Before Slash was known as the guitarist of Guns N’ Roses, the Poison singer had offered him a spot in the band. The members held some auditions and one guitarist Michaels really liked turned out to be Slash. He explained:

“We held some auditions and the guy I really liked was Slash. This was before he was in Guns, obviously, but he had the same look back then, he was very cool. He had that kind of Rolling Stones-type cool that he still has. He came into our rehearsal room and he played every song we had, note perfect. He was very rock’n’roll.”

Michaels preferred Slash and the way he played the guitar. However, this didn’t stop him from having debates with him.

During the same interview, the rocker explained why the two parties couldn’t get along at the start and how they decided he wasn’t the right fit for the band:

“I have to be honest, at the time I argued for Slash. It was really strange. It came down to three people. One of them was CC [DeVille], one was Slash and one was this guy who had played with Joe Perry. Slash wanted to have duel guitar-player situations and we were not looking for that. CC came in with ‘Talk Dirty To Me’ already written.”

He added:

“Me and him didn’t get along from the start – Rikki and CC loved each other but Bobby and me couldn’t stand him. There was just something about him. We made the right decision for us and Slash but it’s been a fiery ride.”