From: billr@iplmail.orl.mmc.com (Bill Richmond)
Subject: Re: SLASH- Great or WHAT??!!?
Organization: Martin Marietta
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 16:08:49 GMT

In article <1512@grivel.une.edu.au>, bsercomb@neumann.une.edu.au (You'd better believe it!,,,) writes:
|> > I hope Peter will join me in saying that both of you can bite me! 
|> > These posts definitely sound like the sarcasm of some Guns'n'Roses-
|> > hating dudes who can't get past Axl Rose's ego/whatever long enough to
|> > appreciate Slash's true musical talent.
|> 
|> Here, Here. 
|> 
|> The original response to the posting about Slash's musical talent was a 
|> piece of stereotypical crap. If everyone thought like this, we'd all
|> still be playing percussion instruments on each others heads.
|> 
|> Brad.
|> 
|> P.S. I'm not saying that the guy is a revolutionary performer, but at least
|> I try to see what he is doing rather than listen to a couple of times and 
|> categorize it as a waste of time.

	No, Slash is definitely not a revolutionary performer. I remember 
seeing GnR before Welcome to the Jungle was a hit. I've got a couple of their
tapes. In different groups I have played probably 10 of their songs. I use to
be an incredible fan. While I don't like their new illusion stuff, granted a 
lot of people do. Slash writes decent songs. So do Mick Mars/Nikki Sixx. Are 
they great musicians? I don't think so. There seems to be an unwritten rule
that great musicians don't write great music. When I say great music, I mean
music that appeals to the masses. While I love Al DiMeola's stuff, it is not
considered great music by the masses. There are exceptions to the rule, Eddie
VanHalen being an obvious one, but it is true more times than not. The point
of my comment about the praise-filled-Slash-is-GREAT!!! message belonging in
Rec.Humor was to :
	a) Imply that slash is NOT a great musician. (He is a good entertainer
	    and a decent songwriter but he is far from being technically
	    profficient.)
	
	b) Convey my message in a humorous fashion. Not some -"bite me"- 
	   phrase by a teenager who has access to his father's internet
	   account, and not some 12 page analysis on Slash. Just a message.

	I must say that I am quite dismayed by what I have seen here. There have
been a couple of posters who acknowledged that Slash has limited musical ability
as far as actually playing (not writing, entertaining, etc) the guitar, but a
fair amount of netters seem to be quite disillusioned as to what Slash can do.
I remember thinking that Ace Frehley was god or that Sammy Hagar was the best
when these groups were big but now I realize the error. All of you who think
Slash is this omnipotent guitar super being need to stand back & look at the
big picture. Would you have this opinion of him if you walked into a bar & had
no idea who he was? No, you wouldn't. He is praised as a guitarist due to the
status of his band. GnR isn't the first band this has happened to (remember ACDC)
& won't be the last. As to the 2 posts that this is in response to, I have to
laugh. My original post was not "sarcasm of some Guns'n'Roses-hating dudes who
can't get past Axl Rose's ego/whatever long enough to appreciate Slash's true
musical talent" As I stated previously, I am quite familiar with GnR's music.
While I do believe that Axl has gotten a bit of an ego, I don't "hate" the band.
Your response to my post sounds like that of one who is so blinded by the
aura/fame of his favorite band that he can't wake up to what the guitarist really
is. As to the "Here, Here" guy, no, my original response to the posting about
Slash's musical talent was not a piece of "stereotypical crap". I do not
stereotype musicians. I have found ripping pieces by pop players, great songs by
ripping players, etc. I did not categorize GnR's music as a waste of time, I
categorized the comment that Slash is one of the greatest guitarists alive as a
joke. Big difference here. 
	I didn't mean anything in this post as a flame, just what I consider the
truth. I wasn't going to respond but I didn't like seeing my original post's
meaning to be so completely twisted. I hope this clears up a couple of points...

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billr@orl.mmc.com
Newsgroups: alt.guitar