Re: 04. BEFORE GUNS N' ROSES

by **Soulmonster** Sat May 15, 2021 8:11 am

MARCH 1984?

"AXL" BECOMES "ROSE"

According to Chris Weber, after a couple of shows under the moniker AXL, Izzy and Axl got in an argument. Some days later Izzy and Axl wanted to play again but Izzy insisted they changed the name of the band to Rose:

A few days later, Axl wanted to bury the hatchet and start playing again. Izzy said he'd only do it if we called ourselves "Rose." We changed our name and played under the name Rose […].

Marc Canter, "Reckless Road", 2007

According to Axl, it was Weber's mom's idea to change the band name to Rose:

We called our first bands in Hollywood Axl. And then, finally, I got in a band fight and I was rejoining Izzy and a guy named Chris Weber as another group, and Chris’ mom knew about how I signed the songs “Rose.” And she says, “You guys should name the band Rose.”

MTV To Go Magazine, January 1990

But apparently, it had been Izzy insisting on a name change when he returned to the band:

Axl called the name of the band AXL and then slowly but surely he wanted to take on that name for himself. So he took that name, but I never called him Axl. He was always Bill when I was in the band. Then he reinvented himself. AXL was the original name. After maybe 2 or 3 shows, the name was changed to Rose. Axl Rose (then Bill) had some sort of fall out with Izzy and I and to continue playing as a band, Izzy said we were to change our name to Rose, and we did.

MetalShrine, November 19, 2004

Our first show that we played at the Orphanage was under the name AXL. But shortly after that, we got in a fight or something. Axl got all pissy about something and we sort of like broke up. It was, like, after the first or second gig for, like, a couple of days. He was like, “Fuck you guys, I don’t wanna play with you;” which was funny because we were all living in my parents’ house. Then he said, “You know what, we need to come back, I wanna come back, let’s play” and Izzy’s the one that said, “You know what, if you’re gonna come back, we gotta change the name of the band. We’ll let you get back and play, but we’re gonna change the name of the band to ‘Rose’.” That was Izzy’s idea. He wanted the name of his band called ‘Rose’. So we played under that; that was the name of the band for the next five, six, seven... you know, whatever shows.

Chrome Media, August 2, 2005

So it was me, Izzy, and Bill, but then there was a small falling out and I remember Izzy telling him, “Look, let’s get the band back together.” But he said, “We have to change the name. I’m not gonna play under the name AXL anymore.”

So then we were called Rose, but we would go to import record stores and we saw that there were other bands in other countries called Rose. So we changed it to Hollywood Rose. We would go back and forth between the names. It’s very Spinal Tap.

Rolling Stone - Extract from "Nöthin’ but a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the ’80s Hard Rock Explosion", March 8, 2021

Gina Siler would say that the band Rose was formed while she and Axl lived together in Whitley Avenue [Spin, September 1991], which, if true, must mean that Rose was formed between December 1982 and May 1983. Axl was in Rapidfire from March to May 1983 [see previous chapter], this would suggest that AXL was formed fairly soon after Axl left Rapidfire, but on the other hand we have indication that Axl returned to Indiana after he left Rapidfire [see previous chapter], suggesting the formation of AXL happened a bit later in the summer of 1983.

Marc Canter puts the date of Rose to January 1984 [Marc Canter, "Reckless Road", 2007], but it is possible Canter mistakes this with AXL [see earlier chapter] or that AXL changed name to Rose after their show in early January 1984.

Describing one of their gigs at Raji's:

Our first gig was at Raji's, in Hollywood. We realized that if you wanted to get a club gig, you had to say, 'Oh, man, we're HUGE in Orange County. We play these keggers, and they're MASSIVE. We can probably get 500 people.' Then seven people would show up, but we got to play.

Press Kit for 117 Degrees, January 1998

Izzy, Weber, Axl

Talking about who wrote their music:

I would say primarily, looking back on the songs, seventy-five percent of them I came up with the original idea for them and Izzy would put his part over the top and then we'd give it to Axl and he wrote all the lyrics.

MetalShrine, November 19, 2004

And talking about their influences:

Well, the punk element might have come in because Izzy was part of that scene. The bands that I grew up listening to were Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith and stuff like that. So you'll notice that the guitar riffs sound a lot like that. I also listened to Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. But I was really into Aerosmith and Zeppelin and I think those guitar riffs are the primary starting point. Especially on a song like “Anything goes” off of “Appetite for destruction” (1987)! The guitar riff is like something that I would think would be right off something like “Rocks” (1976) or one of those early Aerosmith records. And then you know, we'd give the music to Axl and he would write lyrics to it and then it'd be a finished song.

MetalShrine, November 19, 2004

And the band's looks:

Nobody wasn't really drinking or doing drugs or anything. It was just about getting into the idea that the music scene was more intoxicating than any drug or alcohol. We spent alot of more time getting ready and know what we looked like. Hair everywhere and make up. It took two hours to do and if you were drunk you couldn't put that together. And then there was a lot of hours working for the band. Putting out flyers and doing promotion at night between two o' clock and three o' clock in the morning when the bars let out. You would stand in front of a bar: “We're playing next week! Blah blah blah…!”

MetalShrine, November 19, 2004

by **Soulmonster** Sat May 15, 2021 8:11 am

EARLY 1984

IZZY MEETS SLASH AND SLASH GETS TO HEAR AXL FOR THE FIRST TIME

In early 1984 Izzy would meet Slash when looking up the artist of an Aerosmith drawing that had been floating around the town; the artist was Slash [Marc Canter, "Reckless Road", 2007].

At the same time, I was working in a guitar shop, and Izzy came in one day because he’d seen a drawing I did of Aerosmith and wanted to know if he could get a copy of it, and that’s how we met.

Blast! April 16, 1988

I’d already met Izzy because he had come into my music store looking for copies of this picture of Aerosmith that I drew for Marc. He showed up at my work one day… this little, scraggy Johnny Thunders comes walking in and he’s looking for Saul Hudson, right?

SuicideGirls, February 29, 2008

Izzy would play a tape for Slash of a Hollywood Rose demo and Slash would hear Axl sing for the first time:

[Hearing Axl for the first time from a demo tape]: But through the static din, way in the background, I heard something intriguing, that I believed to be their singer's voice. It was hard to make out and his squeal was so high-pitched that I thought it might be a technical flaw in the tape. It sounded like the squeak that a cassette makes just before the tape snaps - except it was in key.

Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York

That’s how we met and [Izzy] played me a tape of his band later that night. It was really ratty, with a tiny voice in the background screaming at the top of its lungs. But it was in key so I was interested. He told me the name of the band was Hollywood Rose…

SuicideGirls, February 29, 2008

by **Soulmonster** Sat May 15, 2021 8:11 am

SPRING 1984

"ROSE" TRANSFORMS INTO "HOLLYWOOD ROSE"

Chris Weber have two explanations for why they then changed the name to Hollywood Rose. In an interview from 1988, he would say that Axl "got mad one day" and they changed the name of the band from Rose to Hollywood Rose, although Weber could not remember why Axl got mad [Rock City News, January 1988]. Most likely Weber is here confused about why they changed the name from "AXL" to "Rose" which came as a result of Axl being pissed and Izzy accepting that they continue playing but under the condition they change the name to "Rose". That they would change their name from "Rose" to "Hollywood Rose" because of Axl's anger begs the question why changing the name would help with Axl's anger.

In other accounts, Weber would state they added 'Hollywood' to differentiate themselves from another band called 'Rose':

The word Hollywood was added when I stumbled upon the name Rose being used by another band. I think they were on the East coast, maybe New York.

MetalShrine, November 19, 2004

Soon after, we found that there was another band called ‘Rose’ somewhere, so we changed. It sounds like Spinal Tap, doesn’t it, but soon we changed the name to ‘Hollywood Rose’ to differentiate ourselves. It was all the same band throughout the whole thing. We just changed the name.

Chrome Media, August 2, 2005

We changed our name and played under the name Rose, until we discovered there was another band called Rose. So, we changed our name to Hollywood Rose.

Marc Canter, "Reckless Road", 2007

Bret Michaels from Poison would recount hearing Axl for the first time at a Hollywood Rose show at Madam Wong's East on March 16, 1984:

We're out in L.A. in March of '84. And Kim Fowley introduced me to a girl named Athena Bass -- which is Tommy Lee's sister. And she said: I want to take you to a club tonight to see this band play. They're sort of like Poison of the West Coast out here, you know. And they were playing a place called Madame Wong's East. And I remember going down to the club. It was just me and Athena and her boyfriend at the time, right? And we just went down there, and it was a band called Hollywood Rose. And Axl was singing for the band. He was sort of what you would remember him from the "Welcome to the Jungle" video? Over-the-top glam, hair just teased out -- you know, just really pretty insane and wild.

[…]

I mean, it was like a Monday night. You know, there was like maybe eight to 15 people in the club. You know, it was this little teeny club upstairs. The way I could tell it was the same attitude that he had was the same attitude I had -- he was playing as if he was playing for a million people. You know, I mean, his attitude was, you know, I'm going-- You know, he didn't have this-- I mean, he had a great vibe. He just came onstage and he was -- "electric" I guess is the best word to say.

Spin, July 1999

The bands Rose and Hollywood Rose would have various members, and Marc Canter mentions Johnny Kreis (drums), Rick Mars (bass), Andre Troxx and Steve Darrow (bass) [Marc Canter, "Reckless Road", 2007].

In Hollywood, you needed to have a tape. You needed a tape to get a club date, you needed a tape to get any interest, and you needed to send your tape into the Music Connection for it to get reviewed. Everybody had needed a tape of some sort, which left the problem that we didn’t have a drummer, because we never thought about it. So we quickly had to find a drummer, and through the Recycler we found this guy, Johnny, who lived in Orange County. Johnny came up and, with him – I think we played him the songs that we had, that we were gonna record the day that we were to record them, and he came up with all the beats right then; he did a great job. We later added a bass player, as we needed to. There were, actually, two bass players. There was Rick, who called himself Rick Mars, which was interesting, because there was Mick Mars from Motley Crue. And then there was a friend of mine by the name of Andre; he played bass, too.

Chrome Media, August 2, 2005

Kreis would later say he was invited to play drums for Hollywood Rose by Izzy who knew Kreis from the Shire:

I'm sure you heard stories about how HR found me in a throw-away magazine musicians classified section well it wasn't HR it was Izzy and Shire!....then after a while Izzy who wanted to do something more the style he liked and invited me to jam with HR and do a demo recording! [...] Izzy back then was an absolute gentlemen, and he still is one of the most coolest people I have ever known even these days 20 years later!…

Slam! January 2005

Actually Izzy and I played together in a band called Shire which was more along the lines of Melodic Metal, a la Scorpions, Def Leppard. Izzy played bass then, but he was also collaborating and writing songs with Axl, it wasn't long before they needed someone to lay tracks down for their new project which was materializing rather very quickly. Izzy's and Axl's songs were very streety and bluesy but had a very strong edge, and very related to what was going in the lives of young rocker kids on the street. Finally after a disappointing attempt at getting a record deal with Shire, moonlighting and playing a few gigs with Izzy's and Axl's band I made the decision to leave Shire, and play drums solely for Hollywood Rose, or back then as a few of you rocker buddies who were hanging out with us Back in those days, of one of those buddies and an absolute awesome guitarist and friend Tracii Gunns, seen our name change a few times to ROSE, AXL, then finally Hollywood Rose.

Chopaway, February 2007

According to this quote, Kreis got in the band when they needed a drummer for recording their demo:

We did all the song writing and put together a whole set before we even looked for anybody else. Then we had an opportunity to go into a studio and record some stuff, because we wanted to find musicians and to find shows around town you needed a tape. The infamous demo tape! My family gave me some money and we booked some time and then we needed to find a drummer, because we had just been working off a drum machine. There's a couple of papers here and one is The Recycler and one is Music Connection. And from one of those two, I think it was The Recycler, we found Johnny Kries. Just a drummer and I don't think he even rehearsed. He basically came in and we told him where the studio was and he showed up that day. We played for twenty minutes and showed him the songs and he put down the tracks. And then me and Izzy just traded off playing bass.

MetalShrine, November 19, 2004

According to Kreis, the setlist of their first demo was Rose, Wreckless, Shadow of Your Love and My Way Your Way:

[...] I have a copy of the very first demo we did, on cassette tape, which is now slowly disintegrating though time cause the label I remember was white, and now it's a dark brown and it said Rose, Wreckless, Shadow of Your Love, and My Way Your Way.

Chopaway, February 2007

The band would record another demo with five songs, "Shadow of Your Love", "Reckless Life", "Anything Goes", "Killing Time" and "Rocker." These songs would in 2004 be released on the album "The Roots of Guns N' Roses" [see later chapter].

Kreis would recount playing their first big show at The Country Club:

Well there were many, but one of the interesting ones was when we, HR played our first big gig and what was considered back then as one of the biggest venues in the Valley, The Country Club in Reseda, California and from the minute the curtain opened, all I see from my position behind the drums was bewildered faces! in the crowd!... in like..."What the Hell is This!".....As We Played a style of music that was so different, So Primal!....and So Down To Earth!... and The Glam Spiked Big Hair! and yet everyone can relate, because Axl and Iz, wrote their songs, which followed how they lived!... It was Streety Rock N Roll!... with a Raw Bluesy Edge!

It was How We All Felt Growing Up!....and We didn't care if you liked us or not!....but you'll hear us!... you see, back then most bands were on the 80's melodic trip playing hook oriented tunes that were very polished and clean!

well with us!...We Were Loud and Proud! the best way t

The Slam! January 2005

One of the coolest memories was the first time we played a very large venue/club called The Country Club in Reseda California, and the expression on peoples faces as we unleashed our brand of Street Metal/Rock N Roll, from sitting on my drums I can almost read their minds saying "What The Hell Is This"….and yet Hollywood Rose in the very beginning was hitting a nerve in every person who was in that hall that night, a nerve that Would carry at least two of the musicians of HR to become one of Rocks Icons! To Fame!

Chopaway, February 2007

One of our - well, one of my most memorable gigs with Hollywood Rose was a show at a place in the San Fernando Valley called The Country Club, one of the most largest venues when we came out for our first time, and from the first note [we] played, the audience was in awe! They were blown away by the wreckless yet raw bluesy rock riffs and drumbeats crowned by the most intense vocal style of the one and only Axl Rose.

L.A.'s Burning Blog, December 2, 2008

Kreis would also be asked if the band partied much:

Surprisingly, we were in a sense just kids with lots of energy and exploding hormones, which comes with being young adolescent rock musicians with the drive and strive to reach the top! Believe it or not, partying was not too prevalent then with HR… that I knew of, but hanging HR flyers all around Hollywood looked like it was drug induced. Though I’d like to mention that one gig HR did at the Music Machine in Santa Monica, it was a late night and we opened up for a band called Stryper. One of my roadies backstage found me a coffee machine with really, really strong coffee - in fact it would put Starbucks to shame. Having no money for drinks I told my roadie, this should do the trick! Then when we hit the stage playing [a] song [which] back then [was] called Wreckless (the original version, nothing like it in the world!) which featured medium tempo double-bass riff througout the whole song! - well, that night during that song, it sounded way! way! way! too fast!… just like a cruise Missile racing a Snaik, and I will never forget the look on Chris, Axl and Izzy’s faces, looking back at me and saying "Dude! Slow Down!" Yep! I was absolutely torched on caffeine! Back to your question, we would have a few beers or so and that would be the extent of the partying.

L.A.'s Burning Blog, December 2, 2008

Weber would talk about their live shows and early songs:

I believe [we played] like somewhere between fifteen and twenty shows! Song titles live were: “Killing Time”, “Shadow of your love”, “Hollywood Girls”, “Anything Goes” , “Beat on my Head”, “Back off Bitch”, “International Boys”, “Rocker”, “Cold Hard Cash” and “Rock and Roll Rose”.

MetalShrine, November 19, 2004

Kreis would later indicate that Axl and the other guys in the band had "differences in personal chemistry":

Axl… at least from my point of view back then, he always treated me very well, he was very clever, and motivated to succeed in the industry, never took a swing at me or threw me off a ten story high building! After lighting me on fire!… nope! none of that!… he was very business savy!… but there were differences in personal chemistry with the other guys in the band!

Slam! January 2005

Later Kreis would be asked about the relationship between Axl and Chris Weber, but state that it was the relationship between Axl and Izzy that was bad:

Back then I didn’t see too much tension between Axl and Chris, but there was some. The most tension, at times, was between Axl and Izzy… really intense! Yet in the end when it came to show time, we all did our job and got along! At least for the next 45mins to an hour.

L.A.'s Burning Blog, December 2, 2008

Weber, Kreis, Izzy, Axl, Mars
Madam Wong's West

Weber would later summarize the story of Hollywood Rose:

Hollywood Rose started out as a band called AXL. And that was me, Izzy and Axl. Then the drummer and bass player came along afterwards. Then we changed the name of the band to Rose and then it became Hollywood Rose. That band stayed intact with me, Axl and Izzy and then the bass player and drummer. The bass player was never part of the band. He was just part of it when we were playing live, so it was just basically us three. Three leaders and then we had these other guys playing and Johnny [Kreis] was consistently our drummer.

MetalShrine, November 19, 2004

by **Soulmonster** Sat May 15, 2021 8:11 am

04. BEFORE GUNS N' ROSES - Page 2 Newbor11

SONG: RECKLESS LIFE

Album:
Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide, 1986, track no. 1.

GN'R Lies, 1988, track no. 1.

Info:
This song was an old Hollywood Rose song played in 1984. It was actually on a Hollywood Rose demo tape together with 'Nice Boys' and 'Shadow of Your Love' that was handed to Steven by Izzy before GN'R was founded ["My Appetite for Destruction", 2010].

Written by:
Lyrics: Axl Rose and Izzy Stradlin.
Music: Axl Rose and Izzy Stradlin.

Musicians:
Vocals: Axl Rose; lead guitar: Slash; rhythm guitar: Izzy Stradlin; bass: Duff McKagan; drums: Steven Adler.

Live performances:
This song came from Hollywood Rose and was used at the first Guns N' Roses shows and played until 1989. Then it was played three times in 1993. It has not been played since then. In total it has, as of {UPDATEDATE}, at least been played {RECKLESSSONGS} times.

Lyrics:

I'm reckless and feelin' no pain
You know I've got no need to control
Livin' with the danger I'm always on the edge now
With million dollars visions that I hold
Livin' like this never ever tore my life apart
I know how to maintain and
You know I know my part

On a holiday
A permanent vacation
I'm livin' on a cigarette with wine
I'm never alone 'cause I got myself
Yes, I imitate myself all of the time
Livin' like this never ever tore my life apart
I know how to maintain 'cause it's comin' from my heart
I lead a reckless life
And I don't need your advice
I lead a reckless life
And you know it's my only vice

Reckless life
I lead a reckless life
I lead a reckless life
And you know it's my only -
Reckless life
I lead a reckless life
I lead a reckless life
And you know it's my only vice

Quotes regarding the song and its making:

Axl introducing the song in 1985:

This song is for anybody getting drunk. This song is "Reckless".

Hollywood Rose playing at Madame Wong's West, July 20, 1984

Steven, discussing recording the drums in 1985:

On thing always bugged me about the very beginning of the record. The count-in to 'Reckless Life' is my very first hit on the drums. It's the high hat and cowbell. When I hit the cowbell the stick slid off. So my first recorded note is muted, it's not all there.

"My Appetite for Destruction", 2010

by **Soulmonster** Sat May 15, 2021 8:12 am

SONG: NICE BOYS

Album:
Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide, 1986, track no. 2.

GN'R Lies, 1988, track no. 2.

Info:
This Rose Tattoo cover came from Hollywood Rose and it was actually on a Hollywood Rose demo tape together with 'Reckless Life' and 'Shadow of Your Love' that was handed to Steven by Izzy before GN'R was founded ["My Appetite for Destruction", 2010].

Written by:
Angry Anderson, Mick Cocks, Geordie Leach, Dallas "Digger" Royall, Peter Wells (Rose Tattoo).

Musicians:
Vocals: Axl Rose; lead Guitar: Slash; rhythm guitar: Izzy Stradlin; bass: Duff McKagan; drums: Steven Adler.

Live performances:
Nice Boys was mainly played in the band's early days but has been played now and then after that. In total it has, as of {UPDATEDATE}, at least been played {NICEBOYSSONGS} times.

Lyrics:

She hit town like a rose in bloom
Smellin' sweet, sweet perfume
The color faded the petals died
Down in the city no one cried
In the streets garbage lies
Protected by a million flies
The roaches so big you know that they got bones
Moved in and made a tenement home I said

Nice boys don't play rock and roll
Nice boys don't play rock and roll
I'm not a nice boy!

Sweet sixteen she was fresh and clean
Wanted so bad to be part of the scene
She met the man and she did the smack
She paid the price layin' flat on her back
Wanted so bad just to please the boys
Then ended up just being a toy
Played so hard burned her life away
Lies were told no promises made

You know
Nice boys don't play rock and roll
Nice boys don't play rock and roll
I'm not a nice boy!
And I never was

Young and fresh when she hit town
Hot for kicks just to get around
But now she lays in a filthy room
She kills the pain with a fuck and a spoon
In the streets garbage lies
Protected by a million flies
You know the roaches so big
You know that they got bones
Moved in and made a tenement home

Nice boys don't play rock and roll
Nice boys don't play rock and roll
Nice boys don't play rock and roll
Nice boys don't play rock and roll
Nice boys don't play rock and roll
Na Na Na Na Na Na, baby
Nice boys don't play rock and roll
Nice boys don't play rock and roll
I'll bet your mamma said
Nice boys don't play rock and roll
Nice boys don't play rock and roll
Nice boys don't play rock and roll
Nice boys don't play rock and roll
Nice boys don't play rock and roll
Nice boys

Quotes regarding the song and its making:

According to Steven, it was Axl's love for Tattoo Rose that resulted in the band playing this cover:

Axl told me that the first concert he saw live was Aerosmith. The band Rose Tattoo opened up the show, turning Axl on to them and inspiring him later to have our band perform the Rose Tattoo classic 'Nice Boys'

"My Appetite for Destruction", 2010

Steven would also say that when recording this song in 1986 for their debut EP, Axl overdubbed his own vocals. This would if so be the first time Axl did this, something he would do frequently later in his career.

The only stuff they overdubbed [for Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide] was the backing vocals. If you listen closely to "Nice Boys", you can hear Axl singing backup to his own vocals.

"My Appetite for Destruction", 2010

Axl, talking about the song at live shows in 1985:

This is our theme song, 'Nice Boys Don't Play Rock N' Roll'

The Troubadour, June 6, 1985

I wanna dedicate this song to the band Poison. This is called 'Nice Boys Don't Play Rock N' Roll'.

The Troubadour, September 20, 1985

This is dedicated to everybody that thinks this band has a bad attitude. This is called 'Nice Boys Don't Play Rock N' Roll'.

The Troubadour, November 22, 1985

Talking about their tour of Australia in late 1988:

Our next stop was Australia; we did a short tour that hit Sydney and Melbourne, and since our record was just barely cracking their consciousness, we resuscitated a few covers, like 'Marseilles' by the Angels and 'Nice Boys Don't Play Rock 'N' Roll,' which is by one of Australia's greatest rock bands, Rose Tattoo. We made a point of getting in touch with them and arranging to meet, and I must say that the leader of their band, Angry Anderson, was everything I though he'd be. Angry had more tattoos than anyone I'd ever seen, and he was every bit as real and honest as I'd hoped for.

Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York. p. 259

by **Soulmonster** Sat May 15, 2021 8:12 am

SONG: MOVE TO THE CITY

Album:
Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide, 1986, track no. 3.

GN'R Lies, 1988, track no. 3.

Info:
Another old song stemming from Hollywood Rose. Penned by Chris Weber and Izzy together with their friend and bass player D.J.

Written by:
Izzy Stradlin, Chris Weber and D.J. (Daniel Nicolson).

Musicians:
Vocals: Axl Rose; lead guitar: Slash; rhythm guitar: Izzy Stradlin; bass: Duff McKagan; drums: Steven Adler.; horn: Matt McKagan (unknown who the rest of the horn players were).

Live performances:
'Move to the City' came from Hollywood Rose and was played regularly up until 1992. It has not been played since then. In total it has, as of {UPDATEDATE}, at least been played {MOVESONGS} times.

Lyrics:

You pack your bags and mou move to the city
There's something missin' here at home
You fix your hair and you look real pretty
It's time to get out on your own
You're always fightin' with your mama and your papa
Yo' family life is one big pain
When ya gonna move to the city
To the city where it all began

You gotta move you gotta move
Ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma
You gotta move

You stole your mama's car and your daddy's plastic credit card
You're sixteen and you can't get a job
You're not goin' very far
You're always ridin' with the teachers and the police
This life is much too insane
When are you, you gonna move to the city
To the city where it all began

You gotta move you gotta move
Ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma
You gotta move

To the city
With the real nitty gritty
Aw child ain't it a pity
Sometimes it gets too shitty
Come on and hit me

You're on the streets and it ain't so pretty
At least you get ta do what you please
You do what you gotta do for the money
At times you end up on your knees
I'm always buyin' with local desert junkies
This city life is one big pain
But you, you had to move to the city
To the city where it all began

You gotta move you gotta move
Ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma
You gotta move

To the city
With the real nitty gritty
Aw child ain't it a pity
Sometimes it gets too shitty
Come on and hit me

Quotes regarding the song and its making:

When Steven and Slash went to watch Hollywood Rose live in 1984, Move To The City was part of the set:

The bass player's name was DJ. I believe he helped write ' Move to the City', one of the songs they performed.

"My Appetite for Destruction", 2010

This DJ who played bass for a short time in Hollywood Rose, also has writing credits on the song.

I just looked at a Live ?!*@ Like A Suicide cassette tape, and on it, “Move to the City” is credited: Stradlin, me, and D.J., which is a fella who was a friend of ours. Then later, everybody in the band that wasn’t even part of the band at the time is credited for it. So, there are a lot of interesting things that happened with credits that aren’t totally on the up-and-up. I’ll put it like that.

Vinyl Writer Music, August 15, 2022

And Duff would mention that the song was written by the time he joined Guns N' Roses:

Izzy and Axl already had some songs, and the other guys knew them: "Think About You," "Anything Goes," "Move To The City," "Shadow of Your Love," and "Don't Cry." And we did sped-up punk versions of the Stones' "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel".

Duff' autobiography, "It's So Easy", 2011, p. 88-89

Axl introducing the song in 1985:

This is a song about coming to L.A. This is a song called 'Move to the City'.

The Troubadour, June 6, 1985

This is a song dedicated to anybody that got tired of wherever the fuck they were and moved to a big city such as L.A. This is called, 'Move to the City'.

Madame Wong's East, July 4, 1985

When they recorded the song, Duff would get his brother, Hank, to play horns:

One of the staples in our early sets was a tune called 'Move To The City,' which was eventually recorded for our Live! Like A Suicide EP. We always heard that song the way it was recorded - with a horn section. And sometimes, even at the smallest venues, where we could barely all fit in the backstage area, we put together a few brass instruments to come onstage for the song. I recruited my brother Matt, who played trombone, to be part of the horn section.

Duff' autobiography, "It's So Easy", 2011, p. 88-89

by **Soulmonster** Sat May 15, 2021 8:12 am

SONG: ANYTHING GOES

Album:
Appetite for Destruction, 1987, track no. 11.

Written by:
Lyrics: Axl Rose and Izzy Stradlin.
Music: Axl Rose, Izzy Stradlin and Chris Weber.

Musicians:
Vocals: Axl Rose; lead guitar: Slash; rhythm guitar: Izzy Stradlin; bass: Duff McKagan; drums: Steven Adler.

Live performances:
This song came from Hollywood Rose and was used at the first Guns N' Roses shows. In total it has, as of {UPDATEDATE}, at least been played {AGSONGS} times.

Lyrics:

I been thinkin' bout
Thinkin' bout sex
Always hungry for somethin'
That I haven't had yet
Maybe baby you got somethin' to lose
Well I got somethin', I got somethin' for you

My way - your way
Anything goes tonight
My way - your way
Anything goes

Panties 'round your knees
With your ass in debris
Doin' dat grind with a push and squeeze
Tied up, tied down, up against the wall
Be my rubbermade baby
An' we can do it all

My way - your way
Anything goes tonight

Quotes regarding the song and its making:

Writing the song:

Me and Izzy and this guy Chris Weber wrote it a long time ago. It's had different verses at different times. Every time I'd do it live, people liked it, but it just depressed the shit outta me on stage. (...) We did it real fast. Then we wrote another version about our times at the old studio and we kept that for a while. Then we came down to record it, we decided we didn't want to cut the track. But Tom [Zutaut; Geffen A&R man] was very adamant about having that song recorded, so we figured 'we're gonna have to rewrite it.' In preproduction we came up with something we liked a lot better, but the verses weren't written until the night we recorded the song. Basically, I just wanted that song an 'anything goes in sex' type song.

Hit Parader, March 1988

Izzy and Axl already had some songs [when I joined the band], and the other guys knew them: "Think About You," "Anything Goes," "Move To The City," "Shadow of Your Love," and "Don't Cry." And we did sped-up punk versions of the Stones' "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel".

Duff's autobiography, "It's So Easy", 2011, p. 59

That used to be a 12 1/2 minute song.

Hit Parader, March 1988

Used to be speed metal.

Hit Parader, March 1988

There was one that came from way earlier. It's a song called Anything Goes. It's probably the most obscure song on 'Appetite,' and it was rewritten a lot of times before we did that record. Izzy and Axl had been playing it before I came around.

Leslie West interviews Slash, August 2017

Introducing the song:

This is our theme song. You get to do anything you want, right? 'Anything Goes.'

The Troubadour, July 20, 1985

Recording the song:

Mike [Clink] asked me to change 'Anything Goes' and that really hit a nerve. "Fuck you, don't tell us how to write songs." I got so pissed because you don't meddle with the music. I pouted, stomped around, and behaved like a real dick. (...) So we tried the idea, and to my surprise, it came out great. My resistance had just been from a deep-seated desire to guard our songs, and no one messes with GNR's tunes. (...) Mike's change happens right when Axl starts singing the first verse. It was initially at a slower time, and his idea made it faster and like I said, better.

"My Appetite for Destruction", 2010

'Anything Goes' is one of the oldest songs on record. If you look at the credits, there are a lot of writers listed for this one because that song was around before Axl and I first hooked up. By the time Guns N' Roses got to it, we'd changed the chorus and the verses around, and Axl rewrote the lyrics. When I recorded the solo on it, I bounced back and forth between the talk box and the electric guitar. If you listen to it, the talk box dips in EQ when it switches over. I didn't know any better because I didn't have one to use live. I remember when we were mixing it, Izzy asked, "Did you mean to do that?" I was like, "Just shut up."

Guitar Edge Magazine, March 2007

Talking about the song:

And after [Think About You] it would be 'Anything Goes' [that is my least favorite,] which is probably the oldest song on the record. By the time we recorded it for Appetite, that song had been played by so many different configurations of the band and gone through so many revisions. It came out cool in the end, I guess, but it's a little choppy as far as arrangement is concerned.

Classic Rock Magazine, July 2007

by **Soulmonster** Sat May 15, 2021 8:12 am

SONG: BACK OFF BITCH

Album:
Use Your Illusion I, 1991, track no. 8.

Written by:
Paul Huge and Axl Rose.

Musicians:
Drums: Matt
Bass: Duff
Lead and Rhythm Guitars: Slash
Rhythm and Lead Guitars: Izzy
Vocals: Axl
Background Vocals: Slash, Duff

Live performances:
This song is pre-Guns N' Roses and dates back to Hollywood Rose or maybe even earlier since Axl's Lafayette friend, Paul Huge, is listed as co-writer and Axl himself has stated it dates back to 1982. It has almost exclusively been played in 1985 and 1986 but also once in 1991. In total it has, as of {UPDATEDATE}, at least been played {BOBSONGS} times.

Lyrics:

Oh baby, pretty baby
Oh honey, you let me down honey
I ain't playin' childhood games no more
I said it's time for me to even the score
So stake your claim, your claim to fame
But baby call another name
When you feel the fire, and taste the flame

Back off, back off bitch
Down in the gutter dyin' in the ditch
You better back off, back off bitch
Face of an angel with the love of a witch
Back off, back off bitch
Back off, back off bitch

Makin' love
Cheap heartbreaker, broken backed,
Nasty ballbreaker, stay out of my bed,
outta my head
If it's lovin' you, I'm better off dead

Back off, back off bitch
Down in the gutter dyin' in the ditch
You better back off, back off bitch
Face of an angel with the love of a witch
Back off, back off bitch
Back off, back off bitch

Emotions ripped, gone on a binge
Life lipped, I said you're off the hinge
Tellin' lies of such fame and glory
I don't even wanna hear your story

Back off, back off bitch
Down in the gutter dyin' in the ditch
You better back off, back off bitch
Face of an angel with the love of a witch
Back off, back off bitch
It's such a pity that you're such a bitch
Back off, back off bitch
It's time to burn-burn the witch
Back off, back off bitch
Back off, back off bitch
Back off, back off bitch
Bitch
Bitch
Bitch
Bitch

Hey wha'd'ya think he's tryin' to say there anyway?
I think it's something each person's s'posed to take in their own special way
Fucking bitch

Quotes regarding the song and its making:

Talking about writing the song:

I mean, there’s Back off Bitch that was written, like, in ’82.

Rockline, November 27, 1991

Introducing the song::

This is 'Back Off Bitch,' for every guy and girl who just bugs the fuck out of them.

Madame Wong's West, July 20, 1984

This is a real pretty tune. For everybody out there that has somebody, who won't fucking leave them alone, who bugs you a little too much, this song is called, 'Back Off Bitch'.

The Troubadour, November 22, 1985

Talking about recording the song:

I play the main solo. I used to play this high-end trill thing for the first solo, but I could never play it consistently. So I just took it off altogether and let Izzy put a lead on, which is really a lot cooler. [...] It's a contemporary-metal style song. [laughs] I mean, it's so generic in that way. It's like E, D, D, D flat, D-that kind of thing. [...] I am just picking them [the fast arpeggios]; I can't tap to save my life.

Guitar World, February 1992

by **Soulmonster** Sat May 15, 2021 8:12 am

FEBRUARY 23, 1984

STEVEN AND SLASH GO TO SEE "HOLLYWOOD ROSE"

As described in previous chapters, Slash had been looking for a good singer to lift his bands:

[...] what happens is [Slash]'s frustrated. He can't really find a singer. Finally finds a singer, but it's not really clicking. And then he realizes that the only way it's gonna work is if he finds what what he called a professional singer. Someone that plays like the Troubadour, the Whisky, and that, you know, can get out and entertain a crowd and have great range.

Let There Be Talk, August 29, 2013

After having heard the Hollywood Rose demo from Izzy, Slash and Steven went to see Hollywood Rose play at the Gazzarri's [Marc Canter, "Reckless Road", 2007] hoping to get Axl in his band:

And we heard that this band Rose was playing at Gazarri's and at the time it was Izzy and Bill. It wasn't an Axl yet. And he said, "I heard this band called Rose and I'd love to get Bill and Izzy in my band," or join with them or something. And so we went to see him them Steven Adler. Steven Adler was already hanging out with Slash and drumming. And for a dollar to get into Gazzarri's... I think they're doing a night where every band plays three song.

Let There Be Talk, August 29, 2013

Marc Canter would describe seeing Hollywood Rose this night:

And I just remember seeing Izzy flying around with his guitar and Axl just vibrating, just belting out these extreme, gnarly vocals with his veins popping out of his neck. And it was just intense and right away would call our attention.

Let There Be Talk, August 29, 2013

Steven and Slash would recount how it went down:

Slash and I were in a band called Road Crew. One day we found a flyer for a band called Rose. We said, "These guys look cool-we oughta check them out." So we went to see them at [the Sunset Strip rock club] Gazzarri's and said, "We get those two in our group and we're gonna have the hottest band around."

Spin, July 1999

Steven was more or less responsible for hooking up myself with Axl. I had already met Izzy.

Kerrang! January 15, 1994

Steven and I went to see Hollywood Rose at Gazzari's and it was the first time that I beheld, hands down, the best singer in Hollywood at the time: W. Axl Rose. Much like the tape, the show was nothing more than an amateur garage band doing their best, but they had an amazing sense of reckless abandon and energy. At least two of them did: apart from Izzy and Axl, the band was pretty nondescript, but those two friends from Lafayette, Indiana, had an ominous presence about them. Izzy kept doing knee slides all over the stage and Axl screamed his fucking heart out-their performance was blistering. Axl's voice drew me in immediately; it was so versatile, and underneath his impossibly high-pitched shrieking, the bluesy natural rhythm he had was riveting.

Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York

I said to Slash, “If we get that singer and that guitar player, we’ll have a kick-ass band.”

VH1 Documentary, July 5, 2004

Me and Slash, we were walking down Sunset Boulevard and we saw this one ﬂyer and it just stood out. …The singer and guitar player, they just looked so cool. It was Rose. Hollywood Rose. It was Axl and Izzy. And we went into Gazzarri’s and we watched them.

Rolling Stone - Extract from "Nöthin’ but a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the ’80s Hard Rock Explosion", March 8, 2021

This gig was probably the one on February 23, 1984.

A singer like Axl was exactly what Slash had wanted in his band:

Some time later, I met Axl, and Steven said, 'They have a band—you’ve got to see their band.’ At that time, I wasn’t really interested in another guitar player because I’d never played with another guitar player. I just wanted to steal Axl for my own band, but I couldn’t get Axl away from Izzy. They were like, 'F—k you!’ And I was like, 'All right, f—k you, too, then!’ If it won’t happen, it won’t happen.

Blast! April 16, 1988

I had a band called Roadcrew and we could never find a good singer which is why I wanted Axl. […] Trust me, out of all the musicians in this town, you could find a million and one guitar players and they could all be pretty good. But you'd be lucky to find one good singer. Because guitar playing is something you can pick up. It's a physical thing but at the same time it's an instrument – unlike using your voice which comes from the heart.

Guitar, February 1995

Marc Canter would talk about how Slash's Roadcrew fell apart after Slash saw Izzy and Axl in Hollywood Rose (or only Rose, as Canter says the band changed name first after Slash had joined), and that Slash and Axl met after the show:

[Roadcrew] fell apart after Slash had heard of this band called ROSE. He wanted to get Izzy and Axl to join ROAD CREW. So at that time you could go see ROSE at Gazzarris on the strip and it was only like a buck to get in. Immediately you could tell there was something about the two. Axl was just bouncing and had all this energy and Izzy was sliding around on his knees and playing with all of this energy as well, The music was a little fast, it was like double bass drum fast, almost speed metal stuff but you could see there was something more to it than that. They met after the gig [...]

Legendary Rock Interviews, April 22, 2012

by **Soulmonster** Sat May 15, 2021 8:13 am

JUNE 1984

SLASH AND STEVEN JOIN "HOLLYWOOD ROSE"

MAY 10, 1984: WEBER LEAVES HOLLYWOOD ROSE

Hollywood Rose played a show at the Music Machine, opening for Stryper and also, according to Vicky Hamilton but most likely incorrect, Black Sheep:

I booked them another gig right away at (another club) Music Machine, opening for Stryper and Black Sheep, which had Slash as the guitar player.

Looking back, I remember it was kind of funny because Axl was doing the pogo on stage, you know, pogo-ing like punk rock-style in the 80s. He didn’t do the snake-movement thing until later after he saw Richard Black doing it for Shark Island. I remember they did a Todd Rundgren cover, “Bang on the Drum.”

Metal Sludge, March 2012

Stryper played a show at the Music Machine on May 10, 1984, and this is likely the date of this show.

Chris Weber and Axl had a fall-out at the show:

We played a show in mid-’84 at a place called the Music Machine – it’s not in Hollywood, but it’s close to Hollywood, in Santa Monica. The show was alright, so it sort of went off without a hitch. The more I think of it the more I recall. What ended up happening is, somewhere during the show I think I hit him in the head with my guitar, the top of my guitar, and he got really embarrassed and upset. We got through the show and then afterward he was just fuming, and he went on this little, um, sulking. I don’t know what I’m thinking of his – he got an attitude and he stormed off, and sort of that was the end. I mean, it wasn’t set up in any way. We weren’t planning on ending it, it was just him walking off.

Chrome Media, August 2, 2005

Then Hollywood Rose played a show with Stryper at the Music Machine. The way I remember it is something happened onstage, I think I swung around and hit Axl with the top of my guitar. My memory was that he was pissed off. And I wouldn’t be the first person to say that Axl’s got a relatively unique ego. It could be easily damaged and easily inﬂated at the same time. Anyway, nobody got fired, but we kind of disbanded.

Rolling Stone - Extract from "Nöthin’ but a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the ’80s Hard Rock Explosion", March 8, 2021

According to Hamilton, who claims Black Sheep with Slash also played at this Music Machine show, Axl and Slash met at this show and it was she who introduced them to each other:

After the show I introduced Axl to Slash - who knew that was, like, history in the making. But that was the first time Slash met Axl.

VH1 Documentary, July 5, 2004

I came to manage Guns N’ Roses just at the tail end of Hollywood Rose. I booked Hollywood Rose to open for a band called Black Sheep at the Music Machine, and that was the band that Slash was currently in. So that night I introduce Slash to Axl, and who knew that was, like, history in the making. Chris Weber had quit the band and Slash wasn’t very happy in Black Sheep. I suggested to him that he try out.

Chrome Media, August 2, 2005

I had always been a big fan of Slash and his playing. I always kept an eye on what he was doing and I booked Hollywood Rose when i was an agent for Silver Lining Entertainment which I was also doing when I was working with and booking Stryper. Axl and Izzy came into Silver Lining and played me their demo tape and it was amazing and I booked them sight unseen. The first show was at Madam Wong’s with Candy and then I booked them with Black Sheep, Slash’s band at the Music Machine. Around that point Chris Weber left Hollywood Rose and Slash entered the picture and I started working with them then. I really liked both Chris and Slash. I thought Chris was a really good writer and I’m still friends with him to this day. It was so funny because our paths always seem to cross. Well after those days, probably ten years later I was working with a band and in England and saw this band whose guitarist was….Chris Weber. I was like “Holy shit!” (laughs). Chris is a great guy and now he works at a recovery/sober living place. He’s just a really good guy who was very important to that whole time and place. No question about it. He co-wrote a couple of those songs on Appetite so he’s a talented writer and a talented cat in general.

Legendary Rock Interviews, April 27, 2012

Hamilton's recollection must be wrong since Slash played in Black Sheep in April-May 1985 and we know Slash played in Hollywood Rose before that. Most likely Hamilton did (re-)introduce Axl and Slash to each other (they had likely met on February 23 when Steven and Slash went to see Axl and Izzy play at the Gazzarris, but Slash was not playing in Black Sheep at the time.

In 2012, Hamilton would tell the story again, but this time include that Axl and Slash had indeed met previously:

I remember it like it was in slow motion. I had actually known Slash for a while at this point, and I introduced Slash to Axl. Later on, Slash went on to say he and Axl had met earlier. But in my mind, the way I remember it, that was the first time they met that night at the Music Machine show. Who knows the real truth?

Metal Sludge, March 2012

Marc Canter would be asked about Hamilton suggesting Axl and Slash met after a Black Sheep show, and state that Hamilton remembers it wrong [Personal communication, January 29, 2021].

SLASH GETS A SHOT AT REPLACING WEBER

With one guitarist short, Axl and Izzy put out an advertisement looking for a new lead guitar player which caught the attention of Slash.

The first time I met [Axl] was at an apartment. They'd had an ad in the paper. Him and Izzy had an ad in the paper for a lead guitar player. Now, I'd already met Izzy, without knowing that's who I was calling back, and I went down and met Axl. And he was on the phone talking about himself for... for the entire time that we were... He was talking to some chick. I don't know what was going on, but that was when we first met. And nothing came out of that.

97.7 HTZ-FM, January 1994

I didn't want to play with Izzy but Izzy and Axl came as a package.

Guitar, February 1995

With Izzy and Axl and I didn’t hit it off right away, because these guys had a definite agenda. You know, Izzy moved all the way from Indiana to Los Angeles to become the rock star kind of thing, and he moved to Hollywood. And Axl followed him - Axl turned around and hitchhiked all the way here, and found Izzy.

Rock in the North (UK), 1999

When we first hooked up, it was pretty uneventful, the first time we met actually I answered an ad that Izzy and Axl had in the paper looking for a guitar player. I went down there to where they were staying, which were some little guest room off of a house above Sunset. It was real dark, it was one room, they had like a bed that took up 75 percent of it, a TV that took up another 10 percent, and there was like 15 percent walking space. [...] Axl was on the phone and Izzy was the one I did all the talking with. [...] so later on I answer this ad and it turns out to be Izzy and this guy Axl. The whole time I was there, Axl never got off the phone. Axl was in Mark Twain mode, Twain wreck, which was when he starts talking, ‘cause he won’t stop.

SuicideGirls, February 29, 2008

That was our first meeting. Nothing came of out of that. Nothing happened.

SuicideGirls, February 29, 2008

When it comes to guitars, I know this is gonna sound crazy but I never intended to be in a two-guitar band. When Guns N' Roses came together, Izzy was already in it and he was already very tight with Axl and that's the way it went. It was fine.

Ultimate Guitar, August 25, 2014

This was the apartment where Izzy lived with his girlfriend Desi Craft. Craft would describe the meeting:

I remember when Slash came and auditioned. He came to the apartment where Izzy and I were living on Orchid. Izzy had me hide in the hallway while they talked and played, but I peaked through a crack to see. I remember seeing his high-top sneakers and his guitar case and I knew he would be hired. Our apartment was the central hub for the whole band. We kept the beer there.

Marc Canter, "Reckless Road", 2007

Slash had another opportunity to talk with Axl:

Then I was another time when I was actually seeing my dad. I didn’t see my dad that often but one time we hung out and we went down to Harry’s Barbeque and I looked over and there was Axl and he was talking to this chick and, again, he was doing all the talking and she was just sitting there. That went on for the whole time I was there [laughs] so I didn’t approach him and that was that.

SuicideGirls, February 29, 2008

SLASH GETS A SECOND CHANCE

Then, at some point, as Slash would recount it, he got to play for Izzy and Axl again, indicating that Slash had played for Izzy and Axl before, possibly at the small apartment when answering the ad:

[…] and again, Steven pushed me to go down and play for Axl and Izzy because the guitar player they had [=Chris Weber] wasn’t happening, and Steven persuaded Axl and Izzy to check me out again.

Axl and Izzy came down with this distant sort of attitude--the 'check-me-out’ attitude. Steven told me, unbeknownst to them, to play my most ripping heavy metal blah, blah, blah.

By this time, I’d become a proficient enough guitar player to play heavy metal, but mostly what I was into was blues stuff, but I could incorporate heavy metal into the blues or blues into heavy metal. The first thing I did was just wail, and they said, ’That’s great, but what happened to that stuff you played for us the last time we met you?’ I said, 'Oh... ’ I played it, they dug it, and we got together.

Blast! April 16, 1988

Weber would describe how Slash replaced him after the ill-fated show at the Music Machine and suggest that Slash stayed with Hollywood Rose for about a year:

After that show at the Music Machine, Slash, who was a friend of mine as well – I mean, I knew him from high school as well, both him and Tracii; all of us went to Fairfax High. He took over the guitar playing after I left. I have to wrack my brain a little bit, but he did that for a while until the end of the year. And sort of I wasn’t – I think I was hanging out, because we were still all friends, although I had sort of mixed feelings about not playing guitar in it.

Chrome Media, August 2, 2005

APPARENTLY, STEVEN JOINED, TOO

Steven joined together with Slash:

Right after that Rose gig at Gazzarri’s Slash joined up with Axl. And then they got Steven Adler in the band, and this guy Steve Darrow to play bass.

Rolling Stone - Extract from "Nöthin’ but a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the ’80s Hard Rock Explosion", March 8, 2021

Marc Canter would mention that Hollywood Rose (again, Canter says the band first changed its name from Rose to Hollywood Rose after Slash joined) was in the process of losing both its drummer (=Johnny Kreis) and guitar player (=Chris Weber) at the time, and that this opened up for Slash and Steven:

[...] I guess ROSE was on its way to falling apart as far as their drummer and guitar player and stuff. So Slash and Steven, who was also in ROAD CREW by then decided to join with those two and form HOLLYWOOD ROSE, that’s what they were gonna call it at that point.

Legendary Rock Interviews, April 22, 2012

This was possibly when Axl started calling Steven "Popcorn":

When you play you pop up and down like popcorn.

Metal Edge, January 1989; paraphrased

THE AXL, SLASH, IZZY, STEVEN, DARROW LINEUP

The lineup of Hollywood Rose was now Axl, Slash, Izzy Steven and Darrow [Marc Canter, "Reckless Road", 2007]. Steven Darrow would describe the new lineup:

At one point we got a rehearsal together with Slash, Izzy, Steve Adler, Axl and I. And it sounded really good. Slash had added a whole other dynamic, in contrast to Izzy's stuff that was simple, straight-ahead, and fast. Slash thought this would work, that we could be great. We had a few rehearsals, probably about once a week at best. It wasn't anything steady and none of us had a lot of money.

Marc Canter, "Reckless Road", 2007

The next day [after having seen Hollywood Rose at Gazarri's], I was leaving a girlfriend's house and Axl was walking up and we got to talking. We rented a studio and we were jamming on this song called "Reckless Life" and Axl grabbed the microphone and started running up and down the walls, screaming like I've never heard in my life. From the first note, I knew this was gonna be it.

Spin, July 1999

And Marc Canter would summarize it all:

And so Slash met with [Axl] afterwards and they decided to put Slash, or change Rose, or it might have been called the Hollywood Rose at that time, and call it the New Hollywood Rose. And they made some changes, they added Steven and Slash and they got rid of their drummer and their guitar player, Chris Weber. And somehow a new bass player came, Steve Darrell at that time wasn't at that gig, so somehow they conjured him up.

Let There Be Talk, August 29, 2013

Darrow would describe how he got into the band:

I had been playing with a band called Kery Doll, and I remember hearing Hollywood Rose had another gig booked for later in the month, probably at the Troubadour. So I saw Izzy one day and I said, “How’s it goin’? I heard you got another gig booked.” He goes, “What are you talking about? You’re playing it! You wanna play bass for us?” So I basically faded out of Kery Doll and faded into Hollywood Rose. We started playing, and Slash at that point was kind of a shredder. He had the B.C. Rich with the tremolo bar and he was doing a lot of dive bombs. But then he could also play the Joe Perry stuff and that kind of bluesy rock. And Steven had his double bass kit. He was really flashy and showy and had a lot of cymbals, a lot of drums. But at the same time Axl would be like, “We worked out a version of ‘Honky Tonk Women’…” trying to get more of that sort of rock ’n’ roll into the metal stuff.

Rolling Stone - Extract from "Nöthin’ but a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the ’80s Hard Rock Explosion", March 8, 2021

Robert John, who was a friend of the guys in Hollywood Rose [see later chapter], would talk about Slash:

We all thought he was a smart-assed little prick. The crew called him ‘The Snake’ behind his back […] We got to be good friends later on, but we just hated each other in the beginning.

Stephen Davies, Watch You Bleed: The Saga Of Guns N' Roses, 2008

by **Soulmonster** Sat May 15, 2021 8:13 am

JUNE 1984

IZZY LEAVES HOLLYWOOD ROSE

Izzy left after about a week:

And then Izzy kind of walked away from it. Maybe he made it to one rehearsal and then he was gone. He left and joined the band London.

Rolling Stone - Extract from "Nöthin’ but a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the ’80s Hard Rock Explosion", March 8, 2021

It was one of those weird things where Izzy was there and the next time he wasn’t. And then Axl was a little bit more involved in the way things were going than the way things were before. And then it also was the beginning of Izzy’s drug time. He started hanging out with different people and his priorities were more in that unfortunately. So anybody who wasn’t really directly involved in either making him a rock star or buying drugs was sort of low priority in his life.

Rolling Stone - Extract from "Nöthin’ but a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the ’80s Hard Rock Explosion", March 8, 2021

Oh by the way, Izzy was in the New Hollywood Rose for about a week and then he quit to join London.

Let There Be Talk, August 29, 2013

Later, Slash would claim it was Axl's sole decision to get him in the band, and that Izzy quit over it:

At some point we all hooked up when Axl approached me about playing with Hollywood Rose, which I thought was a pretty good idea at the time. Axl picked me but never talked to Izzy about it so I came along one day not knowing that there was any of this drama going on. I walk into this rehearsal studio called the Fortress in Hollywood… this grungy little room and Izzy was there and, because Axl had made this decision without Izzy’s input, Izzy quit. So Steve Darrow and Steve Adler came in and we put a band together with the four of us. That was the beginning of me and Axl’s real relationship… it started with the Hollywood Rose band.

SuicideGirls, February 29, 2008

Then Izzy quit, because... That whole guitar player syndrome, you know, like... I don't wanna have to... Izzy is the kinda guy that don't want somebody else making his decisions for him. And so when I came around...I'm sort of like a power-freak too, I guess. You know, I'm sorta like: "this is what we should do here". You know, and so we got into conflict. So he quit. Me and Axl carried the band on for a while.

97.7 HTZ-FM, January 1994

That Izzy was not impressed by Slash is confirmed in this quote:

We went through a lot of line-ups and eventually it's five years later and I'm still living in a box so I said, "We've got to make this work." We ran an ad. Slash and Stevie [Adler] turned up but when we rehearsed it didn't look good. All I had was a Les Paul and a tiny Peavey practice amp and Slash had two Marshalls. I thought, "Rich cunt, I'm living in a box." I wanted to kill Stevie. He'd just dropped acid, couldn't play, and I thought, "What a complete fucking idiot."

Mojo, June 2001

According to Darrow, Izzy also had a problem with Steven's double bass drums [Marc Canter, "Reckless Road", 2007]. Marc Canter would provide another explanation for why Izzy left: Disagreements with Axl over whether the riff for the song 'Cold Hard Cash' should be kept or not [Marc Canter, "Reckless Road", 2007].

by **Soulmonster** Sat May 15, 2021 8:13 am

JUNE 1984

THE "NEW HOLLYWOOD ROSE"

After Izzy leaving, the musical style of Hollywood Rose would turn more towards street and away from glam, and Axl would work on some of Slash's songs [Marc Canter, "Reckless Road", 2007].

After Izzy left it was almost like a new band. I think they actually changed the name from Hollywood Rose to the New Hollywood Rose. Because it was just Axl from the band, and then Slash and Steven came in together and they found a new bass player. But that version of Hollywood Rose only lasted for about three months. They had like four or five gigs, a couple of rehearsal parties, and then it kind of fell apart. And then Axl went ahead and joined Tracii in L.A. Guns.

Rolling Stone - Extract from "Nöthin’ but a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the ’80s Hard Rock Explosion", March 8, 2021

This lineup of Hollywood Rose, billed as New Hollywood Rose, played their first show on June 16, 1984 at Madame Wong's West [Marc Canter, "Reckless Road", 2007]. This was likely the first show were Slash got paid [Snakepit.org, July 2000]. Another show with this lineup took place on July 10, 1984 at the Troubadour. According to Marc Canter, Axl broke a glass against the back wall and was told they would never play the Troubadour again. Fortunately, Darrow knew the booking agent for the band Poison and was able to get Hollywood Rose back on the bill at the Troubadour for a show on August 29 [Marc Canter, "Reckless Road", 2007].

by **Soulmonster** Sat May 15, 2021 8:13 am

AXL'S AND SLASH'S RELATIONSHIP IN THE VERY EARLY DAYS

Slash would later recall Axl in the beginning of their relationship and how Slash quickly learned how sensitive Axl could be:

When he and I first met, he shacked up at my house, when I was still living at my mom’s house. And we had some interesting situations… I think because we’d first met and I didn’t really know him that well. One morning I took off and went to work, and I guess he got – in the afternoon he woke up, went up and passed out on my grandmother’s couch. [...] And I came home from work, and my mom said, “That guy, Axl, I came home and he was asleep on the couch. Grandmother had nowhere to sit.” So I told him – you know, he had to get up and whatnot, so he went downstairs, and so I thought, you know, that I had to confront this issue. So we had rehearsal that night and we got in the car, and I very delicately put it to him that it was sort of rude and whatever. And his reaction was to jump out of the car, and it was probably 35, 40 miles an hour down in Santa Monica Boulevard (laughs). And I realized that what I’d said to him had offended him, and- [...] So, from that point on, it was sort of kid gloves after that.

The Late Show with David Letterman, October 30, 2007

Anyhow, but it started off cool and I liked Axl… he came and stayed at my house but then the yin and yang of Axl’s personality started to present itself. One minute he was really, really cool and somebody that I liked a lot. You could spend almost two days with him like that. Then the smallest little thing would turn around and change his personality completely. I’m pretty even keeled; nothing really phases me. I’m probably like that to the extent that some people don’t understand how I can be so fuckin’ blasé about things [laughs]. So we had a real contrast going on, but the music was cool. When we had a good time, we had a great fucking time. But when it was bad, I couldn’t understand the origins of some of these issues and why they would be blown out of proportion to the extent that they were. To him, it meant everything. But to me, I could just never understand it.

SuicideGirls, February 29, 2008

Marc Canter would also suggest there had been some power struggles in the band in the early days, possibly hinting at Axl and Slash already at the start vying for control, something which would be claimed by Axl later [see later chapter]:

I actually told Slash not to [join Guns N' Roses] because I didn't think, I mean, I wanted him to do it, but I didn't think it would last. It was personality issues and all kinds of, you know, power, who's in charge and whatever.

Let There Be Talk, August 29, 2013

There was problems even in 1984. So those same type of problems kept coming up.

Let There Be Talk, August 29, 2013

[In Guns N' Roses] things were different musically. So I knew that the bond of music would hold them together despite some of their personalities or their power struggles or whatever that go with it.

Let There Be Talk, August 29, 2013

by **Soulmonster** Sat May 15, 2021 8:13 am

AUGUST 29, 1984

SLASH QUITS "HOLLYWOOD ROSE"

Slash and Axl would get in a fight resulting in them splitting [97.7 HTZ-FM, January 1994], some time after August 1984. Apparently, Slash quit after the August 29, 1984 Troubadour gig where Axl got into a fight with somebody in the front row:

Finally, we had this one gig where Axl got into a fight with somebody in the front row at the Troubadour and at that point I’d already been through another thing with him jumping out of my car one night. It was just tedious. The good times were good but the tedious times were really trying. So at this particular gig, when he got into this fight with this guy, and the gig wasn’t going as well, I thought it was pointless. After that show I was like, “You know what? I don’t have time for this.” [Laughs] So I was in a couple bands during that period. I was very ambitious but, at the same time, there was a limit to what I would and wouldn’t do to get by in this business. I wouldn’t do a lot of conformist sell out kind of stuff.

SuicideGirls, February 29, 2008

There was a great Troubadour show when we were Hollywood Rose with Axl and Steve Adler and myself. That was the last Hollywood Rose show. Axl got into a fight with one of the guys in the front row.

L.A. Times Soundboard, September 3, 2008

At this point, Darrow had been replaced by a bassist called Snake [Marc Canter, "Reckless Road", 2007].

Years later, when talking about his hesitation to joining Guns N' Roses, Slash would shed some more light on what had happened between him and Axl while in Hollywood Rose:

At first I didn't want to do it because me and Axl had been through some bad times together.

Guitar for the Practising Musician, September 1988

Axl was a bit temperamental, a bit moody, so we had a falling out and we split.

Circus Magazine, May 1988

Duff would go in more detail: Axl had slept with Slash's girlfriend [Duff's autobiography, "It's So Easy", 2011, p. 69].

With Slash out the band, Hollywood Rose was practically over. Axl would join LA Guns [see later chapter].

DECEMBER 31, 1984: HOLLYWOOD ROSE IS REFORMED FOR ONE FINAL SHOW

But Chris Weber wasn't entirely finished in Hollywood Rose:

But closer to the end of the year, they had booked a show for New Year’s Eve or something, and I don’t think Slash could do it; for some reason he couldn’t do it. He knew ahead of time he couldn’t do it, or he didn’t want to do it, or something. So I’d been talking – because we were friends, I’d be talking to Izzy and he said, “Why don’t we just get together again and we’ll all do it.”

Chrome Media, August 2, 2005

This show had been booked by Izzy after he quit London [see later chapter]:

Then Izzy booked a New Year’s Eve show at a club called Dancing Waters in San Pedro. They were going to put Hollywood Rose back together.

Rolling Stone - Extract from "Nöthin’ but a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the ’80s Hard Rock Explosion", March 8, 2021

That was one of Izzy’s “book a gig, get a band together later,” kind of moves. He asked me to do it and I said, “Sure.” And he had asked Axl and he actually said no at one point, because he was still in L.A. Guns. But then he convinced him later on and he said yes. And then they asked Slash.

Rolling Stone - Extract from "Nöthin’ but a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the ’80s Hard Rock Explosion", March 8, 2021

If I remember right, Slash was working at Tower Video or something like that and couldn’t get off for the show. So they called me to fill in.

Rolling Stone - Extract from "Nöthin’ but a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the ’80s Hard Rock Explosion", March 8, 2021

Slash had a job at Tower Video, and Axl had worked there, too, around the same time, behind the counter. And Slash couldn’t get the night off. Even though it was New Year’s Eve he had to work until midnight. He was a responsible employee, I guess. So Izzy reverted back to Chris Weber. And then I don’t know how Rob Gardner came into it, probably because he was playing with Axl in L.A. Guns at that point.

Rolling Stone - Extract from "Nöthin’ but a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the ’80s Hard Rock Explosion", March 8, 2021

So Hollywood Rose did that gig, which was a one-off. And I guess they wanted to continue with it but they just couldn’t figure it out exactly. And maybe they didn’t want Chris Weber. I’m not sure what happened.

Rolling Stone - Extract from "Nöthin’ but a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the ’80s Hard Rock Explosion", March 8, 2021

So long story short, now comes around Christmas of '84 and Axl and Izzy are like, you know, ready to give it up, but they thought, "We'll give it one more shot," and they put together Hollywood Rose again and did a reunion show. And they got Chris. They wanted Slash, but he was working in Tower Video and couldn't get the night off, but they ended up back with like, Chris Weber, I believe. And they did one gig and there was a little energy there and they thought, "Hmm, that's kind of interesting."

Let There Be Talk, August 29, 2013

by **Soulmonster** Sat May 15, 2021 8:14 am

SEPTEMBER 1984

DUFF MOVES TO LOS ANGELES

At the age of 19 [The Seattle Times, July 1991; Circus Magazine, November 1991; eGigs, March 3, 2008], or 20 [Guitar for the Practising Musician, April 1992], in 1983 [Guitar for the Practising Musician, April 1992], Duff decided to move to Los Angeles together with Greg Gilmore from Ten Minute Warning [Circus Magazine, November 1991] in September 1984 [Rolling Stone - Extract from "Nöthin’ but a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the ’80s Hard Rock Explosion", March 8, 2021].

Duff had considered moving to New York, too:

Why did I move out of my nice, safe, Seattle surroundings? Because it was safe and nice and comfortable. I flipped a coin. It was either New York or L.A. and it went heads, so I went to L.A. My car never would have made New Yolk anyway.

Guitar for the Practising Musician, April 1992

I was at the ripe old age of 19. I was gettin' on; I’d gone as far as I could go in Seattle; clubs were closing down; there were no record companies. It was dead. It was gone. Vancouver, too. We're talking 1984.

The Province, March 26, 1993

There was a lot of heroin in Seattle when I was playing in punk rock bands from 1979 to 1984. Heroin flowed just like that and everybody was a junkie. There were no clubs for playing, no nothing! It was one of those times in life when you have to make a choice. I had to choose between staying in Seattle or moving to Hollywood for a chance. And that's what I did.

Popular 1, July 2000

Sometime in 1982, as the scene became bigger and a recession hit Seattle, we all noticed a huge influx of heroin and pills. I witnessed my first overdose when I was 18. Addiction suddenly skyrocketed within my circle of friends, and death by overdose became almost commonplace. By the time I was 22, two of my best friends had passed from ODs.

Seattle Weekly, March 11, 2009

I packed my bags and cut my ties with my hometown of Seattle in September 1984. The idea of driving to New York in my beat-up 1971 Ford Maverick became moot as soon as I realized that, on a budget of $360, the East Coast was just too far away. I decided Los Angeles was a safer place for me than the heroin-infested punk scene of the Pacific Northwest. I was badly mistaken.

Seattle Weekly, September 17, 2009

It was between going to New York and L.A., and I had this old piece-of-shit car, and I knew it wouldn’t make it to New York.

Mark Yarm, Everybody Loves Our Town: A History of Grunge; September 2011

The day before moving he decided to switch from guitar to bass [Guitar for the Practising Musician, April 1992].

I was a guitar player before I moved out to LA. But I had heard the stories about LA, where there were millions of guitar players, and really didn't think I was good enough to be one of the top players. I mean, I wasn't ever going to be anything like Slash. So in order to get my foot in the door I decided to get a bass and a bass amp and come on down to LA.

Kerrang! March 1989; Blast, 1987

And I moved to California and I didn't I... I wasn't that good of a guitar player, really, to be like... cuz there's a million guitar players in LA. And then my drum kit was just it was a piece of junk, you know, so I said, "Okay, I'll play bass" just to get my foot in the door and this is the door I've stepped into.

MTV Documentary, November 4, 1989

I knew there were a million guitar players, a lot of whom were technically a lot better than I was. So I sold all my stuff up in Seattle and bought a bass and a little combo bass amp, and I was going to play bass, basically, because bassists were hard to find. I used it to get my foot in the door.

Guitar for the Practising Musician, April 1992

When I moved to L.A, I wanted to play guitar. But in LA there were millions of guitar players, millions of Yngwie Malmsteens and shit, and I really wasn't into playing like that at all, I was more into playing like Thunders guitar. The bass was my least serious of the instruments. I was a better drummer than anything else back then, but my drum set was cheap shit, so I got a bass.

Kerrang! July 1993

Well, I wanted to get my foot in the door in L.A. and I knew there was always a demand for bass players. I just had a cheap drum kit, a little Marshall combo amp and a little Hamer double cutaway Junior guitar. It was a great guitar but that broke, my Marshall got ripped off and my drum set was a piece of shit. So I traded in everything I had left and got a cheap bass and a little amp and moved. […] I thought that once I had got my foot in the door and met people, then I could go back to playing guitar or drums. But I really came to appreciate the bass and use it for more than just a backbone, for the melody and other cool things.

Guitarists Magazine, November 1993

My drum kit was kind of a piece of shit, and I knew I wasn’t really that good at guitar. So I sold my equipment, bought a bass and an amp, and came down [to LA] to get my foot in the door.

Bass Player Magazine, January 1997

When I decided to make the move to L.A. when I was nineteen, I could have really come down and played any of those three instruments. But my drum kit was a piece of shit, and at that point in 1984 guitar players down in L.A. were doing Eddie Van Halen, Ingwe Malmsteen shit and I wasn't, I was more Steve Jones, Johnny Thunder style. So, I thought I would get my foot in the door playing bass, at least meet some people you know. I had a good bass, so I sold everything else and used that money to finance my trip, it wasn't that much money about $300.

eGigs, March 3, 2008

Talking about his decision to go to Los Angeles:

I came there, because where I’m from you can get to the top of the music field there, but you’re still nowhere. You know, you can’t really do anything, you can’t really get in a band that’s gonna tour that’s from Seattle. So L.A., yeah. It’s just the opportunity it offers.

Unknown TV program, 1988

I worked a lot of jobs and played in a lot of punk rock bands but I never thought I'd actually make money from playing music. That was the furthest thing from my mind. But there was a lot of heroin in Seattle back in the 80's and I had to get away from that, so I moved to LA. I was really at the top of my game in Seattle and a lot of people told me "If you don't get out of here now you'll never get out." So I left and went to Hollywood and got into a whole new set of troubles.

Metal Hammer, April 2005

Round about 1983 there was so much heroin coming into Seattle. It's a port city so there’s just this constant influx of drugs. X [Ecstasy] was around a lot too - but heroin was the problem. My girlfriend got strung out, my roommate got strung out. The guitar player in my band Ten Minute Warning - bear in mind we were the biggest band in Seattle at the time, we'd toured with Dead Kennedys and Black Flag - this guy kept stealing our money to cop dope. I was like, 'Enough. If I'm gonna make my move I gotta make it now.' So I moved to LA.

Classic Rock, April 2005

So now it’s about 1984 and I’m left with a choice. The recession hit the U.S. at that point and it hit the North West, I think, the hardest, because of the Port City and… All the clubs closed down. It was kind of the time to shit or get off the pot for me, and a friend of mine said, “Hey man, you better get out of here. You’re the one guy that has any hope of doing something in music.” And I heard him. I had about $350 in my bank account, I quit my job and I moved down to Hollywood.

MusicRadar, November 3, 2008

[...] this was about 1982. A lot of… heroin became really prevalent in the music scene there, and there was amazing talent just going to waste. [...] I was watching it, it was happening all around me, they were falling left and right. And my band - we had a band called 10 Minute Warning, which was really, like, on the verge of breaking in, you know, punk rock America. [...] So I was 18 years old, 18 or 17 or 19. I was playing guitar in that band and the other guitar player started getting high and stealing money. I had a girlfriend who I loved to death, my first, like, real girlfriend, and she started getting high. And my roommate, and this friend of mine who’d become a junkie, too. But was a thoughtful guy, and he said, “Duff, if you don't get out now, you're never gonna… At least you gotta go try and realize your dream.” So yeah, at 19, I got my car, I had 360 bucks – you know, some piece of crap…

Planet Rocks, December 14, 2008

I moved down to L.A. in September of ’84. As a punk kid from Seattle, it was total culture shock. Of course I knew about, like, Eddie Van Halen and that kind of guitar playing. And I knew that first Mötley record they had put out themselves. But moving here and seeing all the ﬂyers on the telephone poles and shit … it was a lot of bands, a lot of long hair, a lot of outfits, you know what I mean?

Rolling Stone - Extract from "Nöthin’ but a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the ’80s Hard Rock Explosion", March 8, 2021

In the Autumn of 1984, I moved from the familiar comfort of the Seattle punk scene to Los Angeles. Many assume that leaving the oft-stormy weather of the northwest for the more tranquil and sunny Southern California would be a no-brainer. A guy like myself could throw caution to the wind and basically go anywhere I wanted, well, anywhere that my beat-up car could get to, and anywhere that had a music scene that had more infastructure and less heroin than Seattle did then.

Let me first explain that I did not leave Seattle because there was a lack of talent or originality. Seattle in the early '80s probably had the most diverse and supportive scene in America. If the place where your band rehearsed at got shut-down or was otherwise made unavailable, it was never a problem to find some other band to help out. At a gig, if any piece of some band's equipment broke down, replacement gear was as close as the next band's gear on the bill.

No, I left Seattle because as a result of the early-'80s economic recession in the area, clubs and youth halls were shutting down. The streets of Seattle were dire and empty. My bandmates, roommates and girlfriends all started on the smack. and I lost a new guitar amp that I had worked hard for. I was working, paying rent, doing weekend tours, and coming back to theft from friends at home. So I left the city I love for a city I knew no one in or nothing about.

Seattle Weekly, December 23, 2009

I’ve heard people quote me as saying, “I’m gonna move to L.A. and become a rock star.” Then they add, “And he did.” Everybody says they knew me in 1984, when they actually didn’t. It wasn’t any of that. I wanted to be a musician, and the people I was playing with in Seattle, everybody was doing heroin, and I wasn’t. Heroin decimated 10 Minute Warning. A friend of mine who was strung out said, “Man, if you don’t get out now, it’s going to pass you by. You’re the guy, you’re our hope.”

Mark Yarm, Everybody Loves Our Town: A History of Grunge; September 2011

But I was here when the first big influx of heroin came here around 1982. And it really did, it decimated the music scene. But it wasn’t just the music scene; there was a recession on, it’s a port city and I see what happened.

Vanyaland, August 12, 2013

Talking about the differences between the music scene in Seattle and Los Angeles:

It was shocking to me when I moved to L.A. in 1984. I had played in a lot of punk bands and in Seattle, and I was used to bands playing together, sharing equipment, showing each other chords – and I thought that was the way in the musical community. Then I moved to L.A. [laughs] and it was very cutthroat.

Vanyaland, August 12, 2013

Duff immediately got a job working at Black Angus [Circus Magazine, November 1991; Guitar for the Practising Musician, April 1992].

And I got a job - you know, I just stopped at this restaurant that was kind of a big chain, I went in and they said, “Can you start working right now?” (laughs). “Sure.” “Let’s go.” You know, after I got off work that night, I asked one of the other cooks in there, “Okay man, so where’s… where’s Hollywood?” and he goes, “Hollywood, man?!” And he gave me these elaborate directions, “Alright, so it’s a ways away, huh?”

Planet Rocks, December 14, 2008

My first couple weeks in L.A. were a sort of recon mission. My next-oldest brother Matt lived in Northridge, and he got me a job my first day in town as a cook at a Black Angus. For anyone who knows, Northridge is actually quite far from Hollywood, especially in a piece of shit Ford Maverick with no brakes and a leaky oil pan. I would go down to Hollywood to go to a club and often just drive into the hills afterward and sleep in my car, because I was afraid of breaking down on the freeway in the middle of the night. On top of this, I was not yet 21, and therefore had to come up with crafty ways to get into clubs to see a gig.

Back then, we people from Seattle just plain looked different. I remember when bands like Black Flag and the Dead Kennedys would come through Seattle, they would always comment of the different look of the crowd. Now that I was in L.A., I decided to use this 'different' look to convince people checking IDs at club doors that I was not from the United States, and thus spoke no English.

When asked for an ID, I would produce my sunglasses and a puzzled look. They must have thought I was Swedish or something but, no shit, it worked more often than not. To further explain how 'different' we Seattleites looked, upon first meeting Slash in response to a Musicians Wanted ad, his girlfriend Yvonne assumed I was gay and asked me about it after a couple of tugs off of a bottle of vodka. I almost pissed myself with laughter, and it took me a few days to actually convince her that I was a fan of the ladies..but that is another story.

I had gone to California to play shows and be a roadie prior to my move to LA. I was by no means a neophyte, nor was I in the least bit naive. But when I did try to identify some of the things in the LA club-scene that I left in Seattle--like camaraderie or at least helpfulness from others--I was pretty much rebuffed in a wholesale manner. No, Los Angeles was a cutthroat operation, and I would soon learn to play by those rules, although I would try to convince myself that I was still 'me'.

Seattle Weekly, December 23, 2009

But Duff didn't have money so ended up staying the first weeks in his car:

So, you know, with 360 bucks, I didn’t have money to get an apartment. So I lived in my car for the first two weeks until I got my first paycheck.

Planet Rocks, December 14, 2008

Then he moved into an apartment in a seedy part of Los Angeles and started to familiarize himself with his new environment:

And I moved into this cockroach-infested building. Literally, I would turn on the lights – it was just a one room apartment. You’d turn on the lights and it would just be filled with cockroaches and they’d go scattering, and “oh my god.” So I got used to it and, yeah, I mean it was cops outside in the alley behind us in the street all the time, hookers, drug dealers… I was right in the mid of it. And I would go out to clubs, and I was just getting my bearings and looking to the newspapers, want ads, like, what's going on out there.

Planet Rocks, December 14, 2008

___________________________
TO BE MOVED:

Duff describing himself in late 1988:

Down-to-earth, a lover of music and making music and making love. I love to make people happy and I think I'm basically a good person… despite what you might read about me.

Superstar Facts & Pix, No. 16, 1988

by **Soulmonster** Sat May 15, 2021 8:14 am

SEPTEMBER 1984

DUFF JOINS "ROADCREW" WITH SLASH AND STEVEN

After having quit New Hollywood Rose, Slash was back in Roadcrew. The band needed a new bassist, and after placing an ad in the local paper Recycler [Circus Magazine, November 1991], they met with Duff McKagan at Canter's Deli [Kerrang! March 1989]. Duff had just arrived in Los Angeles from Seattle [see previous chapter] either the same week [Guitar for the Practising Musician in April 1992], a week later [Circus Magazine, November 1991] or just a few weeks before [Kerrang! March, 1989].

The ad said something like: "Guitar player looking for bass player: Alice Cooper, Aerosmith, Dolls, Led Zeppelin and Fear. Call Slash" [Guitar for the Practising Musician, April 1992]. They met at Canter's Deli [Guitar for the Practising Musician, April 1992].

I answered Slash's ad, and with Steven Adler we put together Road Crew.

Hit Parader, April 1994

So, at 21 years old, I went to L.A. and I joined a band called Road Crew – the band Slash and Steven Adler were in.

Popular 1, January 1994; translated from Spanish

I called Slash up, thinking he'd be some Punk Rock guy with a name like that. And I could barely understand him on the phone, you know how Slash talks, real soft. But he said their influences were Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Motorhead, AC/DC... So I thought, 'Cool, I'll try it out'. So I walk in there, still expecting to find some old Punk Rock guy. Both Slash and Steven were there with their girlfriends and completely wasted. And their girlfriends instantly thought I was a homo because of my hair!

Kerrang! March 1989

I walked in [at Canter's], looked at the first booth on the left, and saw all this fucking hair. Somehow I had expected these guys to look like Social Distortion. Instead, even though they appeared about my age, the dudes in Road Crew had long hair and rocker chick girlfriends.

Duff's autobiography, "It's So Easy", 2011, p 29-30

I met Slash the week I moved there. He had some songs, I had some songs. Steven Adler was playing drums. The band was called Road Crew, so we played the song, "We Are the Road Crew," by Motorhead. We played "Mama Kin," by Aerosmith. I think "Back off Bitch" was one of the songs. We're rehearsing, we're humping our gear down to this tiny place that doesn't have storage. Even if it did, we weren't able to afford to keep our stuff there, and it was in a bad area. I don't know if I would want to keep anything there. We never actually did a gig because we couldn't find a singer. I was going to sing, but we didn't have a PA., so that's about as far as it got. Road Crew was very short-lived. Maybe two months.

Guitar for the Practising Musician, April 1992

So, at 21 years old, I went to L.A. and I joined a band called Road Crew – the band Slash and Steven Adler were in.

Popular 1, January 1994; translated from Spanish

When Duff came into town, we met at Canter’s. Steven, my girlfriend, Steven’s girlfriend, a bottle of vodka… Duff comes in and we went up to the men’s room and hung out up there and drank the bottle of vodka and formed a little unity. We wanted to start a band with the three of us but, once again, we couldn’t find a singer.

SuicideGirls, February 29, 2008

We were at Canter's, which is a friend of mine’s restaurant, and I just had a bottle of vodka stuck in my jacket, and we went up to the bathroom, hung out there and talked shop. And then we sort of put a band together for a little bit and we couldn't find, as usual, a singer, and it finally disbanded.

VH1 Australia, February 2005

I’ll never forget this is where we met Duff. This six-foot-something guy came in here in a big red and black leather trench coat with the Sid Vicious chain necklace on and spiky black and yellow hair. We got him drunk, and that’s how we first met.

L.A. Times Soundboard, September 3, 2008

And it was kind of Yngwie Malmsteen shredding sort of thing at that point, Eddie Van Halen… Which wasn’t my bag. I was more a Johnny Thunders, Steve Jones, Stooges type. I was looking at one ad and there was a guy that said “bass player” - I could do that; you know, Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, and Fear was another reference band, it was this American punk rock band that I loved. And it said “Slash,” and that’s a name, like, you know, I thought he was a punk – because, really, in ’84 punk was dead. So I thought, “Okay, he’s an ex-punk like me,” you know? “And he’s looking to do something new.” And that was really an exciting year, because punk rock had died. There was a “what was gonna be next” and we were 19 or 20 years old. We were gonna be the next thing. And we really - kids at my age really knew that. [...] You just knew. You just knew. So I went and met Slash, and he wasn’t an ex-punk rock guy, he was just a long-haired guy, you know (laughs). And Steven Adler was with him, blond - it was just a culture shock for me; “Here I am, California, it’s like, these exotic long-haired California rock dudes.” But we got along, amazing, from the first minute. You know, I had short blue hair- You know, just the oddest pairing of people.

Planet Rocks, December 14, 2008

[Slash] had this ad that said, “Inﬂuences: Fear, Aerosmith, early Alice Cooper.” And his name was Slash. So I thought he was a punk rock guy like me. I called him up, we talked on the phone, totally cool guy. Then I went to meet him and Steven at Canter’s Deli. He said, “We’ll be in the left booth at the end.” So I look in the left booth and there’s, you know, basically all this fucking hair! But also, I was wearing like this long red-and-black, like, super-ﬂy pimp jacket with an anarchy A on the back of it, and I had short blue hair. So I’m sure they’re looking at me and going, “Huh?” Slash’s girlfriend at the time, she was a very out-front kind of girl, and she goes, “Are you gay?” I’m like, “No, I’m not gay.” She goes, “Okay, well, maybe we can find you a girlfriend.”

We ended up that night going back to Slash’s mom’s house. We’re hanging out in his room in the basement and drinking vodka and he starts playing guitar. And I’d never been in a room with a guy my age who played guitar like that.

Rolling Stone - Extract from "Nöthin’ but a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the ’80s Hard Rock Explosion", March 8, 2021

[Being asked what he ordered at that first meeting at Canter's]: You would think that somebody would have asked me that over all these years, but no one ever has. Sadly, I don’t remember. [...] I don’t think we had any money, so we probably didn’t order anything. The owner was a childhood friend of Slash’s, though, so he might have sent us over some soup.

Spin, April 21, 2009

I met Slash over the phone; his name was Slash and I answered an ad in the paper. It was 1984 so I thought he, like me, was a punk rock guy and I went to Canter’s to meet him and he said he had this drummer, Stevie, and I went and met these two longhaired dudes and I had short blue hair. And I just moved to California and in Seattle I didn’t know any longhair rock dudes so it was kind of culture shock for me. They were probably a little surprised by me, too, with blue hair. But it wasn’t important what we looked like; we sat down at the table and we just talked about music and that was the common ground. We were young but we were grownup as far as, “Yeah, I’m interested in your idea musically.”

Ultimate Guitar, April 18, 2011

The first time I heard Slash play guitar was in 1984 in the basement of the Los Angeles townhome belonging to his mother, Ola, a woman who would later become like a surrogate mother to me during my early years in L.A.

Slash didn't have to try to impress--he just picked up an acoustic guitar and started to play. Up to that point, I really thought I had seen and heard the whole gamut of the talent pool of my age group in America. I had toured extensively with punk-rock bands, and had seen just about every band that came through Seattle from '79 to '84. But when Slash played in that basement that night, all I thought I knew was suddenly swept aside.

Seattle Weekly, September 30, 2010

Note: It is not likely they played 'Back Off Bitch' since this is a Hollywood Rose song.

Duff would talk about his first impressions of Slash's guitar abilities:

We all went back to Slash's place [after Canter's] - he was living with his mom. It was obvious even on the acoustic guitar he played that first night that Slash was a special player. I was absolutely stunned by the raw, emotive power he so easily tapped. Slash was already in a league of his own and watching him play guitar was a "holy shit" moment.

Duff's autobiography, "It's So Easy", 2011, p 30

Slash would later talk about playing with Duff:

Duff was as musically versatile as he was driven (...). I respected him immediately for his devotion: he and I shared a similar work ethic. It established a kinship between us right away that hasn't faltered at all over all these years.

Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York

by **Soulmonster** Sat May 15, 2021 8:14 am

OCTOBER 1984

IZZY AND "LONDON"

After having left Hollywood Rose, Izzy joined the band London which had recently been reformed. This likely happened in late 1984 and probably as a result of an argument with Axl [see seperate chapter]. Both Steven and Slash had played in London for a few months [Full In Bloom Music, 2005], but likely earlier in 1984 before Izzy joined the band.

Izzy would later say he had played in "several punk and rock bands in L.A. and at the West Coast [before Guns N' Roses]" [Gitarre & Bass, February 1993; translated from German].

Lizzie Grey, founder of London and one of its guitarists, would ask Izzy to recruit Axl for London, but this failed -- Izzy would say Axl was very difficult to work with -- and Nadir D'Priest became the band's new singer [Full In Bloom Music, 2005].

Grey talking about Izzy and London:

Izzy didn't last long enough to make it to the Nonstop Rock recording in 1986. Sometime before that, Nadir beat him up over some groupie, and that was that. He wasn't out of a job for long, though, as shortly thereafter he got busy putting Guns N' Roses together with Bill Bailey (now Axl Rose), Sol (also in London for a very brief time with Izzy), Duff, and Steven Adler (who Brian West had fired from London a little before the Izzy incident).

Full In Bloom Music, August 2005

D'Priest would also talk about being in London with Izzy:

Izzy, Well! He was a very easy-going guy, he was always coming up with riffs for songs....he was cool. Smoked a lot. Always cordial to me. We used to hang out at bars on the sunset strip. Here is a story for ya'll. Once we were real desperate for money, so we decided to go to the Beverly Hills Hotel and pick up on women. I mean women who where loaded with ca$h. We thought that we could grab a few desperate ones and empty out their purse, HAHAHA. It was fucking funny man, we stood out like crazy, drinks cost around $10.00 a pop so I believe we had A! Round. That's like $15.00 now-a-days. What were we thinking? Two young, good-looking musicians dressed to the gill, hanging at the Polo Lounge in Beverly Hills with no money. AHHH! Those were the days; no real responsibility, just Rock & Roll 24/7. There will never be anything like it EVER!

Full In Bloom Music, August 2006

As Grey mentioned, Izzy left London after having been beaten up by D'Priest and D'Priest would share the details:

Let's get this straight, Mr. L Grey never really liked Izzy OK! The reason being, Izzy would come up with tunes and ideas. Izzy was a rhythm guitar player, as far as Mr. Grey was concerned. I believe that Mr.Grey did not want anyone to write the tunes. He wanted all the credits for songwriting, which is fine, if you are the only one with all the song ideas in the band. He was very insecure about this or maybe just greedy. On our BMI Publishing split, we had to re-negotiate the percentage split between Brian West, Mr. Grey and myself. Brian and I contributed a lot and we wanted a fair split. We did not get the split we wanted, but we took what we could. We wanted to keep things cool. That is the way it was as far as I recall. We made things happen as a band and for him to have that attitude is not unusual. We thought we were a team, sad but true, it eventually came to an end. The Izzy fight well! The story is that I had a girlfriend, her name was Valerie Kendall, she was amazingly HOT! I met her in Hollywood, it was small circle of Hot! Girls in Hollywood. She hit on me and we had a bit of chemistry, so we started hanging together daily and staying at her house at West View Towers. She was in the middle of a nasty divorce from none other than Alex Van Halen....drummer of you know the band, Van Halen. I was banging this girl, we were steady so I thought. One summer day I woke up and found a little leak in my plumbing. I was very surprised by this, cause I was only doing Valerie. I confronted her and eventually after drilling her for a while, she did admit banging Izzy and that's were the origin of the leak came from. I called Tracii Guns at his mom's house and asked him if Izzy was there, he said yes! Izzy would sleep on his couch every so often. I went there, confronted him, asked him if he was banging Valerie, he denied it in my face. At that point, I was very upset since she had told me that he did bang her. Basically I think that I was mostly upset about the lovely gift he had transferred to the both of us. So! Without any notice, within a split second, I punched him in the face, once.... I wanted more, but! He did not want any part of it. He was scared and I don't blame him, I would have been to, if I did that to my bandmate. In those days, I was very volatile for some reason and I was notorious for my temper. I did not take shit from anyone. I warned him to stay away from her or else. I left Traci's house back to the rehearsal room as nothing happened I had a drink of vodka and smoked a joint. So that's it. So I guess I was part of the departure of Mr. Stradlin. By the way, I eventually found out that she was a heroin junky and was banging many guys, including Jeff Beck among some. In LONDON we explained the rules clearly to all and one of them was that WE! did not bang each other's girls. Whores, girlfriend's, slut's, groupies, any of them. Your meat was yours only, no sharing or proprietary control of all pussy. The reason was that this would avoid any conflict between the band and that way we would all have no conflicts over an important factor. Can you believe how our minds worked, the analogy. Funny stuff

Full In Bloom Music, August 2006

Tracii, on the other hand, would state that Izzy left in disgust after the October 5 show at the Troubadour [see later chapter]:

Izzy quit London after the Troubadour show. Because he didn’t want to be associated with that.

Rolling Stone - Extract from "Nöthin’ but a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the ’80s Hard Rock Explosion", March 8, 2021

by **Soulmonster** Sat May 15, 2021 8:14 am

1984

SLASH AUDITIONS FOR "POISON"

But Slash didn't want to stay in Hollywood Rose, and in the fall of 1984 he was looking for another band to join. He then auditioned for the band Poison [Marc Canter, "Reckless Road", 2007].

What I used to do was, I would join bands and play one gig with them if it was a big enough place and join the band right at the right time when that gig was gonna happen. I’d rehearse with them and go out and do it for exposure. I was sort of like a loan shark in that sense, and it’s sort of selfish, but it’s a selfish business in that you’ve got to get by. So, I’d go out and play with bands because I couldn’t get my own thing happening.

I wasn’t gonna sit around and keep putting ads in the paper and wait around until I was 20. I could be as old as I am now and not have done anything. I still haven’t seen really anything I’m impressed with come out of Los Angeles. I mean, I love what we’re doing, and I honestly think that out of most of the bands in L.A., this is one of the few that really has any substance to them. And this is what I was fighting against when I was trying out for Poison. Matt, their ex-guitar player, called me and said, 'Listen, I’m going back to Pittsburgh. I’m starting a family, and Poison is open, and if anybody can do it, you can.’

Matt was really cool, and I dug him a lot. So, here I am thinking, 'Great! I know this band from when I played with them in Hollywood Rose! They’re basically the epitome of what I can’t stand, but I’ll go down there and play with them, and it’ll do wonders for me as far as getting out there is concerned. The auditions lasted for, like, two weeks. I went down a couple of times, had the songs down, played them really well, and then they called me up and said, 'Well, everything’s going great. Let’s have a meeting. This is like a dress rehearsal—don’t bring your guitar.’

I went down there, and I figured, if anything, they could have the style and image they had, and I’d still go down there being me, and I could always be the f—ing foil for what they do and probably get away with it, but they wanted me to change my shoes, asked me what kind of pants I wore, how I did my hair and all of this stuff, and I was really irked by the whole thing. Anyway, me and C.C. were the two guitar players who ended up being the last two to be picked, and finally, one day, we had a big argument about this thing in the set where they say, 'Hi’ and introduce themselves, and there was no way I was gonna go up and say, 'Hi, I’m Slash’ and do a guitar lick and be real cute about it, so C.C. got the job, which was no big deal. It was just another passing thing, and I went on to do whatever. Now it’s sort of backfiring on me because I got the impression that it looks like I’m bitter because C.C. got the job and I didn’t, which is not the case. I’m not jealous of their band’s success. I’m not jealous of C.C.’s position or any of that stuff.

Blast! April 16, 1988

I drove Slash out to radio City to see Poison. I think Vicky Hamilton was managing them at the time. Matt Smith, the old guitar player was leaving […] And Matt really liked Slash and wanted Slash for the job. Poison was an established LA band that could sell out almost any club they played and were getting ready to sign a record deal.

Slash went to three Poison gigs to check out the scene and the band gave him their demo tape to learn their material. Slash showed up at rehearsal but couldn't bring himself to join. He didn't like the Silly String act at the end of the show, nor could he stomach saying, "Hi, my name is Slash" during the moment of the set when the band would introduce themselves. He hated their image and considered the music lame. C. C. DeVille was hired a few days later.

Marc Canter, "Reckless Road", 2007

Slash almost joined Poison at that point who were being managed by Vicky Hamilton. He didn’t really wanna join but he knew it was a good opportunity because they were a big drawing act and their guitarist Matt had gotten his girlfriend pregnant and wanted to go back to Pennsylvania but he and Slash were friendly. Matt liked Slash, he had seen HOLLYWOOD ROSE open a couple Poison gigs and and wanted him to take over in Poison gig. Slash really didn’t wanna do it, he didn’t like the music, he didn’t like the silly string and the image. I told him “Dude, you gotta do it, you don’t have a band, you’ll be able to record an album and it will be a stepping stone to other things” but he still really didn’t wanna go audition. He did go because I basically kept buggin him and I actually drove him out to go see them play this sold out show and convinced him to audition like “Man, look at this” though he clearly wasn’t into it and basically blew the audition. He was not into the music or the image and I guess he made some of that way too clear to the Poison guys. They knew he was clearly adept at the guitar parts and all but when it came down to it they were looking for someone who was really into the whole presentation and willing to play that game. Oddly enough, Slash walked out of the audition and saw C.C. walking in and KNEW without even hearing him play that he was the guy they were looking for, he just was so obviously perfect for POISON.

Legendary Rock Interviews, April 22, 2012

It is correct that Hamilton was the manager of Poison at the time, and she wanted Slash in the band:

They wanted to have C.C. in the band and I wanted Slash.

Music Connection, June 1987

I managed Poison, too. They auditioned Slash, and Poison ended up giving him the gig. He was excited, he said he would do it. He said OK. But then he said he would not wear all the makeup, and he said he would not say, “I’m Slash!” You know, how everyone in Poison used to introduce themselves on stage: “I’m Bret! I’m Rikki! I’m Bobby!” Slash said no way, he was not going to do that. So Poison ended up getting C.C. DeVille the next day. He’s the one who got the gig after Slash turned it down.

Metal Sludge, March 2012

Slash would later claim he turned the gig down because he didn't want to die his hair and daub his face, and "look like a clown" [Kerrang! July 30, 1988].

I was always playing, and one of the main things that got me from then to now is the fact that I was in bands regardless of whether I could play. Even though I probably wasn’t that good a guitar player, I was doing the best I could, trying to write songs and form bands I was really into. I went through tons of bands and kept doing it and doing it and doing it.

The Calgary Herald, July 3, 1988

I was the best at the audition, but I refused to join them, because they asked me to dye my hair blue and wear "barbie" make-up. I mean, I'm aware of the fact that you have to be a professional if you want to succeed, but I still wasn't ready to look like a transvestite.

Rock-Pop, January 1989; translated from Serbian

Marc Canter would confirm this:

And what happened was that, you know, Slash might have auditioned for Poison, not that he wanted to, but we kind of made him do it because it was a good stepping stone. But he basically killed his own audition by saying, "I'm not gonna say 'Hi, my name is Slash' and squirt some silly string in the crowd," or whatever. [...] You know, the band was selling out the Troubadour and their old guitar player, Matt Smith, knew Slash because Poison used to gig with Hollywood Rose sometimes. Matt knew that Slash was the shit and they were friends and they and Matt liked Aerosmith and we hung out a little bit. So slash like Matt, just didn't like the rest of the band. But when Matt knocked his girlfriend up and moved back to Pennsylvania, he recommended Slash for the job. [...] And they auditioned him. If he didn't blow his own audition by saying, "Nah-nah, you guys aren't gonna....there's no way, you guys are lame," but if he would have said, "Yeah, I want to join you," they would have taken him in a second because obviously he's a good guitar player. But instead they got CC Deville.

Let There Be Talk, August 29, 2013

Bret Michaels would say the reason Slash didn't join Poison was that they disagreed on how large the band should be:

[…] a funny story with Stan and Slash -- would stand on the street corner, right, just handing out flyers: I mean, hey -- come see Hollywood Rose; come see Poison. You know, that kinda thing. And then Slash, at one point, when we lost our original guitar player, Slash had auditioned for Poison.

And we were looking -- he wanted to be in a-- You know, although there's a million different versions of the story, no one-- And he said we like told him he had to say his name onstage, or I don't know what the fuck. It was in a book that said Slash said he couldn't handle it, because he had to say his name onstage -- or some fuckin' bullshit. But it was because he wanted to be in a five-piece band, and we wanted to be four-piece -- and it was really that simple, you know?

Spin, July 1999

Looking back at the audition:

[...] I almost got the gig. What happened was, Matt [Smith], their original guitar player, quit the band and moved back home to Pennsylvania. I had just been sort of scrounging around L.A., looking for anything that was happening, just to get out there and play. So one day Matt called me up and said “Poison’s going to be auditioning guitarists. You should go out for it.” And I thought... well, I really didn’t like Poison! I didn’t like that whole thing. But there was something exciting about them, and the thought of being able to get out there and start working the scene was enticing to me. I was willing to do whatever I could to break into it. So I learned a few of their songs and went down to the rehearsal space they were all living in at the time to audition. [...] I played the shit out of those songs! And I got called back, twice. Then I was asked to come in a third time, which is when it got serious. And I remember as I was walking in that last time, C.C. [DeVille] was coming back the other way. We passed each other in the hall. So it came down to C.C and me. [...] [C.C] clearly fit the part better than I did. I mean, he came in with his hair all done up, he had all the right clothes and was wearing stiletto heels. I showed up looking the way I look now. And I also remember I had on a pair of moccasins, because the Poison guys looked at me and asked, “What do you wear?” I was like, “This is... it,” you know? And they said, “Well, do you have some different shoes?” So I knew that was it. When I got the phone call that C.C. got the job, I wasn’t surprised. He was perfect for them.

Guitar World, July 2007

It’s almost like I did that because I was looking for something to do, and if for some strange reason it would have happened it wouldn’t have lasted. I never thought about it really but unconsciously I almost did want to join, just to play the shit out of the material and kick their asses that way! But I don’t think I expected to have a successful relationship with those guys.

They were making a covers record when we were at Hansen [studios] doing Libertad, and I would leave out the back door. Because they were recording in the main studio right at the front door, I’d come and go out the back door. It’s not like I have anything against those guys, and we’re amicable and everything, but God I didn’t want to have to say, hey, and the whole bullshit of how are you doing...

Guitarist, October 2007

I was living in LA and I had just gotten done working in a band with Axl, actually, called Hollywood Rose. Steven Adler was in that band as well. I just quit. I told Axl I couldn’t handle it anymore and I walked. That was right after the first time Axl and I ever worked together. Matt, the original guitar player for Poison, who was actually a pretty cool guy, had gotten his wife pregnant or they were getting married or something like that. He was moving back to Pennsylvania. He goes, “You should try out for Poison.” I hated Poison but in those days you did whatever you had to do to keep moving.

Being very ambitious, as I was, I went and auditioned for Poison. I ended up being one of two guitar players left that they were going to pick from. I remember kicking the shit out of the songs they had. There was no denying that I could play them but there was an issue about makeup and stuff. Bobby Dall asked me what kind of shoes I was going to wear. I was like, “What?” It was kind of obvious that this was going to go nowhere.

As I was walking out of the audition, CC Deville was walking in. He had on pancake makeup and a ton of hairspray. I actually remember thinking right then, “That should be the guy.” The next day I got a call from Bobby and he said, “You know, you are great and all but I think we are going to pass on you and go with this other guy.” It was CC and it really did make all the sense in the world. I was in a couple of bands after that and then we started Guns and Roses.

Classic Rock Revisited, September 26, 2010

Slash is one of my all-time favorite guitar players and I believe he would have steered our sound a little more in the Aerosmith direction. He was basically the same guy he is today. What you see is what you get. It never really had a chance to work out or not. The band decided C.C. (DeVille) was the best choice for us.

Austin American-Statesman, September 1, 2012

by **Soulmonster** Mon Feb 07, 2022 10:44 am

OCTOBER 1984

AXL AND "LA GUNS"

TRACII GUNS

Tracii Guns, born Tracy Richard Irving Ulrich on January 20, 1966, grew up in Hollywood, Los Angeles.

Well, I've been playing guitar my whole life, actually since I was six years old.. that was when I started taking it seriously. As I was living in LA, by the time I was in my early teens I was doing studio work - my family had friends in the rock and roll business....no one really big or anything but I was working really young and you know I have been really fortunate , the LA scene kinda came to me...I was in a band in high school and junior high school...and my high school band eventually turned into LA Guns when I was 16 or 17. I always worked with a lot of people and becoming a part of the LA scene was just a natural progression, because that's where you played. Places like the Troubador, The Roxy and The Whiskey and you meet everybody. It was great and really healthy and everybody was into rock because rock was really progressing, it was turning into..kind of like going from Journey and Aerosmith and Black Sabbath into a more refined heavy kind of melodic rock.

I always liked the kind of dirtier stuff. When I was 12 years old, that's when punk rock started happening. That was when the Sex Pistols started coming out - there was a big Huntington Beach scene here with The Germs and The Weirdos and all of these bands and I really liked Devo as much as I liked Ozzy and the Scorpions, and I kind of liked everything. But what I didn't like was the stuff that was over produced. I didn't like certain things...like REO Speedwagon and Journey that I just felt would have been better off had they left it a little less slick. So when I started having to write songs, and got a record deal when I was 20 with Polygram, I really didn't want to jump on with everyone else...because at the time more than Motley Crue and Ratt..bands like Bon Jovi were starting, again the more melodic stuff was starting to happen again but I really wanted to stay clear of that really big power sound.

All Access Magazine, June 2010

One of Tracii's first bands was Pyrrhus together with the drummer Rob Gardner [Raz Cue, "The Days of Guns, & Raz's", 2015, p. 110]. Ole Beich would later join Pyrrhus as their bass player [Raz Cue, "The Days of Guns, & Raz's", 2015, p. 133].

I met Tracii in electronics class at Fairfax High soon after I moved to L.A. I grew up in Westchester, New York, and I went to school with Matt Dillon—we lived down the street from his family. Then I was new at Fairfax, but Tracii and I got to talking and then we started playing together.

Tom Beaujour and Richard Bienstock, Nöthin' But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the '80s Hard Rock Explosion, 2021

Pyrrhus, 1983; Mike Jagosz, Dani Tull, Rob Schneider, Tracy Ulrich
By N/A - weheartit, PD-US

Tracii got his name "Guns" from a girl who used to call him Mr. Guns:

In the beginning Izzy [Stradlin] lived at my house, years ago. And he had Hollywood Rose with Axl [Rose] - that was their band. I never played in Hollywood Rose. And I had my highschool band and I was really looking for a cool name and I loved Hollywood Rose. And I had a girlfriend that had been calling me Mr Guns. One day me and Izzy were sitting in the living room of my house and I said 'L.A. Guns' and I made this Cheap Trick looking logo on a blank album cover, and I show it to Izzy and go 'What do you think of this for a band name?'. And he goes, 'That's great.' So that's been my band name ever since.

The Quitus, June 16, 2010

So the next step was changing the name of the band from Pyrrhus to L.A. Guns. I loved the name Hollywood Rose, you know? And I had this girlfriend, Dina, who would call me Mr. Guns all the time. And then my friends started calling me Mr. Guns. And so I became Tracii Guns.

Tom Beaujour and Richard Bienstock, Nöthin' But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the '80s Hard Rock Explosion, 2021

Axl would suggest it had been his idea:

Earlier I had gotten Tracii to use the name Guns (as he had mentioned a girl had called him Mr. Guns sometime) so he’d stop calling his band Persian Rose. So I guess we have the girl to thank [for "Guns N' Roses"].

mygnrforum.com, December 14, 2008

LA GUNS

Tracii left Pyrrhus to form a new band, L.A. Guns, together with Ole and later Rob Gardner [Raz Cue, "The Days of Guns, & Raz's", 2015, p. 142-150].

Tracii’s dad had a plumbing shop over in the Valley, so we used to go over there and play after the shop closed. And then we’d also play at my house. We started writing songs, just me and him, and then we added a bass player.

Tom Beaujour and Richard Bienstock, Nöthin' But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the '80s Hard Rock Explosion, 2021

Dani Tull was recruited to play bass and Mike Jagoz to sing:

The bass player was my friend Dani Tull, who also went to Fairfax, and then we got Mike Jagosz, who somehow Rob Gardner knew, to sing. We would ditch school and go to Mike Jagosz’s house and play Risk and then rehearse and try to not get caught for ditching school.

Tom Beaujour and Richard Bienstock, Nöthin' But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the '80s Hard Rock Explosion, 2021

Mike had a garage that was soundproofed. And his brother, Dave Jagosz, had a band called Shire that would play in there, and then we would play in there, too.

Tom Beaujour and Richard Bienstock, Nöthin' But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the '80s Hard Rock Explosion, 2021

At some point Tull was replaced with Ole Beich.

Mike Jargos was then either jailed or fired:

Mike Jargos was [LA Guns' original singer]; after he went to jail, Axl joined. Mike was a friend of mine from high school; it was Mike who sang on the L.A. Guns’ first EP.

Arbiter Online, November 7, 2005

So anyways, we had a little manager guy at the time and he hated our singer Mike Jagosz, so we fired him. So then I asked Axl to join L.A. Guns and he was in the band for about six, seven months [...]

The Quitus, June 16, 2010

My manager, this guy Raz, fired our singer Mike Jagosz because he was being a dummy or something. And then I just hit up Axl. “Hey, you wanna be in L.A. Guns for a while?” And he said, “Yeah.” We did that for a solid nine, ten months before we finally did the gig with London.

Rolling Stone - Extract from "Nöthin’ but a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the ’80s Hard Rock Explosion", March 8, 2021

OCTOBER 1984: AXL JOINS LA GUNS

According to Raz Cue, who invested in L.A. Guns and became their manager [Raz Cue, "The Days of Guns, & Raz's", 2015, p. 149-155], he had tried to get Axl to sing for LA Guns previously: While managing L.A. Guns, Cue would bump into Axl. Cue tried to get Axl to join L.A. Guns as their first singer, but Axl refused. Only a few weeks later when Axl's current band, Hollywood Rose, had broken up, and after some hesitation, did Axl join L.A. Guns, becoming the band's singer. Part of the reason Axl decided to join LA Guns was that Tracii had told Axl the band would become more blues-based and less metal [Raz Cue, "The Days of Guns, & Raz's", 2015, p. 159].

The rift between Slash and Axl had been bad, so when Axl called Slash and asked him to help Tracii with the riff for 'Back Off Bitch', Slash blew him off [Marc Canter, "Reckless Road", 2007].

Tracii and Slash had a rivalry going which made it hard for Marc Canter to follow LA Guns:

[...] at the time it was a touchy situation me even going there to shoot Axl singing in L. A. Guns. I was documenting and taking pics of everything Slash had done and Axl wanted me to come down and shoot he and Tracii in L.A. Guns. I sort of had to sneak around Slash’s back to help Axl and do that because at that point Tracii and Slash were really rivals. Tracii was absolutely his rival because he also had a band before L.A. Guns called Pyrrhus which was the high school rival to Tidus Sloan. Needless to say Slash would be pissed if he knew I was helping Tracii and Axl but Axl asked me so I did it.

Legendary Rock Interviews, April 22, 2012

Already at L.A. Guns' first show at the Troubadour at October 5, 1984, did they play the songs "Anything Goes," "Back Off Bitch," "Shadow of Your Love" (all songs from Hollywood Rose), "Heartbreak Hotel," and "Jumpin' Jack Flash" [Raz Cue, "The Days of Guns, & Raz's", 2015, p. 165], which would later be released or played by Guns N' Roses. At this gig, LA Guns opened for Izzy's band, London.

According to Marc Canter, Axl only played two shows with LA Guns:

[Axl] joined LA Guns, plays two gigs at the Troubadour October 5th and October 12th of 1984. I was at those gigs at midnight.

Let There Be Talk, August 29, 2013

by **Soulmonster** Mon Feb 07, 2022 1:05 pm

OCTOBER 5, 1984

"LONDON" VS "LA GUNS"; AXL VS NADIR D'PRIEST

On October 5, 1984, LA Guns' had its first show with Axl as its new singer and opened up for London with Izzy and D'Priest.

Both Duff, Slash and Marc Canter was present at this show:

I saw that show at the Troubadour. Slash took me. And the thing about Axl, I’d seen so many shows by this time. My old band, 10 Minute Warning, we opened for Black Flag when it was Henry Rollins’ first show with them in Seattle. And Henry was the most intense dude I’d seen. I saw him before the show, like, stretching out in his little short dolphin shorts, not talking to anybody, super intense. Ready to fight. And when Axl came out onstage at the L.A. Guns thing I saw that same intensity, but kind of more fucking unhinged. It was real. And the guy was hitting these notes. … I’d never seen anything like Axl.

Rolling Stone - Extract from "Nöthin’ but a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the ’80s Hard Rock Explosion", March 8, 2021

I went to see L.A. Guns when they were opening up for London at the Troubadour. And Axl was upset that London somehow screwed them over.

Rolling Stone - Extract from "Nöthin’ but a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the ’80s Hard Rock Explosion", March 8, 2021

During the show Axl would rip apart a poster of London. Robert John, who was attending the show, would claim there was bad blood between Axl and D'Priest over a girl:

I shot both bands, but then there was this brawl backstage when Axl and Nadir [D’Priest] got into a fight. It turned out there was this major feud between them over the fact that they’re doing the same chick at the same time.

Watch You Bleed; The Saga Of Guns N' Roses" by Stephen Davis, 2008

When asked about any good storied of Axl, D'Priest would indeed mention Axl fucking his girl:

He did my girlfriend that is tattooed on my right arm. OK! That's the best one.

Full In Bloom Music, August 2006

Presumably, this is not the same girl that Izzy had slept with.

D'Priest showing displaying
the tattoo of the contested girl

Tracii Guns who played in LA Guns with Axl, would also mention the feud between D'Priest and Axl but not mention the girl, and instead claim D'Priest had detuned his guitars:

When Izzy joined London, we started doing a lot of shows together, as we were all supposedly friends. I am still friends with Nadir, which is weird. But Axl had seen Nadir detune my guitars before we went on, or so he claimed. But, sure enough, when I went to put my guitar on that night it was out of tune. I put the next guitar on – it was out of tune as well. So when we went on stage, Axl ripped up a London poster [this happened on October 5, 1984]. There is a photo of this in Marc Canter’s book. That was the beginning of all hell breaking loose between those two. Axl and Izzy were kind of humble guys, but growing up they had their share of street fights. So just because they were on the quiet side, didn’t mean that they wouldn’t whip somebody’s butt. On the flip side, Nadir was a really tough guy. He had been in and out of jail, and was a pretty tough kid. A lot of the time I would pick up Axl from work at Tower Video, and a few times Nadir was waiting for Axl outside. They would have these quick little battles, then Nadir would run off. One day, Nadir was waiting outside with a gun! Axl is a tough motherfucker, man. He picked up a broken street sign and just whacked Nadir with it! As far as I know, that was the last time they tangled.

Tales From The Stage Vol. 1" by Michael Toney, 2012

Axl swore he saw Nadir [London singer Nadir D’Priest] detune my guitars before we went on and all this shit. Which makes sense because when I went onstage all my Les Pauls were completely out of tune. Like, four notes down on every string. So he made a big stink about that.

Rolling Stone - Extract from "Nöthin’ but a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the ’80s Hard Rock Explosion", March 8, 2021

He vented about it during the gig. And then he tore up a London poster onstage. But that’s Axl. Axl will say what’s on his mind.

Rolling Stone - Extract from "Nöthin’ but a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the ’80s Hard Rock Explosion", March 8, 2021

This is supported by comments from Axl from stage:

It sure ain't a lot of fun when someone fucks with your equipment..

The Troubadour, October 5, 1984; as recounted by Marc Canter in Reckless Life

by **Soulmonster** Mon Feb 07, 2022 3:03 pm

OCTOBER 1984

AXL QUITS OR IS FIRED FROM "LA GUNS"

LA Guns did not work out for Axl.

Axl ended up singing for L.A. Guns until he got in a fight with our manager.

Spin, July 1999

[...] and then the same manager ended up hating Axl and he wanted to fire him.

The Quitus, June 16, 2010

[Talking about Axl getting fired from L.A. Guns]: I don’t even remember. It was probably over something ridiculous. We were all teenagers. It was after a gig, and we were all driving home in the same car. And Raz [Cue], our manager, just turned to Axl and said, “You’re fired. You’re not going to be in L.A. Guns anymore.”

Tales From The Stage, February 2013

Axl had actually been fired from L.A. Guns by Raz. He was just like, “I’m not going to deal with you anymore.” And so then we got Mike Jagosz back for a second, which is probably when that Hollywood Rose reunion happened.

Rolling Stone - Extract from "Nöthin’ but a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the ’80s Hard Rock Explosion", March 8, 2021

In the end it didn’t work out anyway, [LA Guns with Axl] played a couple gigs and then Axl split and L.A. Guns got another singer.

Legendary Rock Interviews, April 22, 2012

According to Cue, Axl wasn't fired but quit the band himself, allegedly after a violent episode at the Rainbow:

[...] Axl, Ole, Joe [Cue's brother], and me headed for the Rainbow. When we requested the big booth in the corner, Michael [from the Rainbow] tried steering us toward a smaller table more suited to a party of four, but relented because more of our friends were expected. We ended up with the shittiest waitress possible, and even though our booth filled up within minutes, a half hour passed and she had yet to take our order. So when Michael came to force our relocation, Axl refused to budge and told him, "We've been trying to order for twenty fucking minutes." Michael ignored him [...] I was halfway to the smaller table when I heard a commotion behind. I turned to see Axl pinning Michael backward over the table, fist cocked, ready to strike a devastating blow to Michael's left eye. [...] I was beyond pissed [after being thrown out of the Rainbow] and grumbling to myself as I rolled my chair out of the parking lot. When I took a right onto the sidewalk, there stood Axl with the body language of one contemplating handi-homicide. I peered angrily towards him and vented some steam of my own, hollering, "I can't believe you fucking got me kicked out!" Axl reached for a pair of sunglasses atop his head and fired them past my ear to smash against the wall. Then he yelled, "I can't believe you're mad at me after they disrespected us like that." [...] "I quit! Fuck you, and fuck L.A. Guns!"

Raz Cue, "The Days of Guns, & Raz's", 2015, p. 174-176

So according to Cue, Axl quit the band, although it could be that Axl cooled down and that he was then fired by an angry Cue as they were driving home to Cue's apartment.

Axl, in an interview in December 1986, would claim he deliberately got himself kicked out of LA Guns by Tracii:

Meanwhile, the other band I was in [LA Guns] got sick of me sitting around saying "Slash would be great for this..." Finally, I got myself kicked out of the band by putting on a pair of ripped up black jeans and a spray-painted pink and black biker jacket, doing my hair, putting full makeup on and running all around the stage and out into the crowd one night. The guitarist [Tracii] freaked out 'cause it was his band and he was used to getting all the attention. So, before I could say "I quit", he kicked me out. I said, "yeeahhh!" It was so great!

Hit Parader, December 1986

While in LA Guns, Axl had quarreled with Tracii over musical direction and was frustrated over Tracii being hard to write songs with [Raz Cue, "The Days of Guns, & Raz's", 2015, p. 208]. Axl would also go on to say that "the rest of the band [= LA Guns] [Tracii] had at the time […] just didn’t seem to have the drive, and it fell apart [Cream, September 1989].

In 2011, Mike Jagosz would attack Axl and say that he had sucked while in LA Guns and that their producer, Chuck Rosa, had insisted they got him [=Jagosz] back in the band:

William Bailey was only in the group for 2 F'in weeks.I tried to give him Vocal lessons..... but . He sucked. Voted " Least likely to ever make it " He always was a pathetic Sub-human being. He lived at my Parent's house for over 6 months.....Sponging off us and doing Heroin. What a little Faggot. Come to find out, He was a Male-Faggot Prostitute at the time. L-O-S-E-R.. He sold His asshole to gay men for Money. But, He made 70 Mil. [...] Also..... Chuck said, Get your Real singer back. Bill Bailey sucks.....and he did. [...] [Axl] was a real piece of work. Lived with Me at My Parent's house for approx. 7 months, But he was/is a parasite. A real sack of shit.

Proud To Be Loud, Aug. 24, 2011

Regardless of how it went down that Axl left LA Guns, the result was that on October 31, 1994, Axl and Tracii found themselves sitting on Cue's couch, discussing what to do.

by **Soulmonster** Fri Feb 11, 2022 2:47 pm

EARLY 1985?

DUFF AND STEVEN QUIT "ROADCREW"

But Road Crew was not a success and Duff would quit after just 6 weeks [Kerrang! March 1989].

That [=the lineup with Duff] went on for like a month and finally that split up and Duff had, ironically enough, just moved into this cheap little apartment right across the street from Izzy’s apartment. So those guys met and the next thing you know, Duff ended up joining their band, which I think had become Guns N’ Roses at that point.

SuicideGirls, February 29, 2008

But the Road Crew thing, there was no singer, and they’re like, “Maybe you can sing …” But I had already moved away from home, I was ready for the next step. I wasn’t going to play with some guys who just got out of high school the year before and had a bunch of riffs. Even if they had a fucking guitar player like Slash.

Rolling Stone - Extract from "Nöthin’ but a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the ’80s Hard Rock Explosion", March 8, 2021

Duff had actually auditioned for Slash and Steven’s band ROAD CREW but he didn’t really like the metal style and was looking for something a little more in line with the punk stuff he was into. He liked Slash as a guitar player but he just moved on.

Legendary Rock Interviews, April 22, 2012

One of their problems was that they couldn't find a singer [Guitar World, February 1992]. According to Steve Darrow, who played bass in Hollywood Rose for a short while, Duff played in a power-pop band with a guy called Michael McMahon [Marc Canter, "Reckless Road", 2007], and this was likely after having played in Roadcrew.

According to Slash, he and Steven had a falling out before Duff left Roadcrew, resulting in Steven quitting:

Eventually, Roadcrew broke up, and somewhere along the line, Steven got hooked up with Izzy and Axl, while I would do all kinds of strange stuff. I would play with anybody I could play with […]

Blast! April 16, 1988

Then me and Steve had a falling out, and Duff ended up playing with Axl and Izzy in L.A. Guns.

Rock in the North (UK), 1999

OK, here’s my story of the whole thing. OK, I moved to LA and I was in a band with Steven and Slash. I hated Steven. He was a real little asshole. He had a double-drum, all these drums and shit, and he was just a little asshole. I love him now to death, but he’ll tell you himself, he was an asshole then. We were in a band called Road Crew - not for long, nothing was really happening and I split.

Mick Wall, GUNS N' ROSES: The Most Dangerous Band in the World, Sidgwick & Jackson, U.K. 1991, 1993; interview from January 1990

I remember that I left them because we suddenly stopped playing gigs and we didn’t even rehearse.

Popular 1, January 1994; translated from Spanish

by **Soulmonster** Mon Mar 14, 2022 9:52 am

MAY 1985

SLASH JOINS "BLACK SHEEP"

In May 1985, Slash joined the band Black Sheep, fronted by Willie Basse [Marc Canter, "Reckless Road", 2007]. Basse would remember hiring Slash:

Tracii Guns and C. C. DeVille auditioned for Black Sheep and I said no. I hired Slash. Black Sheep was a musician's band and Slash, even at his young age, could hang with any of the neoclassical guys. He's a serious technical guitar player. We were like Black Sabbath meets Bon Jovi meets Purple neo-classical rock.

Marc Canter, "Reckless Road", 2007

Slash would also mention joining a "black funk band" in an interview in 1989:

A real odd choice but definitely a good move. We didn't play many gigs—I think we played just once—but we jammed all the time. It really helped getting my feel together, my sense of rhythm and overall approach. I'm really glad I did it. I feel it helped my attitude for when Guns N' Roses really happened.

Guitar World, March 1989

It is unknown what band this was, but it could have been Black Sheep.

But Slash would not long last in Black Sheep, because already at their gig on May 31, 1985, would Axl, Izzy and Steven show up to convince Slash to join their new band, Guns N' Roses, and a few days later he did [Marc Canter, "Reckless Road", 2007].

Looking back and summarizing his pre-GN'R bands:

I played with a band called Black Sheep once. I had a band called Roadcrew, a couple of versions of a band called Roadcrew. Me and Axl had a band called Hollywood Rose, hence the name Guns N’ Roses and L.A. Guns - at the time got together and made Guns N’ Roses. Let’s see, what else was there... I had a band that had a really strange name, called Tidus Sloan, which is, like, T-I-D-U-S S-L-O-A-N. I just thought it looked neat. And, as far as that – there was a lot of them, I can’t really remember. Um, who else did I play with? I don’t know really. Those were, like, the actual working bands. I haven’t been in that many bands.

Guns N' Roses Interview Disc, June 1988

After the Poison thing, I joined this band called Black Sheep. Before me they had been playing with Paul Gilbert, which is pretty funny given how different we are as guitarists. And it was at a Black Sheep gig that I started talking to Axl. He told me he had had a falling out with [then Guns N’ Roses guitarist] Tracii Guns and asked if I wanted to join the band.

Guitar World, July 2007

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