what he said into a positive though ?

Do you really think that young people are less passionate nowadays simply because they use other means to create music ?

He sounds rather clueless about how music is being made nowadays because I can grant you that making a modern electronic / pop record takes just as much or even more work than making an old school rock record does...

There was a very recent interview with Slash where he said he thought the EDM scene was cool because there's an audience culture building around it like there used to be for rock and other genres of music. His kids are probably into EDM as well.

Wasn't slamming it or trivializing it at all, though he does think it will be a fad with a certain shelf life. Hard to argue that.

Edited September 29, 2014 by Turn_It_Up

[EvH]

I was expecting the OP to be a certain Coma16

[Blacula]

"Kids these days just want to grab a bunch of cash, do as little work, with as little integrity as possible, and just f—ing retire, man." (1991. Slash on Izzy quiting GNR)

[combos]

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/slash-young-musicians-comment/

At a certain point, just about all of us acquire enough age and/or experience that the actions of younger generations start to seem a little strange — or outright foolish. For Slash, that time might be now.

Maybe, but he's right. Youtube, American Idol and Disney... along with the music industry, have all decided to focus on manufacturing stars. Kids grow up and see what they see. If all they see is Kesha, instead of something like Bob Dylan, that's the model they're going to emulate and think is the right way to go about things.

Right now, the majority of kids only care about being famous and rich. They all think singing is all you need. Writing songs? Actually creating art? Expressing themselves and/or saying something topical about society or politics/war? Nope. They all just want to sing, lip sync on stage and be famous.

Edited September 29, 2014 by combos

[combos]

Easy for a millionaire to say.

Music is art. There are artists, then there are con artist business men. Almost all of the top acts these days are fake artists who are only in it for money and fame. That's his beef and mine as well.

If you want to act, become an actor or actress. Leave the music to the creators and real artists who love to create music... not just sing along and record something someone else wrote for you. That's shameful.

[sweetness]

Great interview with an up and coming punk rock band from Canada, very relevant to this thread. Despite all the shitty bands out there beating a dead horse and expecting an advance from a major label, there are definitely still those who get it.

http://noisey.vice.com/en_ca/blog/single-mothers-interview

I mean if we didn’t want to be doing this we wouldn’t. I don’t think any band out there, at least the ones that we know, is touring for the fucking money or the fame and the glory or the three girls that show up, you do it because it’s all you want to do and if you don’t you’re going to work at call centre or something. It’s definitely a passion project but as little money as it is and as bad as it gets, for me and I think I can speak for the rest of my band, it’s still the greatest thing in the world to load in up ten flights of stairs just to play for nine kids. Even at the lowest shittiest point, it’s still my favourite thing to do. If I won the lottery tomorrow I’d still be playing in this band and drinking a Rolling Rock on the highway at 1pm in the afternoon.

[Padme]

So that article says that Slash new album debuted at # 10 in the U.S. And that´s just an slash album. I fugure a GN´R reunion new album would be at # 1 for an entire year then.

[Iron MikeyJ]

He isn't wrong. From my experience, most of the younger local bands in the Michigan music scene have a bit of an entitlement issue, most of them come from wealthier backgrounds who have the majority of their gear handed to them by mom and dad. Then they go ahead and make kickstarter/indie go-go campaigns with RIDICULOUS goals ($15,000 to record a fucking album, seriously), demanding a $100+ guarantee to play a show that's supposed to be a fund raiser for charity, or even just to play a show with an all local bill, I can't believe how naive some of these fucking kids are. Yes, playing in a band does cost a lot of money to get rolling, but that's part of the sacrifice. You have to work your ass off and fund it yourself at first, and if you can actually make inspired music that's worth a shit while strategically booking shows and promoting, things will fall into place.

It's pretty easy to spot the bands who think they should automatically get paid just for having written some "original" songs vs. the bands who have put in work over the years and have had their souls crushed by "the scene" time and time again to the point of not giving a shit anymore. The latter are usually actually really fucking good, also few and far between as most bands just end up throwing in the towel after they realize their shit music isn't lucrative at all.

Still, in his day things weren't all that different. The Sunset Strip was littered with bands riding the hair metal coat-tails to money and chicks. There were also some honest hard working talented musicians, and there definitely still are today.

Brilliant.

[wasted]

Stadium rock, the last bastion of talent and integrity left.

The hour of the amateur is here. Community, lattes for the house, holograms of the future.

[JVesper]

Fucking hate wasted and his posts man.

[Ana_1991]

Like he didn't party and abuse his fame...

[Intercourse]

Slash referenced "kids" here, I'm speculating he's referring to the X factor generation.

He's right about becoming a "musician" though, do it 'cause you love it. The money part is so tenuous that you should almost abandon any hope of being well off and just play for the love of it and hope you can make a living - anything more is gravy.

Fact is, Slash lived on the streets to pursue his dream of playing so he is not being crass here, he won the music lottery sure but that's not what he's discussing.

.

Edited September 30, 2014 by Intercourse

[tinyrobot]

Says the guy who became a millionaire before hitting 30..............

OK SLASH. LOTS OF LOVE TO YOU