Ever since he first took to the stage with Guns N’Roses in 1985, Slash spoke about his trademark top hat, revealing that he never meant for it to become part of his signature act.
“It just became a thing where I really identified with it; I wore it all the time. It was a way you pull it over your eyes; you could hide behind it if you were really high. I had no intention of it being this long-term thing.., the bassist told Conan O’Brien’s podcast “Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend”.
Slash Thought “I’ll just walk out with it”
Speaking on the podcast, Slash explained that he stole the hat from a shop many years again and the look has stayed with him ever since. The rest as they say is rock n’roll history.
“I stole it from a place called Retail Slut on Melrose [in Los Angeles]”, he revealed. “I remember this because there was two stores — there was Leathers And Treasures and Retail Slut next door. And Taime Downe, the singer from a band called FASTER PUSSYCAT, used to work at Retail Slut, so that’s how I remember the name of it”.
“And I went in there”, stated Slash. “I didn’t have any money. I always used to wear some sort of a hat. It completed whatever look you had going on. And I went in there. And I just saw the top hat. And it just spoke to me, I guess. So I figured, what the fuck, I’ll just walk out with it. And so I did”.
“And then I went next door to Leathers And Treasures and I stole a Concho belt and then went back to the apartment me and Axl [Rose, GUNS N’ ROSES singer] were living in at the time. And we had a show at the Whisky [A Go Go] that night, so I took the Concho belt and I cut it up and I put it around the hat and I wore it that night”.
Slash also went on to say that the hat gave him something to hide behind.
“It just became a thing where I really identified with it; I wore it all the time. It was a way you pull it over your eyes; you could hide behind it if you were really high. I had no intention of it being this long-term thing… It was really something to hide behind for a long time”, he said.
“It was, just put the hat on and nobody knows who I am and what I’m doing and what I’m up to. I can see you, [but] you can’t see me. And during the shows, it was great to have that, because to this day, I still can’t look at the audience — like, straight into the audience. And so having the top hat, really, you just pull it down and you could just do your thing and you didn’t feel as intimidated by the crowd”.
Elsewhere, Slash spoke about his favourite guitar in a separate interview.
He also insisted that new music from Guns N’Roses will be released very soon.
