Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash revealed in a new Lanacion interview that once was arrested and sent to jail for stealing something for Steven Adler. Below are translated quotes.
Some time ago rock has been losing space in the mainstream compared to other genres and in songs that happen on the radio, even rock groups, there are fewer and fewer solos. Do you think they can disappear?
“There was always a reason to have guitar solos. That started around the 80s. From there, for all the pop music, it was like “well, we do not need guitar solos”. But in those years we did have many. Anyway, I do not worry about whether guitar solos should or should not be in popular music. I only do them because I like them in the music I record. I like to have a guitar solo.
Rock and roll is a kind of back seat for pop music. Now in ‘the top 40’ you find pop songs, hip hop and all that, that’s fine, but I think there’s going to be a new wave of rock and roll bands in the next few years. I think that’s going to be very exciting. We’ll see what happens.”
Is it true that you ended up imprisoned in your teens for stealing a tape at a Tower Records branch in Los Angeles?
“Yes! (laughs) I stole a cassette for Steven Adler – a former Guns N’Roses drummer – on his birthday. It was the first album in Boston. Later, sometime in 1984, I started working in a store of Tower Video, a store specialized in videos. I was there almost a year and a half.”
You can listen to the latest episode of the Guns N’ Roses fan podcast Appetite for Distortion below.
