The Guns N' Roses Experience (via Aerosmith)

Believe it or not, I wasn't always the music-obsessive that I am now. In my early years, my music tastes included Michael Jackson and whatever I heard on the radio/TV that didn't include bass so low that I don't know which is more likely - my head exploding, or an involuntary bowel movement (I'm looking at you UK Garage and Drum N' Bass!).

Surprisingly, my first introduction into a larger musical world was watching the short live TV version of the Pepsi Chart Show on Channel 5 in the summer of 1998. That week featured the release of two big budget movies... Lost In Space, and Armageddon. I was strangely intrigued by Apollo 440's take on the Lost In Space theme, but the next song made me sit up and take notice. It was the video premiere for Aerosmith's I Don't Want To Miss A Thing, and by the end of the song my mind was blown. I began looking for anything related to Aerosmith, and talking about the band to everyone who would listen. I would since find out that many rock fans hate I Don't Want To Miss A Thing, but I still maintain that it's a great song, and it's still the song I credit with opening my mind to music that I had before not known existed. (Note: technically, I'd heard The End Is The Beginning Is The End by The Smashing Pumpkins the previous year, but as much as I liked the song, it for some reason didn't have the same effect on me).

A year passed, and thanks to recommendations from my brother and cousins, I'd started listening to bands like Nirvana and Iron Maiden, but my favourite band was still Aerosmith. This changed however, when a friend of mine who I had pulled kicking and screaming into the world of rock music with me came to my house with a new purchase that he had made. The cover featured five skulls wearing various forms of headgear placed evenly around a crucifix. Above and below the crucifix were two banners which said 'Guns N' Roses', and 'Appetite For Destruction'. "Put this on", my friend said, "I've heard it's quite good".

So, in the CD goes into the player, the play button is pressed and by the time the intro of the first song is over, I am already blown away. For the next fifty minutes or so, the two of us are mesmerised by the sounds coming out of the speakers - both very shocked when the ninth song plays and we recognise it. Everything about the album exuded a confidence that most bands ordinarily do not have when they're recording their debut album - Aerosmith certainly didn't show it on theirs, despite some standout tracks showing their potential - but the thing that stood out to me the most was that voice. How does someone sing like that? during 'Welcome To The Jungle', quickly gave way to that can't be the same guy during 'It's So Easy', but through every song you got the impression that this was a man who meant every word he sang, and a man for whom not saying what was on his mind was just not an option.

Over the years, I would buy every Guns N' Roses album and marvel at their refusal to be pigeon-holed. 'Use Your Illusion' went in so many directions over the course of two and a half hours that a lot of critics like to dismiss it as an unfocused mess, but they miss the point. By this time everybody in the band had matured as songwriters, resulting in a lot of the songs on those albums actually being better than the ones on 'Appetite For Destruction'. There were a few near misses, but overall the 'Use Your Illusion' albums are an epic masterpiece that take you on a rollercoaster ride of emotions that leave you exhausted by the time you end. I think the reason that these albums draw a bit of scorn from some people is that they are uncomfortable with "anyone or anything that cannot be programmed, categorized or easily referenced" (thanks to Fox Mulder for that quote).

It will probably seem strange to everyone now, but I didn't get a computer until the summer of 2000 with an internet connection following that October. One of the first searches I did on the internet was for 'Guns N' Roses', and what did I find? Axl Rose was the only person left in the band, and that the new line-up of the band will be making their live debut on December 31st of that year. This was my introduction to the saga that was the wait for 'Chinese Democracy'... I remember long long hours of downloading bootleg recordings on Napster of that performance and the one at Rock In Rio a couple of weeks later, being annoyed when the connection was cut off and I had to start again. The new tracks that they debuted at those shows were different, but I was excited. Even moreso when a European was announced. It was cancelled (twice!), but it didn't dip my enthusiasm.

It wasn't long after that that former Guns N' Roses members decided to form a band with each other, and went on a six month search for a lead singer. When the front-runner for the role was Sebastian Bach of the awful Skid Row, I decided that I'd completely lost interest in what these people were doing. And then I heard that they were actually teaming up with Scott Weiland from Stone Temple Pilots... this could actually be interesting! And interesting it was... 'Contraband' was released, and it featured the same kind of intensity that I remembered upon first hearing 'Appetite For Destruction'. This band were completely different to Guns N' Roses musically, but even so, the band came out with something to prove and they came out fighting, exactly as Guns did all those years ago. Even the frontman seemed to have the same attitude as Axl did back then, taking all of the anger he could muster and unleashing it in a way that made this album one of the most exciting rock albums in recent years.

Did I mention how much of a stereotypical emotional wreck of a teenager I was? The victim of all of the jokes at school, I was amongst the group of people who had to stick with each other because no one else was going to. That is really the point of the whole thing, because beyond the actual music, they were (and are) also the band that gave me the balls to carry on. I'm not an overly confident person still, but what little confidence I do have - the little bit that keeps me honest, and allows me to say what's on my mind and not give a shit what everyone else thinks - I at least partially need to credit to this band, who really don't give a shit what people think. All of them make decisions that I - and other people - don't like at times, but the refreshing thing is that these are the few musicians left who will say "I know you don't like this decision, but I don't care".

The last few years I have actually gotten to know Duff McKagan, thanks to his appearances at Music Live, as well as his tours in the UK (and Amsterdam) with his band, Loaded - who I spoke about in an earlier article. It's strange, because I didn't know whether or not to refer to him as a friend until this past saturday when we met at the Birmingham Guitar Show, and he introduced myself, my fiancee and a friend of ours as "my friends". Duff actually writes columns for the Seattle Weekly newspaper, and that day I found myself co-writing a column... if you told me twelve years ago that the bass player on the record that has just changed my life will a) give a shit about me, and b) let me co-write a feature with him, I would have said you were crazy. People may ask if this is a bizarre experience... honestly? No. Back in 2007 when I'd only met him once, it definitely would have been. But the man is so easy-going that to me he's no longer "Duff McKagan, former member of Guns N' Roses, and member of Velvet Revolver and Loaded" to me.... now he's just "Duff" - not Michael... NEVER Michael.

The column I wrote with him can be found here...

http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/reverb/2011/03/a_meeting_of_the_minds.php

P.S. - I have seen people suggest that Duff doesn't really write this column, and he hires a ghost-writer (the evidence basically being their own perception of his intelligence). Well, I can now say without a doubt... unless he credits anything to someone else, he writes every word himself.