Last night, “Late Show with David Letterman” announced the upcoming “Tribute Bands Week”, matching the cover bands with their famous inspirations:

Monday: Purple Reign (Prince)
Tuesday: The Cold Hard Cash Show (Johnny Cash)
Wednesday: Mr. Brownstone (Guns N’ Roses)
Thursday: Super Diamond (Neil Diamond)
Friday: The All-Starz (James Brown)

Dave and Paul couldn’t figure out what the Mr. Brownstone — specifically the name — had to do with Guns N’ Roses. Let me enlighten:

“Mr. Brownstone” is a song off GNR’s breakout album, “Appetite for Destruction”. It was never a hit like the other now-iconic tracks off that disc, but it was probably the best of the bunch, because of the lyrical depiction of drug addiction. That drug being heroin, aka Mr. Brownstone or just Brownstone.

It’s not clear how “Brownstone” came to be slang for heroin. Street heroin is brown in color, so it may be as simple as that. The brownstones common to many New York City neighborhoods might also be a clue; today they’re mostly upscale affairs, but going back 20-30 years, many such buildings could have been run-down enough to be drug-dens.

So that’s about the size of it. Not that this full background will make it on the air, but it’s good to know.