Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash discussed the legacy of his late Velvet Revolver bandmate Scott Weiland in a new Billboard Radio China interview. He discussed the resurgence of rock in the early 90’s, and it continued (though in some different forms) until the mid 2000’s. He discussed how Weiland was a part of bridging the 90’s and 2000’s with Velvet Revolver, and how rock has been dying in the mainstream since the end of that era the legends like Weiland were at the forefront of, though he sees a bright future with new bands today. He credited Weiland for much of Velvet Revolver’s success. Alternative Nation transcribed his comments when he was asked nobody playing rock anymore compared to in Velvet Revolver’s hey day over a decade ago.
“I get asked this question pretty often and it’s [hard for me] to have the answers. When Velvet Revolver came out, there was definitely a movement that started in the early to mid 90’s that sort of held up all the way to the end of that decade and went into the millennium. So we came out and there were tons of new rock and roll bands, and they weren’t nu metal and they weren’t sort of indie bands, but there was definitely sort of this indieesque feel to them.
I think one of the reasons that Velvet Revolver was as successful as it was, was having a lot to do with Scott Weiland, because he was still a holdover from that kind of thing with STP, that came from the 90’s. It was all cool. Then as we got down the line, it seemed like the commercial approach to rock and roll that the industry forces on bands, or forces people to think that this is how they have to go about it to succeed, it just turns into this sort of generic mish mosh that manages to get on the radio, but doesn’t really turn anybody on. It just gets dull and boring, and people start looking elsewhere. I think that’s what really happened to the industry, as far as rock and roll is concerned, after 2006 up until just recently, but it seems to be turning over a new leaf right now.”
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