Slash might be one of the most recognisable names in rock music, but it turns out that even he isn’t immune to a bit of rejection.
Over the years, we’ve seen some pretty famous names compose original music for TV and movies.
Why, we’ve seen Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh write the music for Rugrats, The Brian Jonestown Massacre compose the opening tune to Boardwalk Empire, and The Grateful Dead reimagine The Twilight Zone’s classic theme for its 1980s revival.
However, it seems that Guns N’ Roses’ Slash tried his best to score (no pun intended) the chance to contribute an original song to The Walking Dead.
Speaking to the Basel Meets podcast last month (via Blabbermouth), Slash explained that the producers of the iconic zombie series weren’t too keen on ‘The One You Loved Is Gone’, an original tune he submitted for the series.
“Initially, that song was inspired — believe it or not… I wrote the intro for The Walking Dead,” Slash explained. “Because at that time, The Walking Dead didn’t really have any other music outside of its score music, and so I was trying to push them to play an original song on there.”
“But they wouldn’t go for it. ‘Cause it’s me, and they don’t wanna have any recognisable existing names as part of The Walking Dead world. And so it never happened, but it was always a good musical idea.”
“And I introduced it to Myles [Kennedy] to see if would come up with something so we could create a song for The Walking Dead. So he had some melodies and whatnot, but the lyrics became something completely different by the time we recorded it in 2018.”
Check out a trailer for The Walking Dead’s latest season:
Despite the fact that the demo version of ‘The One You Loved Is Gone’ was recorded on Slash’s phone and played on a guitar that wasn’t plugged, it received a new life in band rehearsals, and eventually resurfaced on Living The Dream, the latest record from Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy And The Conspirators.
“I remember working on it with Myles here and there, and by the time the band started playing it at rehearsals earlier this year, it had evolved into something a little different than what it was initially,” Slash explained. “Then Myles came up with this great verse and chorus and it shaped up to be a really pretty song.”
“When Slash reintroduced it at rehearsals, I think that’s where it really started to come together for me,” Myles Kennedy added. “I was sitting in a hotel in L.A. and the first line, ‘And I wonder even now whatever came of you…’ just popped into my head. I said, ‘That’s a really strong hook. Now we’re getting somewhere.'”
In related news, Slash is set to make his return to Australia early next year, when he hits up Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Perth with Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators.
While there’s no word as to whether we’ll hear ‘The One You Loved Is Gone’ on his Aussie tour, we can always hope and imagine just what The Walking Dead would have sounded like with Slash’s influence.
Check out Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators’’The One You Loved Is Gone’:
Slash Ft Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators Australian Tour
Monday, January 28th, 2019
Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney, NSW
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Wednesday, January 30th, 2019
Brisbane Convention Exhibition Centre, Brisbane, QLD
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Friday, February 1st, 2019
Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne, VIC
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Sunday, February 3rd, 2019
RAC Arena, Perth, WA
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