(The notorious) KLOS Rockline radio interview!!!
With Slash, Duff, Izzy
11 July, 1988
Q: name your fave quote / moment?
I absolutely LOVE this interview. Izzy is funny af. They’re all a hot mess 🔥😜❤️
TRANSCRIPT and ADDITIONAL INFO below the cut
Bob Coburn: And once again Rockline returns. I’m Bob Coburn. Your number to call is toll-free from anywhere in North America, only one number for the one and only Rockline. It’s 1800-344 ROCK. Guns N’ Roses is one of the most amazing success stories in recent rock ‘n’ roll history. Their album, Appetite for Destruction, has already sold over 2.2 million copies and shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, with the third song receiving a lot of airplay, the album is sure to catch fire again. And Rockline welcomes some Guns N’ Roses. Izzy. Nice to see you, nice to have you here, Izzy.
Izzy: Hi man, it’s good to be here.
Bob Coburn: Nice to have you here. Also with us this evening is Slash...
Slash: Hey.
Bob Coburn: How are ya?
Slash: Hey.
Bob Coburn: And also tonight, Duff. Duff, how you doing?
Duff: Hey you guys, how you doing tonight?
Bob Coburn: Doing really great this evening. The first thing I want to ask you, guys: Did you ever think you'd be at 2.2 million and counting?
Slash: What? Records?
Duff: Records?
Bob Coburn: Records sold of you guys.
Duff: I don't think we really ever thought about, you know, like, how many we were gonna sell. We just did the record, you know, as best we could, and what we wanted to do, and it came out...
Izzy: It’s a good even number.
Duff: We just toured.
Slash: Did you see us sitting there going there, how many records do you think this sold...
Duff: Yeah, how many is 2.2.
Slash: It’s like ridiculous.
Bob Coburn: Yeah, well, I can understand that, but you had to have thought that you were on to something. But this has to be beyond your...
Izzy: No, we never did, we just...
Interviewer: Really?
Izzy: We just did what we wanted to do, yeah?
Bob Coburn: (Laughs) Now the other thing I wanted to ask you before we play a song, and this leads into the first song we're gonna play, which is Sweet Child O’ Mine. This is really a pretty straight ahead love song for you guys.
Slash: It's a great edited version we have here.
Bob Coburn: It's an edited version that we're gonna hear? (laughs) Now I guess ...
Izzy: Actually in the album it’s much better.
Slash: It’s not meat and potatoes, it's like spinach and pork with some rice thrown in.
(Laughter)
Izzy: A la carte.
Bob Coburn: Now, I guess the story goes that Axl, your vocalist, had this poem that he had written and kind of just tucked away and forgot about...
Slash: The way it went was...
Duff: (?)
Bob Coburn: You tell us, you tell us how it went.
Slash: Alright. We were sitting around in the living room at this house we used to live in. And there was a guitar thing that I made up, that beginning thing, right? And we were all sitting together. And Axl already had these lyrics, and then Izzy came up with these chords, and then Duff came up with the bass line. It's very basic, as far as that goes. We just all put it together, you know. Real fast.
Bob Coburn: And here's how it turned out. Sweet Child O’ Mine, by Guns N’ Roses...
Slash: I’ve been sloppy, but, you know...
Bob Coburn: ... On Rockline.
[Sweet Child O’ Mine is played]
Bob Coburn: Sweet Child O’ Mine, Guns N’ Roses, on Rockline and the Global Satellite Network. A couple of concert dates for the band quickly with Aerosmith, in the month of July:
(Talking and laughing in the background)
Bob Coburn: On the 17th, Hoffman Estates; on the 19th, Richfield Ohio; the 20th, Wheeling, West Virginia; 22nd, Cape Girardeau, Missouri; Dallas, Texas, the 24th; you'll find the band in Bonner Springs, Kansas, the 26th; Ames, Iowa, the 27th; Troy, Wisconsin, the 29th - that's Alpine Valley; and Meers, Michigan on the 30th and Val Du Lakes Amphitheatre.
Duff: So now I know where we're going.
Izzy: Now we know!
...: We didn’t know where we were heading yet. Pack your bags, gentlemen.
Izzy: (?) wasn’t it?
Bob Coburn: (Laughs)
Slash: Later.
Bob Coburn: First call for you tonight from Charleston, South Carolina...
Izzy: Hey, we played there.
Bob Coburn: ... Pete is listening to 96 Wave in North Charleston. Pete, you're on with Guns N’ Roses.
Pete: Hey yeah, first of all I’d like to say that I saw your last concert in Lake View, in San Francisco over there....
Izzy: Frisco!
Slash: Yeah, that’s right!
Izzy: We played there, yeah.
Pete: And I had the pleasure of going...
Duff: Shoreline! Lake View, Shoreline. Okay.
Pete: I had the pleasure to go up to Slash’s room when we were waiting in the lobby...
Izzy: Hey, you better not say anything really bad over the radio.
(Everybody laughs)
Slash: What room, I didn’t have a room.
Izzy: Our attorney is on here listening and... Okay, and... Yeah. What was the question?
(Someone laughs)
Pete: Okay. This friend of mine in Colorado got this album. It’s a double live album called “Some Kind of Orange?”
Izzy: Um, it's some kind of a bootleg, I think.
Pete: Yeah. I was...
Izzy: Yeah. Don't buy it, save your money.
Pete: (Laughs) Well, hell has it. ‘Cause it’s got this song, “Shadows Of Your Life”?
Izzy: No, shadow of your (none ?).
Slash: It’s called Shadow of your... (chuckles)
Izzy: It used to be called Shadow of your Love.
(Laughs)
Pete: Yeah, I want it. I want to find that song.
Izzy: Do you like that song?
Pete: I haven’t heard it yet...
Izzy: Oh, well.
Slash: You haven't heard it yet.
Duff: That's an old song that Izzy wrote some years ago in a McDonald's...
Slash: (?)
Duff: You’re right.
Bob Coburn: Did you get your question in there Pete, or you’re just making a statement?
Duff: Yeah, what was the question, Pete?
(Laughs)
Pete: Yeah, Duff. That's about it.
Duff: What was the question?
Bob Coburn: That’s it. If he just wanted to call to talk to you guys (?)
....: (doing a voice) Hi, hi! (giggling) What’s your girlfriend’s name?
Izzy: The original title was actually Shadow of your Love and Axl wrote the lyrics to that song.
Bob Coburn: Now, obviously you don't want to endorse a bootleg...
Izzy: No, we don’t!
Bob Coburn: I hear you have some live tracks coming out, what, October, maybe November?
Slash: Yeah, this is acoustic stuff coming out (?)
Bob Coburn: Yeah, yeah, so that should be in an album with...
Slash: It's live because we were all sitting in one room.
(Laughs)
Bob Coburn: Let’s move on now...
Izzy: Frisco!
Duff: See ya!
(Laughs)
Bob Coburn: We’re gonna go to Brockville, Ontario. We have Dan on the line, listening to SHAY106 in Ottawa. Dan, you're on the Rockline.
Izzy (?): Hey, hey!
Dan: How is it going?
Izzy (?): Hey, okay! (?) Take some (?)
Dan: I just wanted to say, Appetite is the most amazing record. It’s unbelievable.
Izzy: Appetite!
Slash: Thank you!
Duff: Thanks, man!
Izzy: Thank you, dude.
Slash: That’s great. No, no, really, we appreciate that stuff.
Dan: Okay, I’d like to...
Slash: I would have said something else, but I'm on the radio, so I have to say “stuff”.
Izzy: Yeah.
Slash: Thanks.
Duff: Thanks.
(Laughter)
Bob Coburn: What’s your question, Dan?
Dan: Okay, my question is about the song “My Michelle”. Is that about a real person?
Slash: Yeah.
Izzy: It’s about some chick. Blow head (?)
Duff: (?) girl.
Slash: Yeah, she does a lot of that.
Izzy: Nice chick, though.
Bob Coburn: Except for that.
....: What, what!
Bob Coburn: I guess that’s it, Dan. Thanks for the call.
Izzy: Anything else?
...: What do you want? Whaaat? (yelling)
(Giggles)
Bob Coburn: I guess he just wanted to know if it's about a real girl, and yes, it is.
Izzy: Yes, real.
Duff: Thanks for calling.
...: Thanks!
....: Ottawa.
Bob Coburn: We’ve got a real girl on the line, Renee, in Harlingen, Texas. She’s listening to 99X in Brownsville. Renee, you’re on the Rockline.
Renee: Hi Slash, and everybody else.
Izzy: What am I? (?) linoleums?
Duff: What?
(Giggles)
Slash: Hi.
Renee: Hi. My question is for Slash.
Slash: Uh-huh.
Renee: Um, who are your main influences, and... Then I have another question after this.
Slash: Okay, my main influences is Duff, Izzy and Steve and Axl, because if you knew these guys, it would be one of those situations where you couldn't be influenced by anybody else; you wouldn’t have enough time, right?
(Laughter)
Izzy: (?)
Duff: I’ll give you that five bucks later, man.
Bob Coburn: And the other question, Renee.
Slash: Yeah, what's the other question.
Izzy: What’s the other one.
Renee: Okay, my other question is, how did the band come about?
Izzy: Come about? Or around?
Slash: We just met in Hollywood, and that was it. And we were the only five guys that I think we could tolerate each other for an extended period of time.
(Laughter)
Izzy: It all came together, um...
Duff: Once. Once! We all came together once and we said okay, let’s get (?) and that was good.
(Laughter)
....: Whooooh! Good!
....: That was good.
Bob Coburn: Oh, my! Renee, thanks for the call. We’ve got a time-out coming, and then we'll welcome you to the jungle when we have more of Guns N’ Roses.
[Commercial break]
[Welcome to the Jungle is played]
Interviewer: Welcome to the Jungle, Guns N’ Roses, on Rockline and the Global Satellite Network.
....: You’re alright?
....: (?)
Bob Coburn: We're gonna talk with Kim... [talk and noises in the background]. Calm down, boys, calm down! We have Kim on the line, in Davenport, Iowa. She's listening to 97X, serving the Quad Cities. Hi there, Kim.
Kim: Hi!
....: (yelling in high-pitched voice) Hi! Hi!
Kim: You guys are like God’s gift to rock ‘n’ roll.
Izzy: God’s gift?
Kim: I just wanted you to know that.
Slash: God doesn’t make those things.
Izzy: That’s heavy. I don’t think he believes in this thing. That’s Stryper.
Kim: I’m sorry, I missed you guys and everything. You guys didn’t come with Iron Maiden, I’m glad to hear you guys are coming to (?)
Izzy: Coming where?
(Giggles)
Kim: (?) But I wanted to know how you guys got involved in the Clint Eastwood movie.
Izzy: Clint.
Slash: Um, we were asked, somehow, I don't know. (laughs)
Duff: Supposedly....
Izzy: God’s gift!
Duff: ...Supposedly Clint heard the record - I kind of doubt it, personally - but...
Izzy: No, he said, “Great album”
Slash: “Great album”.
Duff: So, yeah, they flew us to San Francisco a couple times, we... acted to the movie...
(Giggles)
Duff: We, like, stood there and they put a camera on us...
Izzy: Can we get a barf bag in here, to go, please?
Duff: So yeah, it just came about for some reason we actually really don't know about, but we're in it.
Bob Coburn: There you go Kim, thanks for your call. We're gonna talk now to Tracy in Reno, Nevada, listening to 105.7 KOZZ. Tracy, you’re on with Guns N’ Roses.
Tracy: Hi.
Slash: Hi.
Izzy (?): Hey
Duff (?): Hey!
Tracy: Um, I’d like to know, in your own words...
Izzy: Our own...
Tracy:... to describe your music, because a lot of people got a wrong impression.
....: Okay. (makes a noise)
Interviewer: (laughs)
Duff: What do you mean the wrong impression?
Tracy: Well, I don’t know, just there’s a lot of people out there that...
....: (makes the same noise)
....: (?) Witch!
.... (?)
Tracy: There’s a lot of people out there that just... they don’t know if it’s metal...
Slash: It’s just a rock ‘n’ roll band, you know...
Izzy: Excuse me man, what do you want? Thank you.
Tracy: I just think you guys are real good. You’re my favorite band.
Izzy: Thank you.
Duff: Yeah, that’s cool, that’s cool.
Slash: No, we're just a rock 'n' roll band, seriously.
Kim: And... what’s the motive behind “My Michelle”?
Slash: The motive?
Izzy: “The motive”!
Duff: The motive of the song, or the...
Slash: The motive was to be, like...
Izzy: God, that’s heavy (?)
....: What?
Duff: Tracy, um, listen. Ιt's just about, it's about...
Izzy: Enjoy it, you know, just enjoy it.
Duff: (?)
Izzy: It's a song that we wrote about a situation.
Duff: Yeah, it's very simple. It's about a friend of ours, you know, who... who these things happened in her life. You know, her dad was this, her mom was that, who is no more. And she's, you know, she’s just a friend of ours.
Izzy: There’s no real motive, is there? It's (?) a song on the record.
Slash: Yeah, it’s just some chick we've known for like a really long time...
....: (yelling something in the background)
Slash: ...and she’s really cool and just a good friend of ours and, you know, she's gone through, you know, gone through hell with with drugs and stuff. And it's just a real life situation, you know.
Izzy: I think she's writing a book this year called “Me, Michelle”.
Slash: “Me Michelle” (Laughs)
Bob Coburn: Tracy, I’m glad you had a chance to talk with the band (?). We're gonna take a break. We'll be back in just one moment. Your numbers toll-free from anywhere North America: 1800-344 ROCK. It’s Rockline.
[Commercial break]
Bob Coburn: Welcome back to Rockline with Guns N’ 'Roses right now. Some other concert dates with Aerosmith, and these are all in the month of August: Cincinnati, the 1st; Indianapolis, the 2nd; Philly, the 4th, followed by a date in Saratoga Springs, New York, on the 6th; Middletown, New York the 7th; Weedsport, on the 9th - that’s also in New York; Clarkston, Michigan, the 11th through the 13th - that's Pine Knob; Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, the 16th; Columbia, Maryland, the 17th, at Merriweather Post Pavillion; and Mansfield, Mass. for the Boston area, Great Woods, 24th through the 26th. We’ve got some rock 'n' roll by Guns N’ Roses right now. This is Paradise City, on Rockline and the Global Satellite Network.
[Paradise City is played]
Bob Coburn: Paradise City the name of that, Guns N’ Roses, on Rockline and the Global Satellite Network. Time for couple more calls. From Lansing, Kansas is our first. It’s Jenny, a listener of KY102 in KC. Hi, Jenny.
Jenny: Hi. I think you guys are really great. And I was wondering how is Axl recovering from his illness?
Slash: He is fine.
....: (Makes a noise)
Slash: Νο, he is.
Duff: We played two...
Slash: No, he is fine. We just played two gigs in Phoenix.
Interviewer: And he had what, laryngitis is that?
Izzy: (?)
Slash: You know, one of those things that singers get. You know, it’s (?)
Duff: I mean, a guy... A guy can’t go...
Bob Coburn: You can’t (?) it down, yeah (laughs).
Slash: We got on the road for almost two year, so...
Duff: A guy can't go around screaming every night like he does, you know. The guy puts out, you know, it’s like.. I...
Izzy: I think he’s really (?). I’m sorry, I’m stepping...
(Giggles)
Duff: I just had people tell me, you know, from gigs, after the gig, you know, how does he do that. So yeah, the guy cannot go a whole tour, and you know, with, like, singing that way, you know...
Slash: Seriously, we’ve been on the road for ages. Yeah, it’s like you’re on the road for a long time and not too many people tour as this long.
Izzy: Yeah, almost a fiscal year.
Slash: We've been on the road since last summer, so it's like the kind of thing where you you're at the mercy of the other band’s, you know, schedule. And so if it's like day in, day out, day in, day out, then it’s something you have to deal with.
Bob Coburn: Wears you out after a while. Jenny, thanks for the call.
Izzy: Axl is doing well, Jenny.
Bob Coburn: Let’s just move on to Davenport, Iowa. We're gonna talk to Laurie, a listener to 97X. Laurie, you're on the show.
Laurie: Oh, hi. I think you guys are really great, especially Axl.
Slash: Oh thanks.
Duff: Oh thanks.
Slash: Thanks a lot.
Duff: I'm sure you appreciate...
Laurie: I love you guys too.
Izzy: What’s that? The rest of the band too? Thank you. (laughs)
Laurie: Oh, but my question was, um, do you guys enjoy making videos or is it a pain?
Slash: It's a pain.
Izzy: Pain, um, enjoyment. Yeah.
Slash: It's a pain.
Duff: It’s a finished product, so it’s great.
Slash: (?) same song over and over again. But you know, I mean, after the fact...
Duff: The outcome.
Slash: Mmm-mmm.
Duff: I’m sorry, go on. It’s actually pretty... I think it's kinda boring. It's really boring.
Slash: But the coffee and vodkas are great.
(Laughter)
Bob Coburn: Laurie, thanks for calling. Thanks to everybody for listening and calling. Our address, if you want it, is PO Box 4383, Hollywood, California, 90078. Next week, John Entwistle from The Who. And then, coming soon the Moody Blues and a whole lot more, as Rockline gives you brand-new shows all summer long. Thanks to Tony Mandich of Atlantic Records, to Mondy Carlos and Howard Gelman of Public Radio KQED in San Francisco, for their hospitality and their help with Robin Trower. Also thanks to Alan Niven and everybody at Geffen Records, to the Guitar Center in Hollywood and to Mike Kelley for his help tonight. Thanks to Robin Trower, obviously. And also thanks to... to you guys, to Izzy and Duff and Slash...
....: Hey, man, it was a pleasure being here.
Bob Coburn: Good luck on the tour with Aerosmith. I’m B.C. And I'll be seeing you.
*************
NOTES:
The interview seems to have taken place after the Phoenix show on July 10th and before the first date of the tour with Aerosmith on July 17. EDIT - I found the exact date of the interview: it was on July 11th.
And it caused a feud between the band/the label and the radio station (KLOS).
Los Angeles Times, July 24, 1988:
No Bed of Roses
Guns N' Roses may be the hottest new band in the country - a No. 2 album on Billboard's chart and a growing rep as the most charismatic group to emerge from the local rock scene since Van Halen. So why isn't L.A.'s top album-rock station, KLOS-FM, playing the album's hit single, "Sweet Child O' Mine"?
"Our testing found it had a highly negative reaction with anyone over 25 - they just don't like the song," explained program director Charlie West. "Those listeners are really important to us, so it wasn't worth the risk of playing it."
Says Geffen Records promo chief Al Coury: "I think they must've pulled the record because of the way the band behaved on 'Rockline' [a syndicated radio show hosted by KLOS deejay Bob Coburn]."
According to West, the band's behavior was "disgraceful." He added: "They couldn't even straighten up long enough to do the show. The guitarist, Flash [sic] vomited all over the studio - and Bob said they ripped a girl's blouse and were pretty out of control. But that had nothing to do with my decision to pull the record."
Retorted Coury, "Flash did vomit - he told us he'd eaten a bad artichoke. But he didn't attack any girls or anything. And geez - he did vomit in a paper bag. It's not like he threw up on the program director!"
1988.07.11 - KLOS Rockline (Slash, Izzy, Duff)
*************
From an interview with Bob Coburn, the KLOS DJ who hosted the Rockline show:
Bob Coburn wrote:
Izzy, Duff and Slash from GNR came on the show absolutely smashed and a ridiculous feud broke out between the band, the label, KLOS and anyone else within earshot, including the L.A. Times.
That led to a show where halfway through, Axl Rose confessed to me he came to Rockline listening to NWA on 11, parked in a median on Cahuenga Blvd. and was going to kick my ass for messing with his "Boys." He didn't, he said, because I was too nice and "a lot bigger" than he is. The dust on that fiasco settled long ago.
The show with Axl Bob Coburn mentions was in 1991, three years after this "unfortunate" 1988 interview:
1991.11.27 - Interview on Rockline (Axl)
Interviewer: [...] Axl, I didn’t know what to expect coming into the show. I mean, Rockline and GN’R have a history. I had never met you before. I was ready for almost anything! The last thing I was expecting...
Axl: I was hoping there would just be an argument, man. I was like all psychotic. I was listening to N.W.A. (?)
Interviewer [talking over Axl]: I was ready for that if that was the case, you know. Like let’s go after each other, you know. I’ve got to tell you that the last thing that I really was expecting was for you to be so nice, and calm, and answer the calls the way you have, and...
------
UPDATE Oct. 11 2018 (thanks to Guns N' Roses Central):
***********
Izzy, in August 1988, talking about Slash throwing up: "Well, he ate an artichoke, and about seven gin and tonics, and a couple of margaritas, and just... […] But he did it real quick, Slash didn’t – and just, you know, no big deal. We just kept – you know, did the interview, yeah." [The Friday Rock Show with Tommy Vance, August 19, 1988].
Source: A-F-D forum.
----------------------- TRANSCRIPTION: ----------------------- Bob Coburn: And once again Rockline returns. Im Bob Coburn. Your number to c
