Slash [Hardcover]

Slash (Author), Anthony Bozza (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 30, 2007

From one of the greatest rock guitarists of our era comes a memoir that redefines sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll

He was born in England but reared in L.A., surrounded by the leading artists of the day amidst the vibrant hotbed of music and culture that was the early seventies. Slash spent his adolescence on the streets of Hollywood, discovering drugs, drinking, rock music, and girls, all while achieving notable status as a BMX rider. But everything changed in his world the day he first held the beat-up one-string guitar his grandmother had discarded in a closet.

The instrument became his voice and it triggered a lifelong passion that made everything else irrelevant. As soon as he could string chords and a solo together, Slash wanted to be in a band and sought out friends with similar interests. His closest friend, Steven Adler, proved to be a conspirator for the long haul. As hairmetal bands exploded onto the L.A. scene and topped the charts, Slash sought his niche and a band that suited his raw and gritty sensibility.

He found salvation in the form of four young men of equal mind: Axl Rose, Izzy Stradlin, Steven Adler, and Duff McKagan. Together they became Guns N' Roses, one of the greatest rock 'n' roll bands of all time. Dirty, volatile, and as authentic as the streets that weaned them, they fought their way to the top with groundbreaking albums such as the iconic Appetite for Destruction and Use Your Illusion I and II.

Here, for the first time ever, Slash tells the tale that has yet to be told from the inside: how the band came together, how they wrote the music that defined an era, how they survived insane, never-ending tours, how they survived themselves, and, ultimately, how it all fell apart. This is a window onto the world of the notoriously private guitarist and a seat on the roller-coaster ride that was one of history's greatest rock 'n' roll machines, always on the edge of self-destruction, even at the pinnacle of its success. This is a candid recollection and reflection of Slash's friendships past and present, from easygoing Izzy to ever-steady Duff to wild-child Steven and complicated Axl.

It is also an intensely personal account of struggle and triumph: as Guns N' Roses journeyed to the top, Slash battled his demons, escaping the overwhelming reality with women, heroin, coke, crack, vodka, and whatever else came along.

He survived it all: lawsuits, rehab, riots, notoriety, debauchery, and destruction, and ultimately found his creative evolution. From Slash's Snakepit to his current band, the massively successful Velvet Revolver, Slash found an even keel by sticking to his guns.

Slash is everything the man, the myth, the legend, inspires: it's funny, honest, inspiring, jaw-dropping . . . and, in a word, excessive.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Entertaining and educational...a crash course for aspiring rock gods.”” (Spin magazine )

“Wonderfully frank.” (Entertainment Weekly )

About the Author

Slash, Velvet Revolver founding member and guitarist, lives in California with his wife, Perla, and their two children.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: It Books (October 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061351423
• ISBN-13: 978-0061351426
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (200 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #106,951 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

95 of 105 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dual purposes: introspective memoir and the definitive insider GNR history, November 7, 2007

By 

Jessica Lux (Rosamond, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Slash (Hardcover)

The story of Guns N' Roses is one of the most controversial in rock n' roll history. GNR has had a famously terse relationship with journalists and authors, and in recent years, former band members have publicly disagreed about the "real story" in the press. The band even threatened bodily harm to journalists in the lyrics of the Use Your Illusion albums! For the first time ever, someone on the inside has gone on record with to describe the genesis of the band, how they wrote and performed one of the most definitive rock albums of all time, the changes in the band's lineup, and finally, the implosion of all things GNR related. Who knew it would be the notoriously private lead guitarist, a soft-spoken man hidden behind a famous mop of hair, who would step up and tell the story?

Slash's memoir is the diary of a dope fiend (released a month after the autobiography of his friend and former heroin-buddy Nikki Sixx). Well, the diary of a dope-, and women- and coke- and crack- and alcohol-fiend. Have anything else debaucherous? The late 1980's and 1990's Slash would have tried it for sure. During one cocaine-induced hallucination of an attack by blue-gray Predator-like creatures with machine guns, Slash punched out his glass shower door and ran naked into the streets in terror. The incident got Slash into rehab, but no sooner than his limo driver picked up the "cured" ax man, he was downing half a liter of vodka in the backseat.

What doesn't Slash want to talk about? Well, don't bother asking if GNR is getting back together (I'm not even going to acknowledge the current faux-lineup). Slash says it won't happen, ever. The ten-years-delayed release of Axl's Chinese Democracy album? Slash gets asked that question in every interview, and he leaves it out of his memoir. In an interview about the book, Slash stated "Axl works in a different time zone than I do. So what may seem like a long time to other people is a tick of the clock to him. It'll come out, though. It will." Even Axl's famous tour cancellations and delays are treated matter-of-factly--Slash doesn't attempt to analyze or explain the behavior of his bandmate, nor does he seethe with anger or resentment.

Others have tried to write the history of the band, but most are hacks or fanboys who strung together quotes from numerous previously published sources. Before Slash spoke up, the only other worthwhile title was rock journalist Mick Wall's The Most Dangerous Band in the World (1992), and the VH1 Behind the Music production (2004). Thank you, Slash, for letting all rock fans into the inner world of GNR, featuring your toxic twin Steven, current bandmate and forever friend Duff, the laid-back and gifted Izzy, and the enigmatic Axl. You've treated the story with humor, candor, honesty, self-reflection, and respect, even for those from whom you are currently estranged.

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars pretty good junk, December 30, 2007

By 

electra lebeau (NYC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Slash (Hardcover)

I could not resist this book. I can't believe I dropped the cash, but I did, and then spent all day today reading it. I just finished it.

First, a short history of my fandom--I was a GnR fan when I was a very young teenager, I lived for their videos coming up on MTV, I bought Rip magazine, I saw them at the LA coliseum with my parents. Even though I came from a hippie artsy background, something about them hooked me and I became a slutty wannabe rocker chick at 13. I still think they're awesome musically.

OK so my review--a fun read. Full of crazy details about partying, debauchery, excess. Pretty much every detail of GnR's formation, life, and dissolution. Slash's voice is pretty brash and honest. I trusted him, I trusted that he was always telling his truth and trying to be objective, and he's pretty careful about not trying to paint W. Axl like an as***le, and even praising him quite a bit. I skimmed some parts at the end because I don't care that much about all the various boys and the details of their beefs, and Velvet Revolver is not interesting to me. I would have liked more personal stuff, more stuff about sex and romance and artistic inspiration and less about this and that manager.

My main criticism is extremely lazy editing. I am not nitpicky about this stuff, but I swear man, there were some retarded sentences in this book, and a bunch of typos and inconsistencies, as well as structural issues. I was like, could they not pay someone an extra $100 to do a final proofread? For god's sake, when I pay $30 for a book I expect it to be coherent. I know, it's not fine literature, but sheesh. Also, there were times when the 'voice' was so clearly not Slash's it was almost comical, it was occasionally haughty and erudite all the sudden, forcing you to remember that it ghostwritten or cowritten or whatever you call it. But mostly it was totally fun and Slash is a riot, although I'm never going to be his girlfriend, or roommate! Pretty amazing he lived through all that excess. God must have spared him in hopes of a GnR reunion...

31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The world of excess through the hazy eyes of Slash, November 20, 2007

By 

Sal Nudo (Champaign, Illinois) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Slash (Hardcover)

If you dig reading about rock 'n' roll excess and the Guns n' Roses years as they really happened, then you won't be able to put this book down. While I read "Slash," I couldn't help but compare his exploits to Anthony Kiedis's in the book Scar Tissue. Kiedis probably has Slash beat in the debauchery department -- but only just slightly. As advertised, Slash's tales of excessive drugs, drinking, sexual conquests and all-around craziness are shared in the book big-time. What starts as a tale of a sweet but troubled young kid turns into a monstrous, muddled life of dangerous drug use and plans gone awry. What's interesting is that the tone and writing style of the book is actually quite close to Kiedis's. And of course the tales Slash tells are the stuff of rock 'n' roll legend, either a total cliche or riveting reading, depending on your point of view.

Guns n' Roses deserved someone who could tell the band's story as it truly happened, and who better to do that than Slash or one of the guys in the band? Save for Axl Rose, whose words one might not be able to fully trust (especially as the band evolved), the rest of G n' R were pretty down-to-earth fellows who just loved recording and playing music -- when they could stay sober and on top of things. For me, it was very interesting reading about original Guns drummer Steven Adler, whose major drug problem over the years has been worse than even Slash's (that's saying a lot). Adler was a happy-go-lucky guy who just couldn't control his habit for a long time, and sadly, the band was probably right to kick him out. Still, as Slash mentions in the book, Steven's drums lent an enthusiastic and almost adolecsent feel to Appetite for Destruction that, in my view, Matt Sorum never matched.

It should be noted that Slash's knowledge of what makes a good music recording is pretty astounding. For instance, as a lead guitarist, he knows how the value of how a great rhythm guitarist, such as Izzy Stradlin, can enhance how his own lead playing sounds. The solid and tuneful texture of Izzy's rhythm work on "Appetite," for instance, and the way it naturally interwove with Slash's lead, was classic and made for complex guitar-driven music. In the book, Slash also talks about other elements of what goes on in the recording studio, which I found fascinating.

This book also revved up my appetite for Velvet Revolver's past and future work. After reading about how much VR means to Slash, I hope the band at least makes a few more albums. Slash's desire to simply write, record and play music live on the road is insatiable; besides being a good father, it seems that's all the guy wants to do. If Revolver ever broke up permanently, I think it would be a bad blow for Slash.

On a closing note, though Slash's words get a tad repetitive and overly woe-is-me toward the end -- and much of this book was horribly edited -- this is still a must-read for fans of Slash, G n' R, Velvet Revolver and whatever other music Slash has lended his formidable guitar-playing hand to over the years.