1992.10.31 - Kerrang! - Rock ’N’ Roll Dilemmas (Izzy)

Rock ’N’ Roll Dilemmas - The acid test of Heavy Metal Morals

Is there no moral barrel that all these raucous rawk ’n’ rollers won’t tip up and scrape the bottom of? Would they be prepared to sell their own grandmothers for the sake of their careers, or are their consciences made of sterner stuff?

The Rock ’N’ Roll Dilemmas are where we find out. This week, ex-GN’R turned scorchin’ solo artist IZZY STRADLIN is tackled in the penalty area by PAUL ELLIOTT...

Would you donate your bone marrow to save the life of Vince Neil?
Izzy: Fuck, no! There’s plenty of other donors out there.

You go to a run-down, thinly-populated bar in some backwoods American town and see an old blues guitarist play an incredible song. Would you record the song and claim it as your own if you felt you could get away with it?
Izzy: No, I’d just try to get him to play on my record!

On Arnold Schwarzenegger’s recommendation, George Bush asks for your advice on youth issues. Do you agree to talk to him?
Izzy: Would I help? I don’t know. I say, ‘Let ‘em drink and smoke, give ‘em some rope. Give ‘em some freedom and stop trying to control all that shit. Let people make some decisions for themselves.

You discover that a member of your band is a major hard drug user. Do you sack him, or keep him in the band?
Izzy: Well, I think all the guys in the band have been through that already. Everybody that’s in this band has done their time with that stuff, I hope. Knock on wood. But theoretically, no, I wouldn’t sack the guy. You’d try to help, give ‘em support, because that’s the only thing that works when you’re in that situation, believe me.

The more you tell somebody no, the more they’ll do it. People used to tell me, ‘You gotta do this, you gotta do that’, and my mind would go, ‘Fuck you, I’m gonna do it even more’. It wasn’t even intentional, it’s just the way it ends up.

So, no, I wouldn’t sack ‘em, I’d try to give ‘em help.

Your manager begins telling the press that your forthcoming album is a cross between Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall’ and Led Zeppelin’s ‘Physical Graffiti’. Do you try to shut him up?
Izzy: Yes! And that has happened in the past!

You’re getting ready to go onstage and one of your band puts on a leather kilt. Do you tell him to change?
Izzy: No, I couldn’t give a shit what these guys wear. They could wear pink tutus onstage if they wanted!

You’re invited to New York to meet Keith Richards and hear his new album. You have a new song that you think is the best thing you’ve ever written, so you play it for Keef. He loves it and asks if he can record it for his next solo album, which may be 10 years or more in coming. You’re aching to record the song, but Keef wants to keep it all to himself. Do you let him have the song?
Izzy: Yeah, I’d let him have it right away, sure. What are you gonna say? Fuck, man, Keith has been spitting out songs for the last 30 years, and they still hold up, a lot of ‘em. Maybe I could work something out with him - trade a song for a song!

Would you donate your bone marrow to save the life of Axl Rose?
Izzy: What, you mean if he had an accident? Uh, if he was gonna die I’d give him a little bone marrow. A little. We could work something out!

I found out that this is from Kerrang. "Rock 'n' roll dilemmas" is the title of the article.

Ah, great! I was wondering about that.