Slash Recalls Early Rock Stars Being ‘Unexpectedly’ Intelligent

The youth of the 1970s left a memorable mark in history, and being a part of that community must have been an unforgettable experience. Slash spent his formative years within those creative communities, and we can see the traces of this throughout his music. In a recent interview with Yahoo! Entertainment, Slash remembered those days with longing, stating how intelligent and creative the artists of the time were.

The ’70s communities were often praised for their sharp minds. Many of them were well-educated and politically aware, and they were not afraid to challenge the status quo and question authority. The decade saw the emergence of various youth subcultures, including the hippie and counterculture movements, which rejected mainstream values and embraced non-traditional lifestyles and beliefs. The Civil Rights Movement, Women’s Liberation, and the anti-war protests also shaped the cultural climate of the time.

Slash was an aspiring youngster growing up within this community and social atmosphere. He would become one of the popular figures of the ’80s that brought back the energy and power of this earlier era. Their music, wrapped by the spirit of the ’70s, would speak to a new generation of fans seeking an escape from the mundane and a connection to a more exciting and rebellious world. During his conversation, the rocker described how it was to be part of such a community in the 1970s and remembered how intelligent his generation was.

Slash’s words were filled with a sense of nostalgia:

“There were a lot of people around — we were living in Laurel Canyon, and it was 1971 or whatever, so they worked with Joni Mitchell and a lot of David Geffen artists, or like David Crosby, who just passed away. All those people were all in the Canyon, and it was a very communal environment. I have great memories of just being around… everybody hanging out, smoking a lot of weed, and being really, really creative and everybody being, for the want of a better word, supercool.

Everybody was really laid-back, and everybody was really cool — and everybody was really intelligent, which is a little bit different than the sort of picture of rock ‘n’ roll that we think of. All these people were very, very much educated and had a very sort of clear perspective on what they wanted and what they wanted to do, and were super-super-creative. So, it was really great for me to have been around that — even though I didn’t know what I was taking in at the time, looking back on it.”

In many ways, the rock revival of the 1980s, of which Slash was an integral part, was a celebration of the ideals and values of the 1970s. These ‘super-super creative’ and intelligent people of the era Slash talked about shaped an entire generation of music. This was a testament to the lasting impact of that decade and a reminder of the enduring power of rock and roll to inspire and unite people from all walks of life.