The Band That Convinced Slash To Join Guns N’ Roses

Just as you never know the pivotal decision that will put you on the right track, you can never guess when something will change the course of your life. It turns out that maybe we wouldn’t know about Slash today if one single album from one influential band didn’t change his path forever. You might be wondering which band had that much influence on the guitarist to follow the rock route. Well, let’s see how the story played out.

The GNR icon recalled how his interest in rock had started in an interview with Kerrang! in 2021, saying, “I was a big fan of music from as far back as I can remember. I used to love going to gigs and seeing bands, and I was totally mesmerized by it all, but it never clicked with me to go and do that myself until I picked up a guitar because former Guns N’ Roses drummer and childhood friend Steven Adler had one.”

Although Slash started off with the bass, he quickly realized he wanted to be the lead guitarist and have everything under his belt. He continued, “I thought, ‘Well, he knows how to play guitar, so I should play bass to start a band.’ Then I learned from a local music school that it wasn’t the bass I wanted to do at all; it was the lead guitar. All of a sudden, that set me off in this direction.”

While trying to figure out the role he wanted to play in a band, one particular moment changed his perception of his future. Almost every musician has one artist or album that shakes them to their core and has a massive influence on their later decisions regarding their career. That also happened to Slash, and he immediately changed his course.

Slash recalled the crucial moment, “But the thing that excited me musically at that time? When you’re a teenager, regardless of how cool the music is that your parents are listening to, you start to discover your own. Aerosmith’s 1976 album Rocks’ was my pivotal influence back then. The band’s attitude and that sloppy, hard rock thing made me go, ‘Woah!’ Every musician has their ‘Woah!’ artist or record that blew their mind. That was mine.”

All that it took for Slash to want to dive into hard rock was none other than Aerosmith’s album ‘Rocks.’ The album that could have been any old record for other artists in the industry was the beginning of Slash’s journey in becoming the Guns N’ Roses lead guitarist we know him to be.

So, as you can see, there’s no handbook; there are just moments in a musician’s life where they either go with the signs or continue the road they had already started. Thanks to Aerosmith and their 1976 album, the rock world has had Slash as a contributing guitarist to the rock scene.