Friday 24 July 2009

Happy Birthday Slash

Throughout musical history there have been musicians who either look the part but have the talent of a door handle or look like a geography teacher but have the ability to astound with their genius.
The likes of Sid Vicious and Cyndi Lauper fall into the former grouping with people like Eric Clapton and Karen Carpenter in the latter camp.
There is also a cluster of musicians with no talent and an image so uncool that they should wear asbestos underpants. Take a bow Rod Stewart and Phil Collins and then take a hike.
Like vampire slayers, in every generation there is one who will stand against the evil forces of Mariah Carey and Justin Timberlake. Our generation, we have the guitarist Slash who is 45 today and scientifically proven to be the coolest man in music. Probably.
The hat. The shirtless torso. The tight trousers. The ever-present cigarette dangling out from between that mop of hair in that way that always made you wonder how he didn't set himself on fire.
As for his guitar playing, anyone who has ever picked up a guitar, real or air, will have pretended to be him. It is impossible to watch him playing guitar outside the chapel in the video to November Rain and not feel the urge to stick a Bensons in your mouth, jump onto the coffee table clutching a tennis racquet and scream 'waaanng waaaang wannnnnnnng' as you pluck the strings. Maybe that's just me though.
Best guitarist ever? Arguably. Coolest man in music? Undoubtedly. Dead before he's 50? More than likely.

6 comments:

Linda Scott said...

Slash was born in 1965 so he is 44 this year.

Falling on a bruise said...

Funnily enough i always manage to get my own age wrong also. Usually the other way though.

Anonymous said...

Lucy,

i think you might be confusing musicians with uncuth slobs. i think you also might be confusing cool with ego centric...

arguably he is the best guitarist. but that is actually a big list and is not limited to rock genre.

i happen to like "the edge".

q

Falling on a bruise said...

I admit i am staying within the popular music genre. I imagine if you went off into other genres you would find plenty more accomplished guitarists. What you wouldn't find in the one person is the popularity, image, fascinating back story and great songs.
The edge is a good example, a perfectly decent guitarist i grant you, but so very, very bland and uninteresting. Just my opinion.

Anonymous said...

Oh, you like drama...

Falling on a bruise said...

There are far to many bland, perfectly functional musicians about but who wants to hear or read about them?