Crazy

"Crazy" is an outtake from the debut solo by Slash. The song, which features vocals by Chester Bennington of Linkin Park, was reworked into "Doctor Alibi" with Lemmy Kilmister of Motörhead after Warner Bros. Records balked at having Chester on the song.

Background

While working on his debut solo album in 2009, Slash collaborated with Chester Bennington on a version of "Doctor Alibi" as revealed in an interview to Variety:

"But speaking of Chester [Bennington], and I forgot all about this until just recently, when I was doing my first solo record, I worked with a lot of different people, some of whom, for whatever reason, didn’t end up on the record. One was with Chester. We did a song and Linkin Park at the time didn’t allow it to happen, so I did it with Lemmy [Kilmister]. The guy who engineered my demos sent it to me and I sent it to Chester’s family. But it was a trip cause the song [called “Doctor Alibi”] really speaks to his state of mind.

His family has got it so it would be totally up to them. It was really good. He was awesome. It would be fine with me if they wanted to [release] it. Musically it’s basically the same as the Lemmy song, but the lyrics are really poignant."

Big Chris Flores, a record producer and sound engineer who worked with Slash on the album, was questioned about the song in an interview to Metal Temple to which he answered, "Ooooh good one! Yeah, back in 2010 I scored a movie with Slash called, “This Is Not A Movie.” Slash wrote a lot of cool instrumental ideas for that movie. when we finished with the movie he went back and decided which ideas he was going to turn into songs. He had a list of artists that he thought would work well with some of the songs. He reached out to a lot of different singers. For this one track he reached out to Chester. Later that month Chester came to the studio and recorded the demo called, “Crazy.” Well, it turned out that Linkin Park was releasing an album the same year Slash was and they did not want Chester to perform on any other album until their album was released. Later reached out to Lemmy from Motorhead and cut the song Dr. Alibi. That’s the one that made the album. I’m sure the song will be released sooner than later. We were just waiting for Linkin Park to do their thing with what they had recorded with Chester. We were also waiting for Chester‘s wife Talinda to decide when and how she wants to release the song . Slash got everybody he wanted on the album. The only issue was with Chester and the Linkin Park album being released at the same time."

He played a sneak peak of the song during an interview to WHYS Radio on Sunday, May 16, 2021 at 3pm PDT.

A year later, Chris explained the version he played on WHYS Radio was a demo with programmed bass and drums done by himself. As of April 2022, he was in the studio with Matt Starr (of Ace Frehley) and Robert DeLeo (Chester's former bandmate from Stone Temple Pilots) to record live instruments for the song. Slash's guitar parts and Chester's vocals would remain unchanged in the final version. He already had Slash's blessing to release it, but still needed to send the finished song to Talinda for her approval. A couple of months later, Chris said the song was done and that it "Sounds amazing!" However, Talinda decided not to release it. "Since she never released it, I wanted to get Matt Starr and Doug Pinnick on there before she did decide to and now she told me she "came to the conclusion that she doesn't want to release it.""

On November 16, 2023, the full song was played during Chris Flores' interview on Episode 428 of the Guns N' Roses-themed podcast Appetite For Distortion. Flores revealed that the demo with Bennington had mostly been forgotten about as Slash had moved forward with the music for his solo set. But years later, the producer was clearing out some space when he came across a file titled "Demo Fast No. 15." Unsure of what it was, he revealed it was the Bennington demo from their early album sessions. When asked about a possible release of the song, podcast host Brando said Talinda had no plans to release the song and added, "unfortunately, no plans to release any other way. That was the deal with between @Slash and @BigChrisFlores, just have it stream within the podcast." Proceeds from the episode on YouTube went to the nonprofit organization Rock To Recovery which uses music to help those suffering from mental health and addiction.

Versions

Note: Only the date of the very first release of each version is listed.

Title	Album	Length	Recorded	Released	Notes
Crazy		2:36	2009-2022		Premiered during Episode 428 of the Appetite For Distortion podcast on November 16, 2023.

Personnel

• Slash - Guitar
• Chester Bennington - Vocals
• Doug Pinnick - Bass
• Matt Star - Drums
• Big Chris Flores - Producer

Lyrics

Album Version

I got the devil knocking at my door
Trying to sell me back my soul
'Cause I'm one tough son of a bitch
And you don't want me anymore

I cannot find my piece of mind
I'm sick and tired

I'm cra-a-a-azy baby
Never find what I'm looking for
Cra-a-a-azy baby
Never find what I'm looking for

I got the devil knocking at my door
Trying to sell me back my soul
'Cause I'm one tough son of a bitch
And you don't want me anymore

I cannot find my piece of mind
I'm sick and tired

I'm cra-a-a-azy baby
Never find what I'm looking for
Cra-a-a-azy baby
Never find what I'm looking for

Go!
Never find what I'm looking for
I'm cra-azy
Go!
Never find what I'm looking for

I'm cra-a-a-azy baby
Never find what I'm looking for
I'm cra-a-a-azy baby
Never find what I'm looking for (Go!)