"The Last Fight" is a power ballad by American supergroup

Velvet Revolver Velvet Revolver was an American hard rock supergroup consisting of Guns N' Roses members Slash (lead guitar), Duff McKagan (bass, backing vocals) and Matt Sorum (drums, backing vocals), alongside Dave Kushner (rhythm guitar) formerly of pun ...

, and appears on the band's second album, '' Libertad''. The song was released on August 20 as the second single off the album, after "

She Builds Quick Machines "She Builds Quick Machines" is a rock song by Velvet Revolver, and was released as the first single from the album '' Libertad'' on May 21, 2007. The song was made available for digital download on May 16, 2007. Besides being featured on ''Liberta ...

." The band began promoting the single on K Rock radio in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, with an exclusive acoustic performance, and then live on the Late Show with David Letterman on August 22. This song was #62 on ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

''s list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007.

Musical composition

Like every other song on ''Libertad'', the lyrics were written by lead vocalist

Scott Weiland Scott Richard Weiland (; né Kline, October 27, 1967 – December 3, 2015) was an American singer and songwriter. During a career spanning three decades, Weiland was best known as the lead singer of the rock band Stone Temple Pilots from ...

. The song is a tribute to Scott Weiland's younger brother who died of a drug overdose. It starts with a slow drum intro and vocals, the song gets stronger as it progresses until the end.

Music video

On August 3, the band filmed the music video for "The Last Fight" at the Los Angeles Theater in downtown

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. The video was directed by Rocco Guarino, and premiered on

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on August 28 and contains a lot of symbolism. First, clouded skies appear, and then in a room

Matt Sorum Matthew William Sorum (born November 19, 1960) is an American drummer. He is best known as both a former member of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he recorded three studio albums, and as a member of the supergroup Velvet Revolver. ...

is playing a snare drum. Next, it shows Scott Weiland playing the piano and writing a book which contains the lyrics of the song (one can assume that he is composing it). He is later seen playing with the band on stage. A topless woman is reading the book then puts on a red military jacket and enters a room with various blindfolded people sitting in chairs against the wall. When everyone's blindfolds are removed, they walk into the room where the band is. Slash plays an ES-335 in this video, instead of his usual Les Paul. Another version of the video simply shows the band performing in a room.

Track listing

# "The Last Fight" - 4:03

Personnel

- lead vocals,

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

Slash Slash may refer to: * Slash (punctuation), the "/" character Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Slash (Marvel Comics) * Slash (''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'') Music * Harry Slash & The Slashtones, an American rock band * Nash ...

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featu ...

Duff McKagan Michael Andrew "Duff" McKagan (born February 5, 1964), sometimes credited as Duff "Rose" McKagan, is an American musician. He played bass for twelve years in the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late ...

- bass,

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are ...

- drums,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

, backing vocals *

Dave Kushner David Kushner (born November 16, 1966) is an American musician perhaps best known as the rhythm guitarist for the hard rock supergroup Velvet Revolver. Kushner has also been a member of Wasted Youth, Electric Love Hogs, Loaded, Danzig, Jan ...

- rhythm guitar

Chart position

References

External links

* Velvet Revolver songs 2007 singles Songs written by Slash (musician) Songs written by Duff McKagan Songs written by Matt Sorum Songs written by Scott Weiland Song recordings produced by Brendan O'Brien (record producer) 2007 songs Songs written by Dave Kushner RCA Records singles American blues rock songs {{2000s-rock-single-stub