The legacy of Les Paul

The legacy of Les Paul
The world of rock n roll is not the most natural for giving plaudits and platitudes out to the deserving yet unsung characters but with the passing of one of the most influential heroes you could ever come across. The name of Lester William Polsfuss may not sound like the type of name that will have a stadium audience rocking and rolling but when you shorten it to Les Paul you will probably start to grasp why the world of music is a quieter place this week. Although a musician in his own right, the solid body guitar is what the man was most famously known for and you can guarantee that some of your heroes have rocked the stage using his instrument. Quite simply, the Les Paul guitar is one of the most important weapons a rock and roll act can have in their arsenal. Don’t get us wrong, the Stratocaster, the Telecaster and even the Flying V Guitar have the right to be cherished but the Les Paul is so iconic that it stands out from the rest.
A large part of the reason for its enduring popularity is the number of famous guitar players who regularly play the instrument. This creates a massive demand in their fan base to pick up the instrument as all the inspirational fans pick up the same guitar as their hero. This has seen the Les Paul be the instrument of choice for a whole army of budding musicians and local bands.
One of the most famous players of the Les Paul has been Slash and in the past few days the legendary guitarist has been paying tribute to the man behind his machine. Its hard to think of so many of the great Guns N Roses or Velvet Revolver songs without picturing the Les Paul guitar playing its part. Axl Rose may believe that he was the only focal point for the crowd but with Slash’s guitar playing and Duff McKagan keeping the bottom end together, the music was top notch throughout. And that’s what the Les Paul offered, quality and constancy in an electric guitar and if you were to examine even a partial list of guitarists who used it, it would read like a who’s who of rock n roll.
Classic guitarists like Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Mick Ronson, Joe Perry and Zakk Wylde have all been spotted playing the Les Paul. Given the influence of these musicians, it is easy to see why so many future generations have chosen to use the instrument and it has played its part throughout the years.
Punk rock may have stood itself apart from the generations that went before but Steve Jones of The Sex Pistols and Mick Jones from The Clash were more than happy to be play the Les Paul and the legacy doesn’t stop there. Modern guitarists like Noel Gallagher have ensured that a new generation of budding musicians and music fans have been introduced to the Les Paul and you can guarantee that the musical legacy and influence of Lester William Polsfuss will live on for many generations to come.

PAINTINGS FOR SALE

As previously mentioned, our new artist in residence, Tom Bloomfield has produced a range of limited edition paintings exclusively for sale at BathroomWall. Limited to just 50 each, these hand painted box canvases are 2 foot by 2 foot and even if we do say so ourselves, looking bloody ace.

The initial run sees paintings of Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, Slash, Morrissey and Bon Scott.

We have dozens more on their way, so keep an eye out.

Just one note, as the paintings are all produced by hand and to order (rather than prints), colours will vary slightly.

Cheers
Alex

In defence of Axl Rose

Are we supposed to be excited about the fact (a strange word to be associated with GnR, I know) that Chinese Democracy is about to surface after 15 years? Every fibre of my rock n’ roll soul is telling me to say, “Fuck it, beyond caring.” But for some bizarre reason I am actually excited about it. Maybe it is borne from the same sense of curiosity that makes people slow down to look at car crashes? I have so far resisted the opportunity to listen the leaked tracks, just like I don’t want to know what I am getting for Christmas. Axl is going to surprise us and let’s face it, when was the last time a rock star did anything surprising? I hope it is great, but if it’s not I won’t care as the release of Chinese Democracy has nothing to do with music and is all about myth, legend and rock stars doing weird shit.

So many people have a pop at Axl about the legitimacy of calling the band Guns N’ Roses when it is pretty much just an Axl solo project and that it is simply not Guns N’ Roses without Slash, Izzy, Duff and Steven. But is that really fair? I am a huge fan of Slash, Duff is a star and Izzy was always my personal favourite, but it is Axl that created the mythology. Appetite For Destruction was of course just as much about Slash’s guitar tone and Izzy’s vibe as it was Axl’s vocals, yet as the years rolled on Slash’s solo projects sold poorly and only hardcore fans showed to gigs, Izzy is what is known as ‘big in Japan’, Duff’s really cool Loaded project sadly drew little but apathy, while the train wreck of Adler’s Appetite struggled to sell out Camden Underworld (for those that don’t know the place, imagine you bedroom…. Put a bar at one end, a stage at the other and drown the floor in piss). Even when Duff and Slash teamed up for Velvet Revolver they were still no more than a theatre sized band. I like Velvet Revolver and thought the first album was pretty damn good, while they certainly performed wonders live. Yet Axl can show up with a bunch of guys he has just grabbed off the street and he can headline the Download Festival. I saw Velvet Revolver a couple of times and had no problem getting tickets. They shows eventually sold out, but not so fans couldn’t get in if they really wanted. Yet I had to pull serious favours from friends and contacts to get in to see Guns N’ Roses at Hammersmith in 2006 (or was it 2007?). Why? It is because as much as every rocker in the world loves Slash and will tell you that he is the person that they would most like to hang out with, he is not a mystery. Duff is a gnarly old punk, but you get the feeling that if you rocked up at his house with a bunch of Stooges bootlegs he would invite you in for a beer. But Axl…. Axl Rose is a mysterious rock star. He is a rock star of the old school. He is just who he is and genuinely doesn’t care what the world thinks. Slash writes a book and treads carefully around everything, and he does so because he is a great bloke and because he is a fine enough human being to care what people think of him and indeed the people he is writing about. Axl on the other hand hasn’t written a book because he doesn’t give a shit what you think.

We live in a world where we know everything about everyone, a celebrity obsessed culture where nothing is a mystery. So when a rock star comes on like a later day Howard Hughes we should celebrate him and be thankful that he is there.

No one really knows the truth about the recording of Chinese Democracy, yet thanks to the Spinal Tap qualities of Metallica’s Some Kind Of Monster we know EVERYTHING about them. It destroyed any mystic and left pretty much no one with any respect for Lars (hey, we do a Kirk Hammett T-shirt, a James Hetfield T-shirt and a Cliff Burton T-shirts, but do you see one for Lars?). Which one do you want from your rock stars? To be the aliens from another planet full of intrigue and mystery or a bunch of fuck-ups about whom nothing is now left to the imagination?

The world needs rock stars that do weird shit. We need them to lord it over us from their Malibu mansions. I want to believe that our icons really do keep the bones of Sharon Tate in a pickling jar and that they bathe only in a secret blend of cobra milk and marmite. People are shocked and get all moralistic about Pete Dogherty being in court on drug charges. I am appalled to, but not because he is a junky, but because he is so public and crass about it. I want rock stars to be off of their tits if that what makes them produce their best work (are you listening Eric Clapton?) not to be scrabbling around with the general public.

So forget giving Axl are hard time (not that he gives a toss). Forget telling us that it is not the ‘Real’ Guns N’ Roses (as as much as you might love the others, Axl is who actually counts… that said, I would dearly love to at least see Slash return). Stop telling us that the tracks you have so far heard are crap or for that matter that they are great. Because none of this matters. All that matters is that at last a rock star has come to save us from banality. Long live Axl and long may he remain the weirdest guy this side of Michael Jackson.