Is Slash metal?

I'm having a friendly debate at the moment. Is Slash metal? Some say he's rock, maybe even "hard rock." He does appear in Encyclopedia Metallum. 

I say he is. Thoughts?

tarkellyt wrote:I'm having a friendly debate at the moment. Is Slash metal? Some say he's rock, maybe even "hard rock." He does appear in Encyclopedia Metallum. 

I say he is. Thoughts?

If you mean the GNR guy, then he's not in EM, and I'd say he's more bluesy hard rock.

Depends on how it's defined. I'm old enough to remember Aerosmith being called metal but they never would be now. By today's standards I'd say hard rock.

I'd say bluesy hard rock verging on metal at times.

I wouldn’t call him metal. Maybe punky hard rock with a strong blues influence. 

If you put Aerosmith, Fear and Born Again era Sabbath (hence Paradise City) in a blender with the swagger/attitude of The Rolling Stones… you get Appetite for Destruction.

I personally wouldn't consider Slash "metal". At least in the modern sense. He's got the look and the attitude though.

That being said -

I wouldn't put too much into what the elitists over at "Encyclopedia Metallum" say. 

They're not very consistent, even when it comes to their own criteria for what makes a band "metal" or not. 

By their own standards, they have some bands listed that do not belong there, while excluding lots of others from the exact same genres that have the same musical approach.
 
When I was a kid in the 80s, GNR's Appetite For Destruction album was considered sleaze metal. These days I've increasingly heard it referred to as simply "rock & roll".

"Wut? I don't hear any double bass or blastbeats, bro!"

"Wait, there's a tuning above D standard?"

I think a lot of people these days are lacking perspective as to what makes something "heavy". You really have to go back and study the evolution of the metal genre to understand where I'm coming from. 

Look at it this way: If 70/80s metal bands are now hard rock, what is extreme about extreme metal these days? Now it's just "metal". So then what qualifies as extreme metal anymore? Bands are having to get more and more brutal and technical to maintain the extreme metal tag. It's becoming more of a sport as opposed to an art form.

Sorry - rant over.
 

MagnusPrime wrote:....

Look at it this way: If 70/80s metal bands are now hard rock, what is extreme about extreme metal these days? Now it's just "metal". So then what qualifies as extreme metal anymore? Bands are having to get more and more brutal and technical to maintain the extreme metal tag. It's becoming more of a sport as opposed to an art form.

My thoughts exactly!

Regarding Slash, in todays modern music/metal context (like post 1999ish) I would say he probably doesn't' count as a metal guitarist anymore.  I think it can certainly be argued that he's a hard rock musician.

Back in the late 80's and early 90's a bunch of people would have considered G'n'R a metal band. (and I don't think they would have been wrong)

I don't consider GnR metal, but they're a lot more metal than Babymetal is, and people consider them metal for some reason

All the early GNR was a mix of bluesy classic rock, sleaze metal and punk energy.

Nowadays Axl thinks he’s Elton John.

Hard Rock Blues with a dash of BNWH is how I would describe Slashes overall style. Great guitarist.


Also I've always thought of GNR as the modern day Rolling Stones/Aerosmith.

Dustofyears wrote:


Also I've always thought of GNR as the modern day Rolling Stones/Aerosmith.

THIS.