Slash turned down millions to reunite with Guns N' Roses

According to the guitar legend, not being in the same room as Axl Rose is worth more than $100m

The original lineup of Guns N' Roses will "never" reform, Slash has declared, claiming that he turned down offers of hundreds of millions of dollars to reunite with Axl Rose. "It's sad that something so good doesn't exist any more, even though we're both still alive and on the same planet," he said.

Axl Rose might claim he doesn't need Slash. After all, Guns N' Roses still exist – more than a decade in the making, Chinese Democracy was released in 2008. But the band's sixth LP was more whimper than bang, and the group haven't undertaken a major tour in years. Wrestling with his management and copyright infringement claims, Axl Rose's hard-rock gang don't exactly seem like the biggest band in the world.

Slash isn't doing much better. His band, Velvet Revolver, lacks a singer, and his forthcoming solo album will be released, at least in part, as a free attachment with Classic Rock magazine. Plus, Jack White turned down an invitation to sing on one of his songs. Yet the guitarist still thinks that there "[isn't] ever a chance of a [Guns N' Roses] reunion".

"Things were so abrasive by the time I left," he told GQ. "I've never thought, 'Oh, wouldn't it be nice to get back together'. Because I know it wouldn't!" The lineup's last tour, in 1993, was "an ongoing exercise in how we could bond the least", Slash said. "It just got worse and worse." As Axl Rose remarked last year: "One of the two of us will die before a reunion." The two musicians have reportedly not spoken in 13 years.

Then again, if they do decide to reunite, the money would certainly be worthwhile. "I can't remember exact numbers, but [the offers have been] excessive," Slash told GQ. "Seven, eight-digit kinds of things." Asked directly if the amount was higher than $100m (£62m), Slash admitted, "Yeah".

"When we were on stage we were a real force together," he said. "But it got to a point off stage where it was impossible for us to even be in the same room together and create any music."

Contributor

Sean Michaels

The GuardianTramp

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