Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash has opened up about the state of rock and roll, noting that he likes the fact the genre is no longer mainstream.
On Friday, Slash released his third studio album with Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators. Titled Living The Dream, the album is a pretty straight-up hard-rocking affair that pairs the legendary guitarwork of Slash with the soaring vocals of Myles Kennedy.
However, while the album is a pretty solid example of rock music, it appears that Slash believes he’s no longer playing a mainstream genre of music.
In a recent interview with USA Today, the guitarist opened up about the state of rock and roll, being prompted by the fact that R&B and hip-hop overtook rock as the most popular genre.
“Rock isn’t mainstream anymore, and in some ways, I like that,” Slash explained. “It harks back to when rock ‘n’ roll was more of an underground concept, when people were speaking about things that they weren’t necessarily comfortable saying in the mainstream arena.”
“As far as hip-hop is concerned, it’s become so generic at this point. It’s definitely taken on a very top-40 thing.”
While Slash seems to feel that rock is no longer a popular genre, he did reveal that he spends his time listening to some of the biggest names in the genre when he’s in the mood for riffs and rhythms.
“I love Foo Fighters,” he explained. “My favorite band consistently has been Queens of the Stone Age because they always put out cool, interesting records.”
“But I still listen to a lot of old stuff because the rock ‘n’ roll that turned me on as a kid, not too much of it exists.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Slash also touched on the topic of Guns N’ Roses’ current reunion tour, noting that he never tires of changing up the classics to deliver a stunning show every time.
“Our approach to our material has a very devil-may-care thing to it, where you can make up (expletive) in the middle of songs,” he explained. “You just keep it interesting.”
“It sounds the same to (audiences), but the way I’m playing it is different and that keeps me occupied. ‘Paradise City’ is a song that you can play in a lot of different ways. So I’ve never fallen into that rut of resenting having to play a song every single night.”
Check out Slash’s ‘Mind Your Manners’:
