10 Legendary Bands That Were Actually Side Projects
3. Velvet Revolver
No one can really blame anybody in Guns N Roses for getting sick of the rock and roll circus around the late ‘90s. If you go back and listen to the kind of hectic schedule that was going on at the time, it’s a miracle that Axl Rose is able to stand here today given his dictator tendencies in his band. Without the diva coming out to play, the rest of the Guns crew actually found a different voice to fill Axl’s gigantic shoes.
Being right around the time that the sleazy rock sound was starting to wane a bit, Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum drafted in Scott Weiland from Stone Temple Pilots, who served as the dark side of Axl’s typical sound. Though Axl was already a bit of a handful, the grungy flair that was brought to songs like Slither and Fall to Pieces were able to keep the same attitude of Guns and make it just a bit more modern. Scott was already one of the biggest rock stars at the time as well, so getting a gig like this gave him the opportunity to get a whole lot more comfortable in his own skin, strutting across the stage like a disaffected version of David Bowie or Jim Morrison.
Since this was the kind of no frills rock and roll though, things started to fall apart due to Scott’s drug problems, eventually culminating in the band breaking up and everyone pursuing solo projects. But who knows? Even though Scott may no longer be with us these days, Slash has always said that Velvet Revolver has some unfinished business to attend to.