Brits and Americans Clash Over Slash

 

Rolling Stone, America’s Rock n’ Roll magazine, kicks out its high and mighty top [insert arbitrary number here] lists on every category imaginable-classifying, quantifying, and qualifying things barely tangible enough to be ranked-pertaining to the music industry (and popular culture and politics).  A moderately current list of note is Rolling Stone’s “The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time”.  

Now forget the current lack of credibility floating around Rolling Stone’s aura, and forget the obvious criticism concerning this list.  Simply focus on the exclusion of Slash, a.k.a a certain Mr. Saul Hudson.  Let us also ponder on the fact that the term “guitar slinger”, or even “legendary guitar slinger”, was practically coined specifically for this man.  My bias aside, even non-rocker-musically-ignorant-extra-terrestrials know that the name Slash belongs to a talented and widely respected guitarist; this reputation alone should have at least afforded Slash the ninety-ninth percentile.  Let me remind you, he was not number thirty, not fifty, nor eighty-two.  He was not ninety-nine.  Rolling Stone, for whatever reason, completely and entirely slashed him from the history of rock, guitars, and … Oh and I forgot to mention, he also has his own guitar line.

 

A list in which Slash HAS been included: The second subcategory of the first definition for “slash” in the Urban Dictionary.  Glad that is settled.  Oh wait, never mind because also within the category of “slash”, rounding out number six, reads the following British-English definition:

Urinate (chiefly British)
“I’m dying for a slash, but there’s a line for the bog.”

Ignoring the “bog” and diving straight in for the “slash”…peeing?  Really?  No, not enough terms for urinating exist; let us add a few more.  Because PISS, PEE, URINATE, DRAIN THE LIZZARD, et cetera are not sufficient.

Sadly the body’s balancing of water and electrolytes and the legendary musician battle it out throughout the numerous definitions listed.  Long live the contributor who wrote:

“Slash f***ing ROCKS! When he’s on stage playing his Gibson Les Paul guitar with a cigarette hanging out of the corner of his mouth – you can see true Rock N’ Roll right in front of your eyes!”

Thus, next time you see Slash walking down Sunset Boulevard, stop and give him a hug.  He seems to be experiencing difficulty and harsh times, failing to win over the hearts of American magazines and the British vernacular.   

P.S.  Jack White stuck at number seventeen?  Weak-he too deserves a boost.  Not that I am biased or anything.

 

The True Musician

[Sigh of content].  
 
No feeling quite matches the sweeping relief that quality, mind-blowing music still lives.  Such may be difficult and tedious to find; nevertheless, the elusive true musician more than justifies the effort.
 
Specifically, I am speaking of Jack White.  Still on a Raconteurs concert high, I cannot rave sufficiently.  Never mind the insane talent exhibited by this man, for only the fool denies his guitar-slinging worth, but let us consider his devotion to his music, to the music.  He does not perform, as do most musicians at comparable levels of success.  He feels.  He moves.  He evokes emotions from a guitar (and piano) in a way for which few other musicians could hope.
 
And while Jack strives to maintain the integrity of the political backside of music, he leaves the obsessive “business hat” to Reznor.  Jack White, if only Jack White, can be relied upon to play exquisite, sincere notes until his dying day, simply just to play.  For the music.
 
Not the stardom, not the performance, not the fans.  Not the business, not the industry.  Certainly not the money.
 
For the music.
 
One of a dying breed, Jack White remains a last-standing true, honest musician who feels every note, chord, song, and lyric.