Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash reached out to former AC/DC lead singer Brian Johnson today, wishing him a happy birthday. Axl Rose took over Johnson’s job as AC/DC lead singer last year.
Duff McKagan told Chris Jericho in a recent interview just how much of an important role “Sweet Child O’ Mine” played in launching GNR’s career (transcribed by Ultimate-Guitar):
“I remember [touring as The Cult’s opening band in 1987] well. That was the first arena tour I had ever done – we had a tour bus, and of course the tour bus was 20 years old at the time.
“The first night we’re in Halifax [Canada], our buss driver got rolled for his float by a hooker. [Laughs]
“I remember having no money on that tour, and like going through the audience after we played – ‘Do you have any change so I can make a phone call?’
“We had no money, but being broke didn’t matter.”
McKagan continued:
“They were about to pull us off the road. We had tour support, so that payed for the bus and the crew guys, and of course we had to pay it all back. So we toured for a year.
“We go to London, UK and we were blowing up there. It was a such strange scene to go there, and like we sold out the Hammersmith Odeon – that’s 2,500 people.
“And then we’d come back to America and there’d be like 3 people out front, ‘Yeah, that’s our band!’ ‘That’s our 3 people!’
“Then we’d go to Japan and it was a thing there. And we come back to The States, and nothing.
“The Cult were nice enough to give us our first tour. They saw us in the Marquee in London, and were like, ‘We want to take those guys on tour. We think that band’s killer.’ Always thankful to them, and all the bands that took us out.”
