Fri 2/26
Guns N’ Roses were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012, definitely one of the more controversial entries, especially since they were inducted the first year they became eligible while infinitely more influential bands such as Black Sabbath and Genesis waited for over a decade (Sabbath 11 years, Genesis a staggering 16!)
Plus their legacy, such as it is, rests on a single great album, 1987’s Appetite for Destruction, the apotheosis, summing up and the beginning of the downslide of L.A. hair metal. From there, they moved on to a cobbled-together EP, an over-ambitious, uneven double album, a covers album and disintegration with singer Axl Rose leading the band into laughingstock territory as it took him 15 years (and countless non-original members) to finally release the quickly forgotten Chinese Democracy in 2008. And that was all she wrote. (Yeah, the inevitable semi-reunion is happening this year).
In a way, it’s the most rock and roll story there is — one dazzling moment of artistic and commercial glory (the best-selling debut of all time!) and then gone. Now the Rock Hall will be honoring this band with a special display in its Legends of Rock exhibit. Among the items you can view starting this week are guitarist Slash’s famous hat that made him such a nightmare for photographers to shoot, his Guns N’ Roses pinball machine, his high-top sneakers and a prototype Slash guitar, and singer Axl Rose’s plaid shirt.
While you’re looking at the detritus of Slash’s G N’ R life, it’s worth reflecting that the guitarist was the most successful member in crawling from the wreckage of the band he bailed on in 1996, leaving Rose behind to dither for another 12 years. He cleaned up from his addictions and actively sought collaborations outside the hard rock/metal world, establishing himself as a versatile session player/sideman with artists ranging from Michael Jackson to Carole King to Rihanna while performing with former bandmates in Slash’s Snakepit and Velvet Revolver, both more productive than Rose’s version of Guns N’ Roses.
The exhibit is free with regular museum admission.
rockhall.com/legends-of-rock–guns-n-roses/
1100 Rock and Roll Blvd, Cleveland, OH 44114