WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.960 Okay, let's try a little experiment. I like experiments. 00:00:03.339 --> 00:00:06.040 I want you to close your eyes. Picture a rock 00:00:06.040 --> 00:00:09.900 star. Not a specific person, just the concept 00:00:09.900 --> 00:00:12.820 of a rock star. Okay, got it. Now, strip away 00:00:12.820 --> 00:00:15.800 the face, strip away the name, just look at the 00:00:15.800 --> 00:00:18.440 outline, the silhouette. What do you see? Okay, 00:00:18.500 --> 00:00:21.059 well, if you're doing this right, you're probably 00:00:21.059 --> 00:00:25.519 seeing a mass of unruly, gravity -defying black 00:00:25.519 --> 00:00:28.399 curls. Uh -huh. You're seeing a top hat, which 00:00:28.399 --> 00:00:32.200 is, I mean... Let's be honest, a ridiculous accessory 00:00:32.200 --> 00:00:34.840 for the 20th century perched precariously on 00:00:34.840 --> 00:00:36.820 that hair. Right. Maybe some aviator sunglasses 00:00:36.820 --> 00:00:40.979 and almost certainly a low slung Les Paul guitar 00:00:40.979 --> 00:00:44.060 hanging somewhere, you know, around the knees. 00:00:44.280 --> 00:00:46.200 Exactly. You see that silhouette and you don't 00:00:46.200 --> 00:00:47.899 need a label. You don't need a caption. You know 00:00:47.899 --> 00:00:50.460 immediately that it's Slash. Instantly. But here's 00:00:50.460 --> 00:00:52.299 my problem with that image. And it's really the 00:00:52.299 --> 00:00:54.359 reason I wanted to do this deep dive today. OK. 00:00:54.460 --> 00:00:57.700 We treat that silhouette like a mascot. A mascot. 00:00:57.799 --> 00:01:00.200 In what sense? In the sense that he feels like 00:01:00.200 --> 00:01:02.740 a cartoon character. Like he just manifested 00:01:02.740 --> 00:01:05.060 out of thin air on the Sunset Strip in 1985, 00:01:05.579 --> 00:01:07.859 drank a gallon of Jack Daniels, played some cool 00:01:07.859 --> 00:01:11.099 riffs, and passed out. Caricature. He's the party 00:01:11.099 --> 00:01:14.319 animal caricature, but... When I was going through 00:01:14.319 --> 00:01:17.000 the stack of research you sent over, the biography 00:01:17.000 --> 00:01:19.280 excerpts, the technical breakdowns of his gear, 00:01:19.459 --> 00:01:23.719 the touring schedules, that caricature just completely 00:01:23.719 --> 00:01:25.840 falls apart for me. Oh, it's not just wrong. 00:01:25.980 --> 00:01:28.459 I would argue it's the exact opposite of the 00:01:28.459 --> 00:01:30.719 truth. How so? If you actually look at the data 00:01:30.719 --> 00:01:33.750 and we have... A lot of it. The party animal 00:01:33.750 --> 00:01:36.010 narrative is the cover story. The real story 00:01:36.010 --> 00:01:39.530 is about obsessive, almost maniacal discipline. 00:01:39.609 --> 00:01:42.010 That is the aha moment I want to chase today. 00:01:42.090 --> 00:01:44.150 Because we're talking about a guy who Time Magazine 00:01:44.150 --> 00:01:46.849 ranked as the runner up to Jimi Hendrix for best 00:01:46.849 --> 00:01:48.609 electric guitar player. Which is just, I mean, 00:01:48.609 --> 00:01:50.950 that's rarefied air. We're talking about a Rock 00:01:50.950 --> 00:01:53.769 and Roll Hall of Fame inductee. And as we sit 00:01:53.769 --> 00:01:56.510 here in February 2026, we are talking about a 00:01:56.510 --> 00:01:59.310 guy who is currently in the middle of a massive 00:01:59.310 --> 00:02:01.609 renaissance. It is a renaissance. Absolutely. 00:02:02.269 --> 00:02:04.950 But to understand why he is still relevant in 00:02:04.950 --> 00:02:07.849 2026, you have to understand that he isn't just 00:02:07.849 --> 00:02:10.259 an American rock star. Right. In fact, he isn't 00:02:10.259 --> 00:02:12.139 really an American rock star at all. He's a mixed 00:02:12.139 --> 00:02:14.939 race kid from the English Midlands who was dropped 00:02:14.939 --> 00:02:17.120 into Hollywood royalty. And that distinction, 00:02:17.360 --> 00:02:20.419 that specific weird origin story seems to change 00:02:20.419 --> 00:02:22.240 everything about how we should hear his music. 00:02:22.400 --> 00:02:25.020 It really does. So our mission today is pretty 00:02:25.020 --> 00:02:27.219 clear. We're going to dismantle the cartoon. 00:02:27.460 --> 00:02:30.240 We're going to find Saul Hudson, the man under 00:02:30.240 --> 00:02:32.930 the hat. Let's do it. I'm ready. I want to start 00:02:32.930 --> 00:02:34.729 with the geography because this was the first 00:02:34.729 --> 00:02:37.509 thing that really threw me. I think most people, 00:02:37.669 --> 00:02:41.370 myself included, associate Slash entirely with 00:02:41.370 --> 00:02:44.990 Los Angeles. The whiskey, a go -go, the troubadour, 00:02:45.250 --> 00:02:48.590 the grime and hairspray of the 1980s strips. 00:02:48.610 --> 00:02:50.849 For sure, that's the brand. But his story starts 00:02:50.849 --> 00:02:54.389 5 ,000 miles away. It does. It starts in Hampstead, 00:02:54.430 --> 00:02:57.930 London in 1965. But he didn't just spend a few 00:02:57.930 --> 00:03:00.229 months there. He was raised in Stoke -on -Trent 00:03:00.229 --> 00:03:02.900 until he was six years old. Stoke -on -Trent. 00:03:03.039 --> 00:03:05.240 Now, for our listeners who aren't familiar with 00:03:05.240 --> 00:03:07.419 English geography, paint that picture. We are 00:03:07.419 --> 00:03:09.740 not talking about swinging London here. No, we 00:03:09.740 --> 00:03:12.500 are not. Not even close. Stoke -on -Trent is 00:03:12.500 --> 00:03:14.800 known as the Potteries. Okay. It's the industrial 00:03:14.800 --> 00:03:18.740 heart of England. In the late 60s and early 70s, 00:03:18.740 --> 00:03:22.259 this was a place of brick kilns, smoke, gray 00:03:22.259 --> 00:03:26.180 skies, and hard blue -collar work. So gritty. 00:03:26.590 --> 00:03:29.009 Very gritty. It's about as far removed from the 00:03:29.009 --> 00:03:31.849 neon glam of Hollywood as you can possibly get. 00:03:32.030 --> 00:03:35.469 It sounds bleak, honestly. It was grounded. And 00:03:35.469 --> 00:03:38.289 I think that duality is crucial. His father... 00:03:38.509 --> 00:03:41.229 Anthony Hudson was a white English artist who 00:03:41.229 --> 00:03:43.650 designed album covers. Right. His mother, Ola 00:03:43.650 --> 00:03:45.870 Hudson, was an African -American costume designer. 00:03:46.090 --> 00:03:48.969 So right from the jump, Slash, or Saul at this 00:03:48.969 --> 00:03:50.949 point, is navigating two completely different 00:03:50.949 --> 00:03:52.990 worlds. He's navigating the racial divide of 00:03:52.990 --> 00:03:55.509 the late 60s. He's navigating the cultural divide 00:03:55.509 --> 00:03:59.009 between industrial England and, well, America. 00:03:59.229 --> 00:04:00.830 He actually has a great quote about this in the 00:04:00.830 --> 00:04:03.169 biography notes. He said, I've always been amused 00:04:03.169 --> 00:04:05.379 that I'm both British and black. And that's a 00:04:05.379 --> 00:04:07.819 fascinating perspective, especially when you 00:04:07.819 --> 00:04:09.819 look at the history of rock music. How do you 00:04:09.819 --> 00:04:12.539 know? Think about the 1960s and 70s. You had 00:04:12.539 --> 00:04:16.040 white American musicians trying desperately to 00:04:16.040 --> 00:04:18.639 be part of the British invasion, mimicking the 00:04:18.639 --> 00:04:21.240 Beatles or the Kinks. Right, trying to sound 00:04:21.240 --> 00:04:23.899 British. And simultaneously, you had British 00:04:23.899 --> 00:04:27.839 musicians, Clapton, the Stones, Led Zeppelin, 00:04:27.980 --> 00:04:31.470 trying to emulate... Black American blues players. 00:04:31.750 --> 00:04:33.670 Everybody was trying to be what they weren't. 00:04:33.689 --> 00:04:37.470 Exactly. But Slash, he didn't have to pose. He 00:04:37.470 --> 00:04:40.149 literally had the DNA of both worlds. He was 00:04:40.149 --> 00:04:42.129 the British influence and the American blues 00:04:42.129 --> 00:04:44.850 heritage wrapped up in one person. He didn't 00:04:44.850 --> 00:04:47.740 have to try to be authentic. He just was. So 00:04:47.740 --> 00:04:50.000 you have this kid living in Stoke, and then around 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:53.120 age six, everything changes. Big change. He moves 00:04:53.120 --> 00:04:55.800 to Los Angeles with his dad to join his mom. 00:04:55.939 --> 00:04:59.060 And this is where the story gets cinematic. Because 00:04:59.060 --> 00:05:01.199 his parents weren't just regular people working 00:05:01.199 --> 00:05:03.939 nine -to -fives. Far from it. His mother, Ola, 00:05:04.060 --> 00:05:06.779 was a powerhouse. She was designing costumes 00:05:06.779 --> 00:05:08.639 for some of the biggest names in the world. Like 00:05:08.639 --> 00:05:11.800 who? Rego Starr, John Lennon. And most famously, 00:05:11.980 --> 00:05:14.660 she dated David Bowie for a while. Okay, stop. 00:05:14.800 --> 00:05:17.639 We need to process that. Right. Imagine being 00:05:17.639 --> 00:05:20.220 a seven -year -old kid, you're playing with your 00:05:20.220 --> 00:05:22.060 toy trucks or whatever, and you walk into the 00:05:22.060 --> 00:05:24.379 living room and Ziggy Stardust is sitting on 00:05:24.379 --> 00:05:27.279 your couch trying on pants. It sounds like fiction. 00:05:27.379 --> 00:05:29.720 Yeah. But that was his reality. That's insane. 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:31.899 Slash has talked about this. He said he would 00:05:31.899 --> 00:05:34.579 just be hanging out and these titans of industry 00:05:34.579 --> 00:05:37.180 were everywhere. Yeah. But here are the key psychological 00:05:37.180 --> 00:05:40.860 insights. Okay. Because he saw them in his living 00:05:40.860 --> 00:05:43.449 room, in their underwear or, you know. Eating 00:05:43.449 --> 00:05:46.370 breakfast. Yeah. He never idolized them. He saw 00:05:46.370 --> 00:05:48.829 the human side before he saw the rock god side. 00:05:49.170 --> 00:05:51.649 Precisely. Yeah. Most kids who start bands are 00:05:51.649 --> 00:05:53.670 chasing the fantasy. They want to get to the 00:05:53.670 --> 00:05:56.170 party. Right. Slash was born at the party. He 00:05:56.170 --> 00:05:58.649 didn't view rock stars as deities. He viewed 00:05:58.649 --> 00:06:00.790 them as the people who drank his dad's beer. 00:06:00.949 --> 00:06:03.209 And that kind of inoculated him against being 00:06:03.209 --> 00:06:05.850 starstruck later on. Totally. When Guns N' Roses 00:06:05.850 --> 00:06:07.949 blew up, he didn't freak out because fame was 00:06:07.949 --> 00:06:10.720 just... Normal to him. It was the family business, 00:06:10.879 --> 00:06:13.800 in a way. That explains so much about his demeanor. 00:06:14.019 --> 00:06:16.680 He always seems so unbothered. He's seen it all 00:06:16.680 --> 00:06:18.959 before. Now, before we get into the music, we 00:06:18.959 --> 00:06:22.819 have to address the name. Slash. Yes. It sounds 00:06:22.819 --> 00:06:24.800 aggressive. It sounds like a name you choose 00:06:24.800 --> 00:06:26.300 because you want to sound like a villain in a 00:06:26.300 --> 00:06:29.300 horror movie. Or a wrestling heel. But, again, 00:06:29.459 --> 00:06:31.939 this goes back to debunking the myth. It wasn't 00:06:31.939 --> 00:06:34.300 a branding choice. Not at all. He didn't sit 00:06:34.300 --> 00:06:36.379 down with the marketing team and say, what sounds 00:06:36.379 --> 00:06:40.290 dangerous? The name was given to him by the actor 00:06:40.290 --> 00:06:42.870 Seymour Cassell. The guy from the John Cassavetes 00:06:42.870 --> 00:06:46.470 movies. The very same. Slash was friends with 00:06:46.470 --> 00:06:50.750 Cassell's son. Okay. And Seymour watched this 00:06:50.750 --> 00:06:53.110 kid running around the house, never stopping, 00:06:53.269 --> 00:06:55.769 always moving from one room to another, totally 00:06:55.769 --> 00:06:58.029 hyperactive. Right. And he started calling him 00:06:58.029 --> 00:07:00.649 Slash. Not because he was violent. but because 00:07:00.649 --> 00:07:03.170 he was a slash of motion. He was always in a 00:07:03.170 --> 00:07:05.310 hurry, zipping around. I love that. It's basically 00:07:05.310 --> 00:07:07.709 a description of ADHD, not a threat of violence. 00:07:07.970 --> 00:07:10.089 It really is. It was a descriptor of his energy, 00:07:10.149 --> 00:07:13.910 not his temper. And that energy is what he eventually 00:07:13.910 --> 00:07:16.209 channeled into the guitar. So let's talk about 00:07:16.209 --> 00:07:19.009 that moment, the awakening. Because usually when 00:07:19.009 --> 00:07:20.910 you hear about virtuosos, they start playing 00:07:20.910 --> 00:07:24.629 violin at age three. Not him. Slash didn't pick 00:07:24.629 --> 00:07:27.430 up a guitar until he was, what, 14? 14, which 00:07:27.430 --> 00:07:29.329 is actually quite late for someone who reaches 00:07:29.329 --> 00:07:31.670 his level. And the catalyst wasn't a desire to 00:07:31.670 --> 00:07:34.189 be an artist. Oh, no. It was the quintessential 00:07:34.189 --> 00:07:38.170 teenage boy motivation. Let me guess. A girl. 00:07:38.329 --> 00:07:43.730 A girl. Of course. It's roughly 1979. He has 00:07:43.730 --> 00:07:46.189 a crush on an older girl, a tale as old as time. 00:07:46.709 --> 00:07:49.389 He finally manages to get invited over to her 00:07:49.389 --> 00:07:52.209 house. He has a plan. He's going to make his 00:07:52.209 --> 00:07:55.069 move. To set the mood, she puts on a record. 00:07:55.189 --> 00:07:58.089 And the record is? Aerosmith. The album is rocks. 00:07:58.449 --> 00:08:00.529 Oh, no. I see where this is going. The romance 00:08:00.529 --> 00:08:03.329 is doomed. Completely doomed. The moment that 00:08:03.329 --> 00:08:05.550 music started, specifically the grit and the 00:08:05.550 --> 00:08:08.449 groove of Joe Perry and Brad Whitford, the girl 00:08:08.449 --> 00:08:10.850 ceased to exist for him. Wow. He said it hit 00:08:10.850 --> 00:08:13.069 him like a ton of bricks. He ignored her. He 00:08:13.069 --> 00:08:14.829 sat there listening to the album over and over, 00:08:14.910 --> 00:08:17.470 analyzing what he was hearing, and then he just 00:08:17.470 --> 00:08:19.430 rode his bike home. He ghosted her while he was 00:08:19.430 --> 00:08:22.519 still in the room. He did. He said, I identified 00:08:22.519 --> 00:08:25.639 with something. It was the sound of his own internal 00:08:25.639 --> 00:08:28.600 monologue. So that was it? That was it. The romance 00:08:28.600 --> 00:08:30.920 was dead, but the guitarist was born. But even 00:08:30.920 --> 00:08:32.960 then, he didn't go straight to the sixth string, 00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:36.120 right? There is this hilarious mix -up with Steven 00:08:36.120 --> 00:08:38.620 Adler, who would later be the drummer for Guns 00:08:38.620 --> 00:08:40.820 N' Roses. This is one of those sliding doors 00:08:40.820 --> 00:08:43.240 moments in history. Yeah. If this conversation 00:08:43.240 --> 00:08:46.820 had gone differently, rock history would be unrecognizable. 00:08:46.980 --> 00:08:49.600 No kidding. Slash and Steven Adler were childhood 00:08:49.600 --> 00:08:52.039 friends. They decided, hey, let's start a band. 00:08:52.700 --> 00:08:55.080 Adler, who at this point didn't play an instrument 00:08:55.080 --> 00:08:58.159 either, immediately declared, I'm the lead guitarist. 00:08:58.240 --> 00:09:00.539 Called it first, like calling shotgun. Exactly. 00:09:00.899 --> 00:09:04.269 He called shotgun on the guitar. So Slash, being 00:09:04.269 --> 00:09:06.590 the agreeable friend, and he's generally a very 00:09:06.590 --> 00:09:09.169 chill guy, said, OK, well, I guess I'll play 00:09:09.169 --> 00:09:12.169 bass. So we almost had Slash the bass player. 00:09:12.269 --> 00:09:14.950 That's a wild thought. We were very close. He 00:09:14.950 --> 00:09:17.309 goes to a local music school, the Fairfax Music 00:09:17.309 --> 00:09:19.830 School, to take a bass lesson. But the teacher, 00:09:19.990 --> 00:09:22.750 a guy named Robert Wolin, starts playing guitar 00:09:22.750 --> 00:09:25.850 to demonstrate something. He plays Brown Sugar 00:09:25.850 --> 00:09:28.809 by the Rolling Stones and some cream riffs. And 00:09:28.809 --> 00:09:31.029 Slash is watching this probably thinking, wait, 00:09:31.149 --> 00:09:33.350 the bass doesn't do that. He's thinking, that 00:09:33.350 --> 00:09:37.230 is the voice I hear in my head. He realized immediately 00:09:37.230 --> 00:09:40.870 that the lead guitar was what he wanted. He quit 00:09:40.870 --> 00:09:43.350 bass lessons before he even really started, switched 00:09:43.350 --> 00:09:45.669 to guitar, and that was the end of his social 00:09:45.669 --> 00:09:48.049 life. And this brings us back to that workaholic 00:09:48.049 --> 00:09:50.450 theme we touched on earlier. It does. Because 00:09:50.450 --> 00:09:53.750 the image is that he just partied. But you don't 00:09:53.750 --> 00:09:56.269 get that good by partying. No, you get that good 00:09:56.269 --> 00:09:59.059 by obsession. We're talking about 12 hours a 00:09:59.059 --> 00:10:02.559 day. 12 hours? Every day. He dropped out of the 00:10:02.559 --> 00:10:05.399 social scene. He stopped racing BMX bikes, which 00:10:05.399 --> 00:10:07.019 he was actually a champion at. I didn't know 00:10:07.019 --> 00:10:09.179 that. Yeah. He would sit in his room, play until 00:10:09.179 --> 00:10:11.580 his fingers bled, tape them up, and play more. 00:10:11.759 --> 00:10:14.039 He was trying to figure out Jeff Beck's solos 00:10:14.039 --> 00:10:17.440 note for note. He treated practice like a full 00:10:17.440 --> 00:10:19.879 -time job before he ever made a dime. It's the 00:10:19.879 --> 00:10:22.580 10 ,000 hours rule, crammed into about three 00:10:22.580 --> 00:10:25.269 years. Pretty much. And that work ethic is what 00:10:25.269 --> 00:10:27.549 he brought to the table when Guns N' Roses finally 00:10:27.549 --> 00:10:30.429 formed in 1985. This is mythological territory 00:10:30.429 --> 00:10:32.889 now, the most dangerous band in the world. They 00:10:32.889 --> 00:10:35.970 earned that title. And the chemistry was instant. 00:10:36.029 --> 00:10:38.009 You had the merging of L .A. Guns and Hollywood 00:10:38.009 --> 00:10:41.789 Rose. Right. In May 1985, the classic lineup 00:10:41.789 --> 00:10:46.309 solidified. Axl Rose, Slash, Duff McKagan, Izzy 00:10:46.309 --> 00:10:48.830 Stradlin, and Steven Adler. Now we have to talk 00:10:48.830 --> 00:10:50.710 about the look, because this is where the silhouette 00:10:50.710 --> 00:10:53.690 comes from, the top hat. I assumed for years 00:10:53.690 --> 00:10:56.490 that this was a stylist's decision. Or maybe 00:10:56.490 --> 00:10:59.250 he saw it in a movie. It was pure accident. And 00:10:59.250 --> 00:11:03.190 a crime. A crime. It was 1985. They were playing 00:11:03.190 --> 00:11:05.649 the Whiskey A Go -Go or one of those clubs. And 00:11:05.649 --> 00:11:07.169 Slash didn't feel like he had a look. He was 00:11:07.169 --> 00:11:09.789 just a guy in jeans. He walked into a store called 00:11:09.789 --> 00:11:12.970 Retail Slut on Melrose Avenue. Retail Slut. Very 00:11:12.970 --> 00:11:15.590 80s. Very 80s. He saw a top hat in the window. 00:11:15.710 --> 00:11:19.159 He liked it. But he was broke. So he just took 00:11:19.159 --> 00:11:21.559 it. He shoplifted the most famous hat in history. 00:11:21.679 --> 00:11:23.440 He put it on his head and walked out. Then he 00:11:23.440 --> 00:11:25.559 went to the store next door, a place called Leathers 00:11:25.559 --> 00:11:28.539 and Treasures, and shoplifted a Native American 00:11:28.539 --> 00:11:31.379 -style concho belt. Doubling down. He got back 00:11:31.379 --> 00:11:33.259 to the apartment, realized the hat was a little 00:11:33.259 --> 00:11:35.840 plain, cut the belt up, wrapped it around the 00:11:35.840 --> 00:11:39.460 hat, and boom! The icon was born. That sums up 00:11:39.460 --> 00:11:41.539 the band perfectly, doesn't it? Spontaneous, 00:11:41.539 --> 00:11:44.340 illegal, but undeniably stylish. It's cobbling 00:11:44.340 --> 00:11:46.419 together brilliance from whatever was lying around. 00:11:46.700 --> 00:11:48.899 And that is exactly what they did with Appetite 00:11:48.899 --> 00:11:51.620 for Destruction in 1987. Let's talk about that 00:11:51.620 --> 00:11:55.019 album, because the stats are staggering. 18 million 00:11:55.019 --> 00:11:57.539 copies in the U .S. alone, best -selling debut 00:11:57.539 --> 00:11:59.860 of all time. It's insane. But I want to know 00:11:59.860 --> 00:12:03.139 why. Why did that album hit so hard in 1987? 00:12:03.899 --> 00:12:06.820 Context is everything. In 1987, turn on the radio. 00:12:07.019 --> 00:12:09.840 What do you hear? You hear Poison. You hear Motley 00:12:09.840 --> 00:12:12.639 Crue. You hear what we call hair metal. Spandex, 00:12:12.659 --> 00:12:15.480 Aquanet, songs about partying. And sonically, 00:12:15.580 --> 00:12:18.059 it was very processed. The guitars were thin 00:12:18.059 --> 00:12:21.320 and buzzy. The drums were gated reverb. It was 00:12:21.320 --> 00:12:23.860 cop music disguised as metal. Right. Then appetite 00:12:23.860 --> 00:12:26.559 drops. And it sounds dirty. It sounds dangerous. 00:12:26.879 --> 00:12:29.360 It sounds like a street fight. Slash's guitar 00:12:29.360 --> 00:12:31.279 playing wasn't trying to be Eddie Van Halen. 00:12:31.360 --> 00:12:33.980 He wasn't tapping. He wasn't using a whammy bar. 00:12:34.220 --> 00:12:37.909 He was playing. blues licks but playing them 00:12:37.909 --> 00:12:40.850 with this ferocious aggression he was channeling 00:12:40.850 --> 00:12:44.070 joe perry and jimmy page there is a raw quality 00:12:44.070 --> 00:12:46.450 to it and i saw that total guitar ranked the 00:12:46.450 --> 00:12:48.970 sweet child of mine riff as the number one greatest 00:12:48.970 --> 00:12:52.490 riff of all time which is hilarious because slash 00:12:52.490 --> 00:12:56.990 hated that song really Why? He despised it. He 00:12:56.990 --> 00:12:59.230 was sitting in a jam session, just goofing around. 00:12:59.389 --> 00:13:01.649 He started playing that circus melody, doodly 00:13:01.649 --> 00:13:03.830 -de -doodly -doo, as a string -skipping exercise. 00:13:04.190 --> 00:13:05.929 Still just warming up. He was basically practicing 00:13:05.929 --> 00:13:08.610 scales. He thought it was a joke. Axl heard it 00:13:08.610 --> 00:13:10.710 from the other room and said, that's it. That's 00:13:10.710 --> 00:13:13.649 the song. Wow. Slash tried to sabotage it by 00:13:13.649 --> 00:13:15.669 putting that heavy, slow breakdown in the middle, 00:13:15.730 --> 00:13:17.789 but it just made the song better. It's always 00:13:17.789 --> 00:13:19.590 the stuff you throw away that ends up being the 00:13:19.590 --> 00:13:22.720 gold. Always. But OK, Appetite is huge. They 00:13:22.720 --> 00:13:24.580 had the biggest band on Earth. Use Your Illusion 00:13:24.580 --> 00:13:27.440 comes out in 1991, two albums debuting at number 00:13:27.440 --> 00:13:30.419 one and two. But the wheels are coming off. The 00:13:30.419 --> 00:13:32.360 wheels were barely attached to begin with. It 00:13:32.360 --> 00:13:35.139 was the classic too much too soon. And we have 00:13:35.139 --> 00:13:36.899 to be honest about the substance abuse. It was 00:13:36.899 --> 00:13:40.120 rampant. You have the song Mr. Brownstone, which 00:13:40.120 --> 00:13:42.659 is literally an ode to heroin addiction. Right. 00:13:42.840 --> 00:13:46.600 In 1989, opening for the Rolling Stones, Axl 00:13:46.600 --> 00:13:49.720 famously threatened to quit on stage if certain 00:13:49.720 --> 00:13:51.960 members didn't stop dancing with Mr. Brownstone. 00:13:52.100 --> 00:13:54.220 Calling out your own bandmates in front of 80 00:13:54.220 --> 00:13:56.580 ,000 people, that is a hostile work environment. 00:13:56.899 --> 00:13:59.759 It was toxic. Steven Adler was fired in 1990 00:13:59.759 --> 00:14:01.919 because he physically couldn't play anymore due 00:14:01.919 --> 00:14:04.639 to addiction. Wow. Izzy Stradlin, who was really 00:14:04.639 --> 00:14:07.399 the calm center of the band, left because... 00:14:07.440 --> 00:14:09.120 he got sober and couldn't be around the chaos. 00:14:10.059 --> 00:14:13.840 Slash hung on until 1996. Why did he finally 00:14:13.840 --> 00:14:16.480 leave? I feel like the standard PR answer is 00:14:16.480 --> 00:14:18.700 always creative differences, but digging into 00:14:18.700 --> 00:14:20.399 the biography, it seemed much more personal. 00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:22.740 It was. It was about respect and control. Yeah. 00:14:23.019 --> 00:14:25.980 In his autobiography, Slash paints a picture 00:14:25.980 --> 00:14:28.480 of Axl Rose trying to turn the band into a dictatorship. 00:14:29.120 --> 00:14:32.179 How so? Axl wanted ownership of the name. He 00:14:32.179 --> 00:14:34.759 wanted to downgrade Slash and Duff to hired hands. 00:14:35.019 --> 00:14:38.009 The employee status. Exactly. And on top of that, 00:14:38.149 --> 00:14:41.750 Axl was notoriously late. We're not talking 10 00:14:41.750 --> 00:14:43.730 minutes. We're talking going on stage two, three 00:14:43.730 --> 00:14:45.610 hours late. That's unprofessional. Riots were 00:14:45.610 --> 00:14:48.389 breaking out. Slash is a professional. Remember 00:14:48.389 --> 00:14:52.129 the discipline. He wanted to play. Sitting backstage 00:14:52.129 --> 00:14:54.470 for three hours wondering if the singer is going 00:14:54.470 --> 00:14:57.789 to show up. It broke him. He essentially said, 00:14:57.909 --> 00:15:00.490 I'm done. That opens up the wilderness years. 00:15:01.070 --> 00:15:03.129 Although calling it a wilderness is misleading 00:15:03.129 --> 00:15:06.450 because he never stopped working. He is constitutionally 00:15:06.450 --> 00:15:09.909 incapable of stopping. Right. He formed Slash's 00:15:09.909 --> 00:15:12.629 Snake Pit immediately. Actually, Snake Pit started 00:15:12.629 --> 00:15:15.529 before he left GNR. He had written a bunch of 00:15:15.529 --> 00:15:18.590 riffs for the next Guns album. Axl rejected them, 00:15:18.629 --> 00:15:20.690 so Slash said, fine, I'll record them myself. 00:15:20.889 --> 00:15:23.490 That became, it's 5 o 'clock somewhere? Which 00:15:23.490 --> 00:15:26.179 is a solid rock record. It defied the grunge 00:15:26.179 --> 00:15:29.039 trends of the mid -90s. It did. It's very bluesy. 00:15:29.059 --> 00:15:31.320 But the real second act came with Velvet Revolver. 00:15:31.419 --> 00:15:33.799 This was the supergroup concept. You take the 00:15:33.799 --> 00:15:37.840 core of GNR slash Duff, Matt Sorum, and you add 00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:41.360 a new singer. But supergroups usually fail. They're 00:15:41.360 --> 00:15:44.399 usually ego fests that implode after one album. 00:15:44.659 --> 00:15:46.960 And this one almost didn't happen. The search 00:15:46.960 --> 00:15:49.659 for a singer was excruciating. They documented 00:15:49.659 --> 00:15:52.340 it on VH1. They listened to hundreds of tapes. 00:15:52.500 --> 00:15:55.000 It was monotonous. I can imagine. But they needed 00:15:55.000 --> 00:15:57.759 someone who had the charisma to stand next to 00:15:57.759 --> 00:16:01.340 Slash. Which is a tall order. It is. Eventually 00:16:01.340 --> 00:16:03.460 they landed on Scott Weiland from Stone Temple 00:16:03.460 --> 00:16:06.340 Pilots. Talk about doubling down on chaos. You 00:16:06.340 --> 00:16:08.259 take the guys from the most dangerous band in 00:16:08.259 --> 00:16:10.240 the world and add the singer from one of the 00:16:10.240 --> 00:16:12.279 most troubled bands in grunge. It was a powder 00:16:12.279 --> 00:16:15.340 keg. Yeah. But the explosion was beautiful. Their 00:16:15.340 --> 00:16:17.840 debut album, Contraband, went straight to number 00:16:17.840 --> 00:16:21.519 one in 2004. They won a Grammy for Slither. I 00:16:21.519 --> 00:16:23.500 want to pause on Slither for a second. Because 00:16:23.500 --> 00:16:26.940 that riff, it doesn't sound like Guns N' Roses. 00:16:26.980 --> 00:16:29.399 It sounds darker. It's tuned down to drop D. 00:16:29.700 --> 00:16:32.720 It's sludgy. It showed that Slash wasn't just 00:16:32.720 --> 00:16:35.519 a nostalgia act. He wasn't just rewriting Welcome 00:16:35.519 --> 00:16:37.899 to the Jungle. He could write modern, heavy, 00:16:37.980 --> 00:16:40.860 alternative rock. It proved his relevance to 00:16:40.860 --> 00:16:43.139 a whole new generation. But as with all things 00:16:43.139 --> 00:16:45.860 involving volatile personalities, it didn't last. 00:16:46.200 --> 00:16:50.100 No. Weiland had his own demons. By 2008, after 00:16:50.100 --> 00:16:53.179 some very awkward onstage meltdowns where Weiland 00:16:53.179 --> 00:16:54.799 would announce the tour was over to the crowd 00:16:54.799 --> 00:16:56.940 while the band was still playing, they split. 00:16:57.179 --> 00:17:01.019 Oof. Slash cited chemical issues. So he's bandless 00:17:01.019 --> 00:17:04.039 again. And this leads to what I think is the 00:17:04.039 --> 00:17:06.519 most interesting phase of his career, the solo 00:17:06.519 --> 00:17:09.390 renaissance. I agree. Because around 2010, he 00:17:09.390 --> 00:17:12.269 seems to change his strategy entirely. He stopped 00:17:12.269 --> 00:17:15.069 trying to replace Axl or Scott. He stopped looking 00:17:15.069 --> 00:17:17.569 for a front man to fight with. He released his 00:17:17.569 --> 00:17:20.130 self -titled solo album in 2010, and it was billed 00:17:20.130 --> 00:17:22.769 as Slash and Friends. That album is a who's who. 00:17:22.970 --> 00:17:26.230 You have Ozzy Osbourne, Fergie, Adam Levine, 00:17:26.230 --> 00:17:28.809 Lemmy, Dave Grohl. It was cathartic. He just 00:17:28.809 --> 00:17:30.569 called up everyone he respected and said, let's 00:17:30.569 --> 00:17:32.890 make a song. But the most important phone call 00:17:32.890 --> 00:17:35.029 was to a guy named Miles Kennedy. From the band 00:17:35.029 --> 00:17:37.890 Alter Bridge? Right. Miles sang two tracks on 00:17:37.890 --> 00:17:40.470 that record. Yeah. And something clicked. Miles 00:17:40.470 --> 00:17:44.829 Kennedy is, how do I put this? He is the anti 00:17:44.829 --> 00:17:48.230 -axle. In what way? He is a choir boy in a rock 00:17:48.230 --> 00:17:51.089 star's body. He has a four octave range. He can 00:17:51.089 --> 00:17:54.109 sing anything, but he is humble. He is professional 00:17:54.109 --> 00:17:57.849 and he is sober. So no drama. No drama. Yeah. 00:17:57.910 --> 00:18:01.049 No arrests. Just incredible execution. And that 00:18:01.049 --> 00:18:04.210 evolved into Slash featuring Miles Kennedy and 00:18:04.210 --> 00:18:07.670 the Conspirators or SMKC. Terrible acronym. Great 00:18:07.670 --> 00:18:10.670 band. And unlike Snake Pit or Velvet Revolver, 00:18:10.769 --> 00:18:13.269 this lineup has stuck. That's a key point. They've 00:18:13.269 --> 00:18:15.890 released four albums together. Apocalyptic Love, 00:18:16.089 --> 00:18:19.500 World on Fire, Live in the Dream. and four and 00:18:19.500 --> 00:18:21.440 four was a big deal for another reason right 00:18:21.440 --> 00:18:23.980 it was the first release on gibson's own record 00:18:23.980 --> 00:18:27.900 label yes in 2022 gibson the guitar company launched 00:18:27.900 --> 00:18:30.180 a record label and naturally their first signing 00:18:30.180 --> 00:18:32.799 was slash of course it solidified his status 00:18:32.799 --> 00:18:35.480 not just as an artist but as the global ambassador 00:18:35.480 --> 00:18:37.960 for the electric guitar okay i have to push back 00:18:37.960 --> 00:18:40.299 on this workaholic label you used earlier you 00:18:40.299 --> 00:18:42.380 called him the employee of the month of rock 00:18:42.380 --> 00:18:44.799 i did But we're talking about a guy who famously 00:18:44.799 --> 00:18:46.920 died for eight minutes from an overdose in the 00:18:46.920 --> 00:18:49.039 90s. You can't tell me he was a disciplined worker 00:18:49.039 --> 00:18:51.380 when he was nodding out in hotel rooms. That 00:18:51.380 --> 00:18:53.640 is a fair challenge. And I'm not saying he wasn't 00:18:53.640 --> 00:18:55.579 chaotic in his personal life during the addiction 00:18:55.579 --> 00:18:59.200 years. But look at the output. Even during the 00:18:59.200 --> 00:19:02.559 peak snake pit days or the end of GNR, who was 00:19:02.559 --> 00:19:04.759 the one showing up to rehearsals. I assumed none 00:19:04.759 --> 00:19:08.809 of them were. Axta certainly wasn't. But Slash 00:19:08.809 --> 00:19:11.109 notes that he would get high, yes, but then he 00:19:11.109 --> 00:19:13.410 would sit in his room and play. The guitar was 00:19:13.410 --> 00:19:16.009 the constant. And fast forward to the modern 00:19:16.009 --> 00:19:20.329 era, post -2010. Look at his schedule. It is 00:19:20.329 --> 00:19:22.829 actually insane. I'm looking at the tour dates 00:19:22.829 --> 00:19:25.150 here. He tours with Miles Kennedy for 18 months. 00:19:25.289 --> 00:19:27.730 The day that tour ends, he flies to meet Guns 00:19:27.730 --> 00:19:30.829 N' Roses. He hates silence. He has this restless 00:19:30.829 --> 00:19:33.009 energy. He just channels it into the fretboard 00:19:33.009 --> 00:19:35.430 now instead of substances. He punches the flock. 00:19:35.549 --> 00:19:37.890 He is a blue collar worker in a cop hat. Which 00:19:37.890 --> 00:19:40.769 brings us to the impossible moment. The not in 00:19:40.769 --> 00:19:44.130 this lifetime tour. 2016. Yeah. For two decades, 00:19:44.470 --> 00:19:48.109 Axl and Slash didn't speak. Right. Axl had famously 00:19:48.109 --> 00:19:50.509 said a reunion would happen not in this lifetime. 00:19:50.710 --> 00:19:52.609 Hence the tour name. But they patched it up. 00:19:52.710 --> 00:19:55.650 After all that bad blood. Slash says it was mostly 00:19:55.650 --> 00:19:58.500 third party stuff that kept them apart. Managers, 00:19:58.519 --> 00:20:02.579 agents, lawyers whispering in ears. Ah, the middlemen. 00:20:02.779 --> 00:20:05.380 Once they actually got in a room, face to face, 00:20:05.440 --> 00:20:08.380 the animosity faded. And, well, we have to talk 00:20:08.380 --> 00:20:10.500 about the economics. The GDP of a small country. 00:20:10.640 --> 00:20:16.079 The tour grossed $584 million. Wow. That is half 00:20:16.079 --> 00:20:18.779 a billion dollars. It was the third highest grossing 00:20:18.779 --> 00:20:21.259 tour of all time at that point. Noni is a great 00:20:21.259 --> 00:20:24.039 healer. It is a fantastic lubricant for friendship. 00:20:24.700 --> 00:20:27.099 But to their credit, the reviews were stellar. 00:20:27.200 --> 00:20:29.579 They sounded tight. Yeah, they did. And that 00:20:29.579 --> 00:20:31.680 brings us right up to the present. We're in early 00:20:31.680 --> 00:20:34.930 2026 now. GNR has been releasing new tracks, 00:20:35.049 --> 00:20:38.210 perhaps The General? Absurd. And even just a 00:20:38.210 --> 00:20:41.109 couple of months ago, in late 2025, Slash was 00:20:41.109 --> 00:20:43.450 doing another supergroup thing, The Dirty Bats. 00:20:43.630 --> 00:20:47.890 Yes, December 2025. Slash, Duff McKagan, producer 00:20:47.890 --> 00:20:50.150 Andrew Watt, and Chad Smith from Chili Peppers. 00:20:50.170 --> 00:20:51.970 They did a one -off show with Bruno Mars and 00:20:51.970 --> 00:20:54.529 Eddie Vedder. Wild lineup. Just shows that Slash 00:20:54.529 --> 00:20:56.450 is the ultimate connector. He can play with anyone. 00:20:56.789 --> 00:20:59.130 I want to shift gears now, pun intended, to the 00:20:59.130 --> 00:21:01.579 equipment. Let's do it. Because for the nerds 00:21:01.579 --> 00:21:04.599 listening, this is the Holy Grail. But I want 00:21:04.599 --> 00:21:06.960 to warn you. Let's not just list model numbers. 00:21:07.039 --> 00:21:09.619 I want to understand how the gear makes the sound. 00:21:09.799 --> 00:21:11.480 Deal. That's the important part. Let's start 00:21:11.480 --> 00:21:14.259 with the guitar. Slash is the face of Gibson. 00:21:15.099 --> 00:21:17.819 But there is a twist to this story that I absolutely 00:21:17.819 --> 00:21:22.470 love. The guitar that recorded Appetite. It wasn't 00:21:22.470 --> 00:21:26.609 a Gibson. This is the great irony. In 1986, Slash 00:21:26.609 --> 00:21:28.470 was frustrated. He couldn't get the sound he 00:21:28.470 --> 00:21:30.670 wanted. He had sold his guitars to buy drugs. 00:21:30.750 --> 00:21:32.549 Right. He was playing whatever he could find. 00:21:32.829 --> 00:21:35.930 The band's manager, Alan Niven, saw that they 00:21:35.930 --> 00:21:38.710 were about to record this massive album, and 00:21:38.710 --> 00:21:40.789 Slash didn't have a good instrument. Okay. So 00:21:40.789 --> 00:21:43.269 Niven went to a luthier guitar builder named 00:21:43.269 --> 00:21:46.250 Chris Derrig. Chris Derrick wasn't a Gibson employee. 00:21:46.529 --> 00:21:49.130 No, he was a guy building high -end replicas 00:21:49.130 --> 00:21:51.750 in the back of a music store. He built a copy 00:21:51.750 --> 00:21:55.490 of a 1959 Les Paul Standard. Oh. Slash picked 00:21:55.490 --> 00:21:57.950 it up and it just sang. He used that copy to 00:21:57.950 --> 00:22:00.029 record Appetite. So the sound that saved Gibson, 00:22:00.210 --> 00:22:02.450 because let's be honest, Slash made Les Pauls 00:22:02.450 --> 00:22:04.869 cool again, was created on a fake. A forgery. 00:22:05.849 --> 00:22:09.109 A really, really good forgery. But here's the 00:22:09.109 --> 00:22:11.890 technical secret. Lay it on me. Why did it sound 00:22:11.890 --> 00:22:15.049 so good? It comes down to the pickups. Explain 00:22:15.049 --> 00:22:18.289 that to me like I'm five. Okay. Pickups are the 00:22:18.289 --> 00:22:20.569 magnets on the guitar that catch the vibration 00:22:20.569 --> 00:22:22.190 of the strings and turn it into electricity. 00:22:22.529 --> 00:22:25.410 Got it. In the 80s, everyone was using ceramic 00:22:25.410 --> 00:22:29.109 pickups. They are high output, very harsh, very 00:22:29.109 --> 00:22:32.329 loud. They scream. Perfect for hair metal. Exactly. 00:22:32.910 --> 00:22:35.430 The Dare guitar had Seymour Duncan Elnico II 00:22:35.430 --> 00:22:38.069 pickups. These use a different type of magnet. 00:22:38.329 --> 00:22:41.029 They are weaker. Weaker is better. In this case, 00:22:41.069 --> 00:22:43.740 yes. They are vintage style, they are softer, 00:22:43.880 --> 00:22:46.480 warmer, and they let the wood of the guitar resonate 00:22:46.480 --> 00:22:48.660 more. So while everyone else was trying to be 00:22:48.660 --> 00:22:51.640 louder and harcher, Slash went softer and warmer. 00:22:51.819 --> 00:22:54.119 Precisely. It sounds like a human voice. It sounds 00:22:54.119 --> 00:22:56.480 like a violin that's angry. An angry violin. 00:22:56.559 --> 00:22:58.339 That is the perfect description of his tone. 00:22:58.539 --> 00:23:00.859 It really is. Now you plug that guitar into an 00:23:00.859 --> 00:23:03.180 amp, and this story is even better. This is the 00:23:03.180 --> 00:23:06.259 SIR heist. Oh, this is legendary. So Slash rents 00:23:06.259 --> 00:23:08.460 a Marshall amp from a rental company called SIR 00:23:08.460 --> 00:23:11.130 for the recording sessions. Okay. But this wasn't 00:23:11.130 --> 00:23:14.509 a stock amp. It was SIR stock, hashtag 39. What 00:23:14.509 --> 00:23:17.269 made hashtag 39 special? It had been modified 00:23:17.269 --> 00:23:20.849 by a tech named Tim Caswell. Imagine a car engine. 00:23:21.369 --> 00:23:26.049 Most amps have one turbocharger. Caswell took 00:23:26.049 --> 00:23:28.210 the output of the first turbo and fed it into 00:23:28.210 --> 00:23:31.170 a second turbo before it hit the engine. It created 00:23:31.170 --> 00:23:33.890 this incredible saturated distortion that was 00:23:33.890 --> 00:23:36.829 still smooth. It had extra gain stages. Exactly. 00:23:37.069 --> 00:23:40.019 Slash plugged in. hit an A chord, and the sound 00:23:40.019 --> 00:23:42.559 of God came out. He loved it so much that he 00:23:42.559 --> 00:23:45.420 decided, I am never returning this. He stole 00:23:45.420 --> 00:23:47.480 the rental amp? He told the rental company it 00:23:47.480 --> 00:23:49.720 had been stolen. He kept it. He hid it. You're 00:23:49.720 --> 00:23:53.359 kidding me. But karma is real. A few months later, 00:23:53.460 --> 00:23:56.819 during rehearsals for a tour, a roadie, who didn't 00:23:56.819 --> 00:23:59.440 know the backstory, accidentally took that specific 00:23:59.440 --> 00:24:03.000 amp back to SIR for repair. Oh no! The guys at 00:24:03.000 --> 00:24:05.140 the store recognized it immediately. Hey, this 00:24:05.140 --> 00:24:08.059 is a hashtag 39. They took it back. So he lost 00:24:08.059 --> 00:24:10.319 it. He lost the magic amp. He spent the next 00:24:10.319 --> 00:24:13.119 10 years trying to recreate that sound, but he 00:24:13.119 --> 00:24:15.200 could never quite get it back. That is tragic 00:24:15.200 --> 00:24:17.220 and hilarious. It's the one that got away. Now, 00:24:17.359 --> 00:24:19.319 we have talked about the music and the gear, 00:24:19.480 --> 00:24:21.839 but we have to talk about the man's survival. 00:24:22.539 --> 00:24:24.559 Because frankly, looking at the medical charts, 00:24:24.700 --> 00:24:27.079 he shouldn't be here. No, statistically, he is 00:24:27.079 --> 00:24:30.259 an anomaly. The drug and alcohol abuse was extreme. 00:24:30.700 --> 00:24:32.539 We were talking about half a gallon of vodka 00:24:32.539 --> 00:24:37.519 a day plus heroin. Good Lord. In 2001, at age 00:24:37.519 --> 00:24:42.059 35, he collapsed. What was the diagnosis? Cardiomyopathy. 00:24:42.380 --> 00:24:45.960 Basically, congestive heart failure. His heart 00:24:45.960 --> 00:24:48.720 was so swollen and weak from the abuse that it 00:24:48.720 --> 00:24:50.579 couldn't pump blood effectively. That is an old 00:24:50.579 --> 00:24:53.180 man's disease. It is. The doctors gave him six 00:24:53.180 --> 00:24:55.400 days to six weeks to live. Six days. He had a 00:24:55.400 --> 00:24:57.519 defibrillator implanted in his chest, which he 00:24:57.519 --> 00:25:00.160 still has. He went through intense physical therapy, 00:25:00.299 --> 00:25:03.509 and remarkably, he survived. He got clean and 00:25:03.509 --> 00:25:06.650 sober in 2006. He credits his ex -wife Perla 00:25:06.650 --> 00:25:09.130 for helping him through that, but it was a massive 00:25:09.130 --> 00:25:10.750 wake -up call. It's interesting because when 00:25:10.750 --> 00:25:12.970 you see him now, he looks healthy, he's fit, 00:25:13.109 --> 00:25:14.789 he's running around stadiums for three hours 00:25:14.789 --> 00:25:16.829 a night. He replaced the chemical obsession with 00:25:16.829 --> 00:25:20.009 other obsessions. He became a dinosaur and reptile 00:25:20.009 --> 00:25:23.230 nerd. He was a board trustee of the L .A. Zoo. 00:25:23.430 --> 00:25:25.789 He had a massive collection of snakes in his 00:25:25.789 --> 00:25:30.549 house. Pythons, boas. But, and this shows his 00:25:30.549 --> 00:25:33.569 growth. When his first son was born in 2002, 00:25:33.809 --> 00:25:36.490 he gave them all away. Why? He realized it wasn't 00:25:36.490 --> 00:25:38.750 safe to have giant constrictors around a baby. 00:25:38.990 --> 00:25:41.950 That's a responsible parent move. He prioritized 00:25:41.950 --> 00:25:45.329 fatherhood over his hobby. That is a mature decision 00:25:45.329 --> 00:25:48.410 that the 1987 Slash would not have made. For 00:25:48.410 --> 00:25:51.250 sure. And his other ventures are just pure geek 00:25:51.250 --> 00:25:53.430 culture. I was reading about his production company. 00:25:53.589 --> 00:25:56.109 Slasher films? He loves horror movies, so he 00:25:56.109 --> 00:25:58.190 started producing them. Right. He's obsessed 00:25:58.190 --> 00:26:00.700 with pinball. So he designs machines for Jersey 00:26:00.700 --> 00:26:03.359 Jack and Data East. He even wrote a theme song 00:26:03.359 --> 00:26:05.960 for Angry Birds. He has an Angry Birds avatar. 00:26:06.220 --> 00:26:08.440 He does. It's a bird with a top hat and a guitar. 00:26:08.640 --> 00:26:10.700 That is delightful. It really paints a picture 00:26:10.700 --> 00:26:13.720 of someone who just loves what he loves unapologetically, 00:26:13.819 --> 00:26:16.900 whether it's blues riffs, horror movies, or mobile 00:26:16.900 --> 00:26:19.079 games. And that's the key to his longevity. He 00:26:19.079 --> 00:26:21.380 isn't posing. He really is just a guy who loves 00:26:21.380 --> 00:26:25.039 to play. So as we wrap up this deep dive. Where 00:26:25.039 --> 00:26:27.599 does Slash stand in the Pantheon? We know the 00:26:27.599 --> 00:26:30.220 Stats Hall of Fame, millions of albums, but what 00:26:30.220 --> 00:26:33.779 is the legacy? I think his legacy is that he's 00:26:33.779 --> 00:26:36.180 the ultimate survivor and the ultimate bridge. 00:26:36.650 --> 00:26:38.789 A bridge between what? He bridged the gap between 00:26:38.789 --> 00:26:40.990 the British blues of the 60s and the American 00:26:40.990 --> 00:26:43.890 aggression of the 80s. He bridged black and white 00:26:43.890 --> 00:26:46.490 culture in his own DNA. He bridged the underground 00:26:46.490 --> 00:26:49.529 club scene and the massive stadium rock world. 00:26:49.630 --> 00:26:52.150 And he bridged the gap between technical virtuoso 00:26:52.150 --> 00:26:55.250 and soulful player. That's the most important 00:26:55.250 --> 00:26:57.130 one. Think about the guitar heroes of the 80s. 00:26:57.470 --> 00:27:01.190 Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Vai, incredible players. 00:27:01.269 --> 00:27:03.990 But can you hum their solos? Not really. It's 00:27:03.990 --> 00:27:06.680 a lot of notes. Exactly. But you can hum every 00:27:06.680 --> 00:27:09.359 note of the November Rain solo. Guitar World 00:27:09.359 --> 00:27:11.200 ranked it the number six greatest solo ever. 00:27:11.859 --> 00:27:14.259 Listen to how he holds the notes. It's not about 00:27:14.259 --> 00:27:16.359 how fast he can play. It's about the emotion 00:27:16.359 --> 00:27:18.359 he wrings out of that Les Paul. He makes the 00:27:18.359 --> 00:27:20.700 guitar sing. He does. And the fact that he's 00:27:20.700 --> 00:27:23.559 doing it in 2026, selling out stadiums, clean, 00:27:23.619 --> 00:27:26.480 sober, and still wearing that top hat, that is 00:27:26.480 --> 00:27:29.400 a victory. It absolutely is. So here is our challenge 00:27:29.400 --> 00:27:32.839 to you, the listener. Don't just listen to Sweet 00:27:32.839 --> 00:27:34.960 Child O' Mine for the millionth time. Please 00:27:34.960 --> 00:27:37.480 don't. Go find the isolated guitar track for 00:27:37.480 --> 00:27:40.079 November Rain, put on headphones, close your 00:27:40.079 --> 00:27:43.019 eyes, and really listen to the nuance behind 00:27:43.019 --> 00:27:45.420 the distortion. You might just hear the soul 00:27:45.420 --> 00:27:47.859 of the man under the hat. It's worth the time. 00:27:48.039 --> 00:27:50.059 Thanks for diving deep with us. We will catch 00:27:50.059 --> 00:27:51.440 you on the next one. Keep listening.