1991.09.DD - MTV - Interview with Slash

Another case where the full interview is missing and only edited parts of it that were used in various MTV programs can be found.

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TRANSCRIPTION:
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Host: ...But first, Guns played the last gig of their European tour last Saturday night, at a sold-out Wembley Stadium in London. The band started this tour before their second album, Use Your Illusion part I and II, was released, and the set included many of the new songs, so far unheard. The new album will be in the shops on the 15th of September.
 
[Live footage from Wembley Stadium, August 31, 1991]
 
THE TOUR
 
Slash: We’d never played headlining in a capacity that we are now, so that’s a whole new experience. And we know what clubs feel like and we’ll always be able to go back and do them, so we’re just getting into this whole big trip, you know?
 
THE NEW ALBUM
 
Slash: This album is a little bit more pissed off than the first one. I mean, it’s got really... It’s either really brash or really settled. And I don’t think there was any holds barred on the content of the lyrics or the music. So it’s one of those things where, after taking so much flak from every direction for so long, we just shut ourselves away and just did what we thought Guns should be doing.
 
THE BAND
 
Slash: We know ourselves, we know each other really well, because we’ve been together for so long and we’re probably our six best friends – you know, cuz there’s six of us now, not five. And, you know, there’s, like with any marriage, there’s the complicated parts and there’s the really great parts, and that’s what makes us... I don’t know, that’s what makes us click.
 
SUCCESS
 
Slash: The success part has its own way of infiltrating how much we see each other and stuff like that. That’s why it’s great we’re on the road, because that, sort of like, stripped away all that crap where we’d completely separated in different houses and all that; which was something that was inevitable, but it was sort of a drag at the same time, because it, you know, alienated us from each other. Now that we’re on the road, everything’s pretty much the same, except for, you know, people have different things that they do.
 
NEW DRUMMER MATT SORUM
 
Slash: He saved the band, really (laughs). I mean, cuz we... I was running, like, around in circles trying to find somebody to play drums that fit in, you know. That 50% of it was our music and then another 50% was he had to be able to fit in with, you know, as a person, cuz we’re a really tight-knit little family, like a little gang going down and we won’t let anybody in, you know? (chuckles) And we went through a few people and it just wasn’t clicking and it was getting really frustrating. And when Matt did come along, he fit in the first five minutes and we’ve been playing ever since.
 
THE PRESS
 
Slash: What this band is all about is music that we play and the people we play for. And these people, you know, people believe what they read, TV and media in general. That’s, like, their lifeline, you know? And we don’t want to be, like, supporting garbage. What we are what we are, as long as you put it in words or on TV or whatever that way, then we’re cool with it. But when you start making stuff up and trying to make... you know, sensationalizing it, we’re just like, we don’t need that anymore, you know? We don’t need that to get to this point, because the kids know us as a band and it doesn’t matter if we’re in this publication or that publication, as long as we can put a gig, you know?
 
Host: And if you missed your chance to see Guns N’ Roses on tour, then don’t forget to catch them at the MTV Video Music Awards, where they’ll be performing live.



TRANSCRIPTION:
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Tabitha Soren: The Guns N’ Roses version of Live and Let Die, by the way, is one of 30 tunes on Use Your Illusion I and II, the long-awaited and much delayed new Guns N’ Roses albums that will finally be released next week. Just last week a second single from the album was released, a ballad called Don’t Cry, which goes way back to the band’s earliest days. The song’s original lyrics are on one album, and the band recorded new lyrics for the second version of the song on Use Your Illusion II. As guitarist Slash recently told our colleagues at MTV Europe, Guns N’ Roses now have full support from their label, Geffen Records, but he says that’s not how it was for their previous record, Appetite for Destruction.

Slash: They were pretty scared about the whole thing and they were just basically trying to get it done, so we gave up certain amount of material that we really wanted to do, so at this point we did have the support, we did have the financial means, so we really got into the studio and went through the whole backlog of material and we had a great time doing it, you know. We got really involved and it was an element that we really needed to be in as band. And we just did everything. So it goes back from before, some of the songs even before Guns N’ Roses, like songs that Axl wrote with a friend of his or stuff, riffs that I’d been playing with and I never finished, Izzy’s stuff... And then there was a whole period of, like, two years after the last tour, where we were going through all this turmoil, and we wrote tons of stuff then, so we got that together, and then we developed some stuff in the studio. So it basically says it all.

Tabitha Soren: ... these albums, Use Your Illusion I and II, frontman Axl Rose has riled up some members of the rock press, who’ve heard a song on Use Your Illusion II. It’s called Get in the Ring and Rose launches an angry tirade against several members of the music media. He sings that journalists have been “printing lies instead of the things we said”. Rose names some of these critics and even offers to “kick their asses” and at least one of them says he’s ready to rock ‘n’ roll. Bob Guccione Jr., editor and publisher of Spin Magazine, gets a large share of abuse in Axl’s song and Guccione has now issued his own challenge, saying, “If Rose really wants to do some media bashing, he can start with me; and if he really wants to get in the ring, I volunteer.” This is the second time this year Axl has been challenged to a fight, after Motley Crue’s Vince Neil several weeks back. Axl also targets Hit Parader magazine and Circus magazine in the song. However, another member of Guns N’ Roses was able to shed a bit of light on the “Get in the Ring” track recently. Guitarist Slash spoke with our colleagues at MTV Europe as the band was wrapping up a European tour. Slash says that Axl’s rant against the rock press started out as a totally spontaneous ad-lib and that the band decided to leave it on the finished track. Here’s why.

Slash: These are people that just completely misrepresented us and it was high-profile, and we were, like, sick of it, we were like, “screw you”, you know? And we’ve gotten to the point where we don’t think it’s that important to kiss ass to the press and stuff, because really what this band is all about is the music that we play and the people we play for. And these people, you know, people believe what they read, TV and media in general. That’s, like, their lifeline, you know?

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Full quote about the press, combined of the two videos:

Slash: These are people that just completely misrepresented us and it was high-profile, and we were, like, sick of it, we were like, “screw you”, you know? And we’ve gotten to the point where we don’t think it’s that important to kiss ass to the press and stuff, because really what this band is all about is the music that we play and the people we play for. And these people, you know, people believe what they read, TV and media in general. That’s, like, their lifeline, you know? And we don’t want to be, like, supporting garbage. What we are what we are, as long as you put it in words or on TV or whatever that way, then we’re cool with it. But when you start making stuff up and trying to make... you know, sensationalizing it, we’re just like, we don’t need that anymore, you know? We don’t need that to get to this point, because the kids know us as a band and it doesn’t matter if we’re in this publication or that publication, as long as we can put a gig, you know?