Slash Shares His Real-Life ‘Spinal Tap’ Story – Exclusive Video
Guns N' Roses have had such a colorful concert history that it must be difficult for Slash to look back over his long career and choose just one real-life 'Spinal Tap' moment -- but since we asked so nicely, he was willing to oblige.
For Slash, one particularly epic low point came in Dallas on Sept. 17, 1988, at the end of GNR's tour for 'Appetite for Destruction.' The band staggered into town as part of an unwieldy bill that also included Iggy Pop, INXS and Ziggy Marley.
"We were just shagged," recalls Slash in the video embedded above. "We were just tired, we didn't get to soundcheck, and we thought we'd just go out there and play."
The results were semi-infamous even at the time. Musician Magazine was backstage with the band before the show, where they openly admitted they hated INXS, and watched as they fell apart during the set, which included Axl Rose quipping "Guess nobody wants to play today" before Duff McKagan smashed his bass and they ended the show roughly halfway through their scheduled 75-minute playing time.
"I still have nightmares about it," continued Slash. "We just went out there and couldn't pull it together -- completely just fell apart, couldn't hear what the other guy was doing, everybody was just in a completely different place. It was literally just horrible. I think we went on late and left the stage early it started raining -- just the most miserable gig."
And although Musician's profile put a positive spin on the Dallas mess ("Even at their worst, Guns N' Roses are real, and it connects"), Slash wasn't the only one who found the gig unforgettably bad. "About a year later I got some mail from the management office, and there was this envelope," he continued. "I open it up and it's a broken in half cassette of 'Appetite for Destruction' from some fan who was at that gig. He said, 'I'll never listen to you guys again.' That was very Spinal Tap."
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