What is it with old dudes talking about the state of rock 'n' roll? Between Gene Simmons, Joe Perry and Slash, we've had our fill of "get off my lawn" moments in the past month. The latter rocker was at it again in a recent interview with Radio.com.
"One of the things about rock 'n' roll at this particular point is that it has become very safe and predictable," Slash said. "I miss that element of pushing the envelope. But at the same time, in other genres, I have seen that. There's a Lil' Jon video ["Turn Down For What"] it's the most hardcore, suggestive video... it's beyond suggestive."
But the pendulum must swing the other way, right? Eventually kids will start flipping off various important people with their guitars.
"I think maybe we're in a time right now where something like that will happen, there will be some new young band that's gonna stick it's middle finger up the ass of the music business and be the voice of the people and bring rock back in that way," Slash said. "It's hard to know how it will happen. But it will. The thing is, we've seen everything. And you think nothing's going to shock anybody anymore. You don't want to be the band sitting around trying to figure out how to get noticed. That's wrong. You have to get noticed because what you do naturally is just against the grain enough that people will go, 'Oh my God, what is that?' But so much stuff is acceptable now that wasn't ten years ago."
Slash has been making music and touring with Myles Kennedy, and their latest effort, World On Fire, churned out a naughty music video for the title track.
"The director sent me a treatment, and I was like, 'That's more involved than just putting the lyrics on the screen,' Slash said. "It was a one day shoot in his house. I'm really sick of the standard issue video these days. I was really happy with it. Someone asked, 'Why is it so tacky?' Well, that's the beauty of it. We definitely pushed the envelope on that one. I'm glad we're not trying to get it on MTV. She's having sex with a hood ornament!"
The guitarist didn't touch on Axl Rose, but he mentioned former Velvet Revolver singer Scott Weiland while indicating that VR is still looking for a frontman.
"At some point, the right guy's gonna walk in the door, and at that point, we're going to make another Velvet record," he said. "We made some cool music with Scott [Weiland], but it was really, really hard to keep it together with that lineup.
"When you're cutting off your nose to spite your face, there's a point where you either have to get it together or, we're not going to suffer through that."
Do you agree with Slash on the state of rock 'n' roll? Sound off in the comments section!
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