Slash

Slash, born Saul Hudson in London in 1965, rose to fame as the lead guitarist of Guns N' Roses, the Los Angeles hard rock band he joined in 1985 after stints in local outfits including Hollywood Rose and Road Crew. Among his early bands was Hollywood Rose, which also included Axl Rose and Izzy Stradlin, and in 1985 Rose and Stradlin asked Slash to join their new band, Guns N' Roses. Axl Rose and Izzy Stradlin came calling once more, and in June 1985, alongside bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Steven Adler, Guns N' Roses was officially formed. The band quickly built a reputation on the Sunset Strip for raw, blues-inflected hard rock built around Slash's expressive guitar work and Rose's volatile stage presence.

The band's breakthrough came with their 1987 debut album, which initially struggled commercially before an unexpected surge in popularity. Guns N' Roses' debut album, Appetite for Destruction, initially received little attention, but its single "Sweet Child O' Mine" helped it reach the top of the charts more than a year after its release. That album became the best-selling debut album in American history and the foundation on which every subsequent GN'R achievement was built, featuring some of the most iconic guitar work in the hard rock canon. Slash's playing on tracks like "Sweet Child o' Mine," "Paradise City" and "November Rain" cemented his status as one of rock's defining guitarists, and his signature top hat and Gibson Les Paul became instantly recognizable symbols of the era.

Slash's career after Guns N' Roses was marked by constant reinvention. After leaving Guns N' Roses in 1996, Slash did session work and formed other bands, such as Velvet Revolver. Shortly after disbanding Slash's Snakepit, Slash formed Velvet Revolver in 2002, along with drummer Matt Sorum, and bassist Duff McKagan, both fellow former-Guns N' Roses members, with Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots eventually joining as vocalist. Following Velvet Revolver's hiatus, Slash began work on his debut solo album, which was released on March 31, 2010, and featured a number of guests such as Andrew Stockdale of Wolfmother, M. Shadows of Avenged Sevenfold, Kid Rock, Ozzy Osbourne, Myles Kennedy of Alter Bridge, and Fergie. His band for the tour in support of the album consisted of Kennedy, bassist Todd Kerns, and drummer Brent Fitz, a lineup that would remain his primary creative partnership for years to come. His guitar work has earned lasting critical recognition, including being named runner-up on Time's list of "The 10 Best Electric Guitar Players" in 2009, while Rolling Stone placed him at No. 65 on their list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" in 2011. Slash remains active today, having rejoined Guns N' Roses in 2016 for a long-awaited reunion, while continuing to record and tour with Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators. His influence stretches well beyond his own recordings, shaping generations of rock guitarists who followed him, and his combination of blues feeling and hard rock power continues to define what a guitar hero sounds like. Decades after Appetite for Destruction, he remains one of the most instantly identifiable figures in rock, both for his playing and for the top hat and Les Paul silhouette that fans everywhere recognize on sight.

For this archive, Slash holds a special place among the artists Wayne Dennon captured on stage, his 2010 tour with Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators bringing him through Wayne's lens for a single memorable show that year. That night is preserved in 36 photographs housed here, images that have drawn 30,143 views from visitors returning again and again to relive a set built on decades of hard rock history. It stands as a fitting testament to both Slash's enduring legacy and Wayne's dedication to documenting the artists who shaped the sound of a generation.