Photo by: Rocco Guarino
Ex-Velvet Revolver and Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash discussed VR ripping off another song without even knowing it. He told Motley Crue’s Nikki Sixx (transcribed by Ultimate-Guitar):
“Before Velvet Revolver really became Velvet Revolver we had written these two parts of one song, Duff [McKagan] and Matt [Sorum] and I.
“And we were working with some other guys – who will remain nameless – who brought in the other two parts of that song. So when Velvet Revolver came together we kept the song as it was.
“And it turned out that the other two guys had lifted their parts from a band that they were rehearsing next door to. So that band heard that song and said, ‘Those are our riffs!’
“We didn’t know what the fuck they were talking about. And then we heard who it was, that there was a band who was rehearsing next door. So when we heard the record, the song, I heard where those parts were and it was like, ‘Oh, fuck!'”
Asked if “those guys got songwriting credit,” Slash replied:
“Not the original band, but the guys we were working with. But the only thing is we were getting sued by the original band for that song.”
Ultimate-Guitar points out that the song Slash is discussing is “Dirty Little Thing” off of Contraband. The musicians Slash is referring to are Josh Todd and Keith Nelson of Buckcherry, who briefly played with the band before they settled on Scott Weiland and Dave Kushner. The song they ripped off is Dirty Deeds’ “Cyber Babe.”
