Slash discloses the record that had ‘the biggest impact’ on his life | Music | Entertainment
British-born Slash has been on tour promoting 4, his new album that was released earlier this year. He has been opening up about his years with Guns N Roses and before, especially his misspent youth growing up on the streets of Hollywood. There is countless music that inspired the rockstar, but one band beat out the rest – Black Sabbath. The English rock outfit comprised of guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and singer Ozzy Osbourne. One of their most famous tracks as a major inspiration on the GNR rocker.
In a recent interview with Matt Pinfield on his radio talk show, it didn’t take long for Slash to bring up his love for the legendary band.
He said: “The first Sabbath record just had the biggest impact on me. Because, when you think about it, in the landscape of all the other music that was happening at the time, there’s this one dark record that comes out that really created what you would consider dark heavy metal and created the path for everything that was to follow. And so yeah, that record is especially poignant.”
In particular, he praised the record Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath and its title track.
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The 56-year-old added: “The title track, that breakdown towards the end of the song. There’s just nothing that’s ever come out that’s heavier than that. Not one band that I can think of has a riff that is as heavy as ‘Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.”
Slash isn’t alone in his love for the album, as numerous other musicians have praised it. Brent Hinds of Masodon said: “The ‘dreams turn to nightmares, Heaven turns to Hell’ riff at the end of that song is unbeatable.”
Metallica’s Kirk Hammett also agrees, naming Killing Yourself to Live as his favourite track on the record. Speaking to Guitar World, he said: “A lot of people gravitate toward the album’s title track, ‘Sabbath Bloody Sabbath’, but for me, this is the stand-out cut on the album.”
The Sabbath album was released in 1973 and for the first time in the group’s career, one of their records actually started to receive some positive reviews. It is now considered their masterpiece and continues to receive praise to this day, even selling 70 million albums worldwide as of 2019.
However, it isn’t the only record Slash loves, as he was sporting a AC/DC t-shirt during his new interview.
He continued: “Yeah, well, I mean it’s two. There’s two of my favorite records. One’s Bon Scott. That’s Down Payment Blues… Powerage. But, I mean, Back in Black was a big deal at the time, because when it came out… They were talking about that period when, in the ’80s when Back in Black had come out and it was such a massive record and the songs were so great, and it was a great record from start to finish.”
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He added: “That Brian Johnson delivery on that record, and some of those songs are just undisputedly some of the best rock and roll that was ever created. But the ‘Powerage’ record is probably, hands down, my favorite musical AC/DC record. I think just the rawness of the record and the songs themselves… It’s a seminal AC/DC record.”
His new album, 4, features Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators and was released in February 2022.
Recording the album was hectic, according to Slash, mainly due to the unwanted spectre of COVID-19 visiting them. Regardless, he said: “Everybody got better and we went back to the studio and mixed it, COVID aside, we had a (expletive) blast.” (via The Tennessean)
