Slash covers Elton John's Rocket Man as tribute to daredevil

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Slash covers Elton John's Rocket Man in support of Hollywood stuntman's Evel Knievel-inspired Snake River Canyon jump in September

Slash covers Elton John's Rocket Man
Slash covers Elton John's Rocket Man (Image credit: Getty)

Slash has covered Elton John’s Rocket Man in honour of a Hollywood stuntman who is attempting to jump across Idaho’s Snake River Canyon.

The Guns N’ Roses axeman got John’s permission to record the song with Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators. It was used as the theme music for the Kickstarter campaign, which has raised almost $40,000.

Professional stuntsman Eddie Braun, who has reportedly spent $1.5 million of his own money on the project, will launch himself over the Snake River in Idaho using a steam-powered rocket named Evel Spirt on September 17.

Stuntman Evel Knievel attempted the feat in 1974 – his parachute deployed as the rocket left the launch pad, and he was carried backwards by the wind before crashing into the bottom of the canyon.

Braun says: “I approached Slash, who I knew to be an Evel Knievel fan, and asked if he would be interested in being involved with my rocket project. He gave us the most awesome gift we could ever dream – a theme song.

“Slash got permission from Sir Elton John to re-record his 1972 hit song Rocket Man specifically for our project. Slash suggested we include the song with every reward so every single backer of our Kickstarter campaign gets it. So that’s what we’re doing.

“I’m so honoured to have been given the most epic theme song, by the most epic guitarist of all time.”

Braun says that it took him three years to complete the necessary paperwork and get through red-tape and permission from the federal government to make the jump.

He told Independent Record: “In 1974 Evel left one side of Snake River Canyon. I hope this time his spirit lands on the other side. How many people get to fulfill a dream of their hero?”

The jump will be streamed live by Kickstarter donors on September 17.

Slash is currently touring the US with Guns N’ Roses.

Guns N’ Roses tour dates 2016

Aug 03: Arlington AT&T Stadium, TX
Aug 05: Houston NRG Park, TX
Aug 09: San Francisco AT&T Park, CA
Aug 12: Seattle CenturyLink Field, WA
Aug 15: Glendale University Of Phoenix Stadium, AZ
Aug 18: Los Angeles Dodger Stadium, CA
Aug 22: San Diego Qualcomm Stadium, CA
Oct 27: Lima Estadio Monumental, Peru
Oct 29: Santiago Estadio Nacional, Chile
Nov 04: Buenos Aires River Plate Stadium, Argentina
Nov 08: Porto Alegre Estadio Beira-Rio, Brazil
Nov 11: Sao Paulo Allianz Parque, Brazil
Nov 15: Curitiba Pedreira Paulo Leminski, Brazil
Nov 18: Rio de Janeiro TBC, Brazil
Nov 20: Brasilia Estadio Nacional, Brazil
Nov 23: Medellin Estadio Atanasio Girardot, Colombia
Nov 26: San Jose Estadio Nacional, Costa Rica

The Gospel According To Slash

Christina O'Neill

Former TeamRock news desk member Christina joined our team in late 2015, and although her time working on online rock news was fairly brief, she made a huge impact by contributing close to 1500 stories. Christina also interviewed artists including Deftones frontman Chino Moreno and worked at the Download festival. In late 2016, Christina left rock journalism to pursue a career in current affairs. In 2021, she was named Local Weekly Feature Writer of the Year at the Scottish Press Awards.