Slash has admitted that the massive success of Guns N’ Roses was something he was completely unprepared for, and that fame eventually pushed him toward isolation, drugs and heavy drinking….
Slash has admitted that the massive success of Guns N’ Roses was something he was completely unprepared for, and that fame eventually pushed him toward isolation, dr gs and heavy drinking.
Speaking to Kerrang!, the guitarist looked back on the period following Appetite for Destruction, when Guns N’ Roses went from playing clubs to becoming one of the biggest bands in the world.
“I didn’t know how to deal with fame,” Slash recalled. “I didn’t know what to do with it. I ended up isolating myself, getting h* gh and drinking myself to d ath.”
Slash described the years from 1987 into the early ’90s as a period when drinking, partying and excess became part of everyday life.
One particularly difficult episode led to an unexpected conversation with David Bowie.
Slash was experiencing serious dr*g-induced hallucinations and told Bowie what was happening. According to Slash, Bowie suggested that he had put himself in such a vulnerable mental state that he had become open to things people would not normally perceive.
Slash remembers thinking the explanation was “really heavy,” but says it helped him recognize just how bad his condition had become. He also admitted that becoming famous was never the goal.
“I didn’t have any aspirations to be famous,” he said, explaining that even simple things changed once Guns N’ Roses became successful. He could no longer casually sit at the Rainbow Bar & Grill in Los Angeles without attracting attention.
“Only Lemmy could do that.”
Slash even remembers meeting Lemmy there before Guns N’ Roses became famous. He returned from the bathroom to discover the Motörhead frontman sitting beside his girlfriend and apparently trying to pick her up. Slash was so impressed by meeting Lemmy that he initially ignored what was happening. The success of Appetite for Destruction caught the entire band off guard.
Slash remembers Guns N’ Roses as a tight group with enormous confidence in their music, but says he had no major expectations for their debut album.
Then “Sweet Child O’ Mine” became a hit and everything changed.
Looking back, Slash says he was proud simply to have made the record. Nobody in the band expected what came next.
