Guns N’ Roses’ history is filled with tumultuous tales of lies and deceit. The drug and money fuelled empire has faltered and risen again multiple times over the years, with the act coming together again for the first time in 23 years in 2016 for the ‘Not in This Lifetime’ tour. It’s fair to say they’re probably one of the only remaining acts who’ve truly lived up to the scandal and drama that permeates good ole’ fashion rock n roll.
Now, the band’s former manager Doug Goldstein has opened up to GNR Central, a podcast dedicated to matters surrounding the iconic rock act, speaking about how Slash’s initial collaboration with Michael Jackson on 1991’s ‘Give In To Me’ marked the “beginning of the end” for the band.
He details how the collaboration came about shortly after Axl Rose had revealed to Interview Magazine that he was sexually abused by his father as a child. In the podcast, Goldstein refers to accusations of child sexual abuse made against Jackson, highlighting Slash’ insensitivity to Rose’s past.
“So he [Axl] does that huge interview, he bears his deepest, darkest secret, and Slash comes to my room two months later and says, ‘Hey, I’m going to play with Michael Jackson.’ What?! No!” said Goldstein.
“So everybody in the industry knows that Eddie Van Halen got $1 million for ‘Beat It.’ I said, ‘At least let me negotiate the deal.’ ‘No, it’s already negotiated.’ ‘What do you mean? You’re not going to let me do my job?’ I said, ‘Look, I need to go to Axl with some ammunition to explain why you’re going and hanging out with a paedophile.'”
Goldstein further highlights how he had “no ammunition” to go to Rose with, in explaining why Slash was to collaborate with Jackson, with Slash mentioning his motivation behind the job was the reward of a big-screen TV from Jackson.
“Slash said, ‘It’s already negotiated.’ So I said, ‘At least give me some ammunition to go to Axl and tell him, ‘But yeah, he’s getting X amount of dollars.” He said, ‘He’s giving me a big-screen TV.’ ‘Hang on, what?!’ ‘Yeah, he’s going to give me one of those big 72-inch screen TVs.'”
You can listen to the entire interview here, in which he ends with saying that after this incident, “Axl never again thought Slash was his brother.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEsmXOFFlFc
