Slash

by Slash, Anthony Bozza

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.

Genres: Music, Biography, Nonfiction, Autobiography, Memoir, Biography Memoir, Rock N Roll

458 pages, Hardcover

First published October 21, 2007

About the author

Saul Hudson, better known by his nickname Slash, is a British-American musician, record producer, film producer and songwriter.He is best known as the former lead guitarist of the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. During his later years with Guns N' Roses, Slash formed the side project Slash's Snakepit. He then co-founded the supergroup Velvet Revolver, which re-established him as a mainstream performer in the mid to late 2000s.

Reviews

[Juniper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, Slash, holy fuck man! I sort of want to take you under my wing and give you a hug dude. But first, I want you to have a shower because you are dirty. And I don't mean that in a "dirty-sexy" way. I mean it in a "remember Pig-Pen from Charlie Brown, how filthy he was?" way. I would like to introduce you to soap and laundry detergent and, what the hell, underwear. I get that living on the road, touring, has its challenges. And I get that junkies are, well, junkies. But seriously. You grossed me out a little bit, and that is really, really hard to do. I am fairly certain we did not need to know about your treatment-resistant penis-warts. But, gosh, I am sure glad you had them cleared up before reuniting with Sally. Phew! That was a close one, eh?

You definitely seem to be a wise old soul so, for the love of humanity, man, stop sticking needles in your veins. That is not cool and you are way smarter than that, dumb-ass. I am glad things are calmer in your life and that, by the end of the story you are clean and sober (this book is from 2007). It seems you and your wife, Perla, have had more ups and downs in the past year but your two little boys are super-cute so I hope you are making life easy for them and not stressing them out with your bad-boy antics and Perla's party-mama ways; though reading about it all was very cool. I have to ask you a favour though, Slash. Stop using the word "literally". Please? Now!

One niggling annoyance: your co-author sort of sucks. A lot. And your editor sucks too. If you ever do another memoir, a part two to this book, choose someone else to co-write with. Apply the same logic and gut instinct you use in feeling the groove with other musicians to seeking out writers and editors. It wouldn't take much to turn your okay story into a totally kick-ass book!

So, from your book I came away still thinking you are underrated as an axe-man. Your vibe (as a human being) is totally excellent and I am sure a lot of people could learn from your ways. And I don't mean your not-so-smart-junkie ways. I mean your sit back, take it all in, accept people as they are for who they are ways. I am pulling for you to have a happy and calm life filled with a lot of music-making.

I felt the need for a visual, here. Winner, winner, chicken dinner!!

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾

[Jessica]

There's this line in Bull Durham where Kevin Costner's character tells Tim Robbins's character, "You got a gift. When you were a baby, the Gods reached down and turned your right arm into a thunderbolt." A lot of the point of this movie is that while the young pitcher has been blessed with incredible talent (and is also, being played by baby Tim Robbins, very sexy), it's the seasoned but mediocre career minor league journeyman Crash Davis who's the leading man with the depth (and sexiness, despite being played by Kevin Costner who is, outside of this role, completely gross and unsexy) to fascinate Susan Sarandon's incomparable Annie Savoy. In the movie Ebby Calvin LaLoosh is this kind of silly dude whose right arm is a thunderbolt, and that talent is fascinating but it doesn't mean he is.

I thought about that a lot while reading this book. You don't pick up Slash because Slash is a compelling, interesting guy who gives amazing speeches about what he believes; you pick it up to find out what it was like to be lead guitarist in the greatest American rock 'n' roll band of all time!

The short answer is, it was pretty much exactly how you would guess. Really nothing unexpected here: Slash loves pet snakes, dope, and pussy (not necessarily in that order), and being a rock star never faces any shortage of the three, nor of guitars or booze, his other two totally unsurprising great loves.

This is a book you can definitely judge by its cover. It's exactly as stupid as its tagline -- "It seems Excessive... but That Doesn't Mean It Didn't Happen" (??) -- but also kind of as awesome as its photo of the iconic Slash. I mean, I did read all 458 pages, even though a lot of them were like this:

One night when [my girlfriend] Renee and I were at [manager Alan Niven's] house with him and his wife Camilla, Alan said something really inappropriate to Renee. I don't remember what it was exactly, but it was creepy enough that we left immediately. I never forgot it, and I won't repeat it here (p. 321).

Uh, what?

There are also a lot of pages mostly taken up by large, bold quotations that seem to be selected from the text to pump up or titillate thirteen-year-old boys, but were there thirteen-year-old boys in 2007 who had even heard of Slash? I feel like I'm way more the demographic. (A sampling of the giant bold excerpts: "The act of shooting up always turned me on"; "I was pissed off at myself for having died"; "The sight of a guitar still turns me on"; "There was no way in hell that I was going to county with fingernail polish on"; "I could feel it in my loins that she was having a hard look" [okay, that last one is pretty awesome, not just because of the use of the word "loins" but because the "she" is Elizabeth Taylor.])

The main problem with this book is that it doesn't seem to have been written by a professional writer or looked at by a professional editor. This would be way less of an issue if he'd gone with an actual ghost, rather than a music journalist who shared the writing credit, because then I could've indulged the conceit that Slash actually somehow wrote the thing by himself. As it is, I guess I had unrealistic expectations and was distracted by being sad because this book could've been so much better than it was.

The biggest issue is that like most of us, Slash (and evidently, Anthony Bozza, in an apparent folie à deux) has no concept of what is interesting or boring about his own life, so he spends page after page describing tedious relationships with girlfriends and telling generic junkie war stories, and then he'll have one awesome throwaway sentence about how smoking crack with Dave Mustaine nearly led to him joining Megadeth, or he'll casually bring up how he used to date tragic eighties porn superstar Savannah and give a quick debauchery anecdote before rushing along to other way more boring things. I'm in no position to complain that there's only one dismissive paragraph about what Slash sees as the non-issue of being a half-black rock guitarist, though I would've loved to have had him give his take on the infamously racist "One in a Million" lyrics, and at least a couple more details on what's summarized just as "a fight" with the guy from W.A.S.P. after the guy announced that "n-s shouldn't play guitar." Basically, whenever you want more details about something, it's just glossed over, and whenever you could really give less of a shit, you're going to learn a lot more than anyone ever wanted to know: Where was Slash during the 1994 Northridge Earthquake? Home in bed! Want to hear all the details? Too bad, you're going to! And then most of the anecdotes that seem like they should be good aren't told very well and come off weirdly flat, like the one in which teenage Slash sneaks into an LA club dressed up (by his mom?) like a hot chick, or when Slash and his wife flee New York after the 2001 Trade Center attacks and wind up at a depressing "love-themed hotel" in the Poconos... Isn't this the whole point of hiring a writer to write the book for you, to make all these random stories good?

HOWEVER I guess in spite of all my complaining this Anthony Bozza person must've done a good job after all, because I read the entire book even though I hadn't meant to when I decided to open the mildewing copy I'd found in a box on the street. I skipped his childhood to get to the important part and planned to stop reading after Guns 'n' Roses broke up, but I got kinda attached to the guy so I kept going until the end and then went back and then went back read the part that I skipped. Actually the beginning was pretty interesting -- growing up as delinquent feral kids of these successful anything-goes bohemian creative types in Hollywood in the seventies -- so I do recommend starting from the beginning if you are going to read this book.

Personally, the most interesting part of all this for me is about the sex and sexual politics, and I'm really fascinated by the female perspective on this era and milieu. There is so much profoundly fucked up shit in here: Steven Adler having sex with a woman in her thirties when he's thirteen and then being threatened by her husband (THAT IS CHILD MOLESTATION YOU INSANE PEOPLE!), all the groupies and porn stars and stepfordly anodyne pretty girlfriends, and then all this scary rapey stuff including a sexual assault charge against Slash and Axl that's not surprisingly breezed through... If anyone knows of an updated I'm With the Band kind of thing for this era that's good, please recommend!!

It took me forever to read and a lot of it annoyed or disappointed me, but in the end this book wasn't ever billed to be a Robert Caro biography and it got the job done: I did feel by the end that I'd gotten a pretty good sense of Slash and a better sense of what it was like to have lived his life. The post GnR stuff was interesting to me in a way it really wouldn't have been when I was younger, now that I'm an aging domesticated boring person who hasn't done much with her life and certainly hasn't ever played stadiums filled with rioting fans. It was fun to compare my own life (or lack thereof) to Slash's and to weigh what I've missed out on and what I am sincerely content to make do without.

Probably my least favorite catch phrase of the past fifteen or so years is the one where people exclaim "Rock star!" all the time about the dumbest shit. "You're a rock star!" "She's a rock star!" "Party like a rock star!" or simply, "Rock star!" Ugh, I hate it... I hate it for a bunch of reasons, but one of them is that the application of these phrases convey such a major misapprehension of what being a rock star is about. One thing this book did well was convey what being a rock star is about, and for me it was fun to read about but ultimately unappealing. At this point in my life (thirty-six), there's (okay, almost) no part of me that wishes I could've lived the rock 'n' roll lifestyle. Yeah it would've been awesome to have had a part in something so amazing and epic as being in the greatest American rock band that ever existed, but it doesn't sound like a lot of it was even that much fun at the time, and it's kind of depressing to spend the rest of your life chasing the dragon of a perfect record you made when you were twenty-five. The perils of rock 'n' roll decadence are well-documented here as elsewhere: the ravages of addiction are awful, though honestly in this book at least, Slash seems not to mind much and definitely doesn't sound like a guy who's permanently invested in staying on the wagon, despite having almost died from cardiomyopathy at thirty-five after two decades of the rock 'n' roll lifestyle. Drug and alcohol addiction aside, though, pretty much every aspect of his life sounds like a slog to me: relentless touring, egotistic meltdowns, speedballing, crabs, being embarrassed in front of Metallica, dealing with Axl.... yeah, the payoffs are immense but this rock star shit just isn't for everyone. While I understand it's the wet dream of leetle boys across the land (or was -- now they probably all want to be DJs or hedge fund managers or something) and also that earlier in my life I'd have felt very differently, now I know I'd be miserable if I had to live through more than maybe a few months of this shit (okay, let's be honest: I wouldn't turn down a quick little stint). The payoffs -- getting to feel cool as hell all the time, everyone (including a limitless supply of beautiful women) loving you, and being able to make a good living playing music, the last of which Slash does clearly love in a very real and pure sense -- just don't seem worth all the stuff that comes along with it to me.

But they definitely do to Slash, who, as much as you can tell from this book, seems very happy. And that's what ultimately is endearing about him, I think: based on this book he truly does seem to be what he's supposed to be, a huge-haired top-hat wearing guitar-playing icon who loves his rock 'n' roll life, a life normal non-rock gods like me and probably you like to read about but could never actually live.

[Dirk Grobbelaar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the kind of music Saul Hudson / Slash is famed for making. In fact, Guns ‘n' Roses was one of the first “heavy” bands I got hooked on in my teens, because even with all the boycotts and sanctions (not to mention that the country was firmly in the grip of the Satanic Panic – in fact there is a Wikipedia page just for this phenomenon in South Africa, which was the only country with an Occult Related Crimes Unit), “Appetite for Destruction” found its way here.

I jumped at the opportunity to see Slash performing live with Kings of Chaos in Cape Town last year and it stands as one of the greatest concerts I’ve been to (my wife and I were right there in the front).

The tone of the book is neither boastful nor repentant. Slash tells it like it is, without false modesty. I appreciated the shooting-from-the-hip approach, except possibly for one thing, namely the peer-bashing (It comes across as slightly narcissistic when “every other band is rubbish and hateful except us”). Taking into account, however, the nature of the L.A. scene at the time, and the larger-than-life personalities involved, it probably shouldn’t be surprising that there would be some bad blood.

I noodle with the guitar a bit and I would have liked some more insight into Slash’s technique and approach, but he steers well clear of this kind of thing (for the most part), opting to focus on the lifestyle and the people involved instead. The book is sordid and tragic and funny and a whole lot of other things, but it provides a great snapshot of the musical scene at the time of what Slash refers to as the Guns ‘n Roses Reign of Terror, i.e. the 80s and very early 90s. Something else that fans will want to read is the depiction of events leading up to the end of Slash’s tenure with the band, and the issues with Axl Rose.

If you enjoy (old school) hard rock music or if you are a fan of Guns ‘n Roses / Slash you should really check this book out. I’ll also never listen to Rocket Queen with quite the same ears again. If, however, you have some prudish tendencies, just be warned: this book doesn’t pull any punches.

[Sonia Reppe · Rating 4 out of 5]

(I give this an extra star for the full page color photos: Slash is a sexy, sexy man). What's behind the untamed hair and top hat? We’ve all wondered. The erratic curls part just enough to reveal sexy full lips. Is he purposely teasing us? Is he hiding something? Slash (lead guitarist of Velvet Revolver and the former Guns n Roses) is one of the most enigmatic musicians of our time, and if you've ever been enthralled by the opening notes of Sweet Child O' Mine or wanted to know more about the creator of the classic guitar solos from legendary albums Appetite for Destruction and Lose your Illusion I and II, you will enjoy this new memoir by Slash (with Anthony Bozza, Rolling Stones magazine writer).
In a laid-back, conversational style, Slash recounts his fascinating life from his L.A. childhood (he used to shoplift snakes) to the present, including a lot about Guns N’ Roses in their formative years—like at one point he and Axl lived in a storage unit (which was their rehearsal space) with one hibachi grill that they never cooked on. (Izzy and Stephen did). It was interesting to learn about the geneses of some of their songs and the behind-the-scenes situations, and Slash’s perspective on the band’s demise. Various girlfriends are mentioned briefly, without much detail, until he talks about his wife. We see the way his lifestyle overshadows his relationships and just how driven and obsessive Slash is about playing rock n’ roll. There is a generous amount of glamorous photos; the book is worth buying even if just for the pictures of Slash shirtless, in a guitarist’s sexy back-lean stance, playing on his instrument.
But this book is as much an addiction memoir as it is a rock-n’-roll memoir. He takes us through the darkest times of his love affair with heroin, and Vodka; and although a good chunk of the book seems disappointingly vague because he was too wasted to remember much detail, (“My memory of the events is hazy…”) there is one crazy hallucination story that just tops it all. It’s astounding how much abuse his body took. But that aside, his integrity as a musician comes through on every page. Even if he had an appetite for destruction (he tells of purposely destroying hotel rooms, apartments and rental vans) he was creating, at the same time, what would become classic rock/metal music. So destructive in one setting, yet so creative in another. That’s just one of the things to think about after you read this book
Wild, irresponsible, dangerous—that is Slash, and yet on the first page he gives a disclaimer of sorts when he reveals that he has a pacemaker in his heart, due to years of abusing his body. In other words, emulate at your own risk.

[Michelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am a huge gnr fan and I have to say that I am terribly disappointed with this book. I could not wait to be done with it. I always found Slash to be, besides Axl, the most articulate of the band. This is the reason I wanted to read this book. But his articulation didn't lend itself well to the written word.

This book is so badly written that is reads like a blog or email message (badly written blog or email message, that is). The storytelling is horribly tedious and focuses on so much minutia that it renders each story boring. This book doesn't do a good job of painting the picture, esp of 80s LA rock scene and it lacks any connective tissue to tie everything in; rather it just chronicles events in a list-like fashion. Instead of building up to detailed accounts of interesting events, which there should be many, Slash just retells the same story of getting high and getting straight.

Slash also has a strange way of pinpointing the exact locale of every event. He even sometimes remarks about what is currently at the particular location, which is completely uninteresting to someone who has never been to LA.

The book is mostly chronological, but it does jump around a bit, too (a lot of annoying "i'll get to that later" phrases), which is disconcerting but the least of the book's problems. Many reviewers have mentioned Slash's lack of fact checking and Slash's claims of his memory of certain situations being "hazy" bring into question the validity of this memoir.

I was surprised that Slash doesn't consider his drug problems to be that serious, especially since he now has children, and that leads me to believe his sobriety won't last. The cliche rock star hotel trashing recounts were annoying and dull. Its strange that Slash doesn't seem remorseful for much of anything even though he's acted like a juvenile delinquent most of his life. This book lacks perspective and probably should have been written by Slash much later in life.

I'd recommend this to a gnr fan because it sheds some light on their dysfunction, their early years and the strange but interesting way they wrote music "together", but anyone else, don't bother.

[Bren fall in love with the sea. · Rating 2 out of 5]

"No one expects the rug to be yanked out from underneath them; life-changing events usually don’t announce themselves. While instinct and intuition can help provide some warning signs, they can do little to prepare you for the feeling of rootlessness that follows when fate flips your world upside down."
Slash
by Slash


Sorry..I see many of my GR friends liked this and rated it highly. I did not so mu ch.

I used to be a HUGE Guns-N-Roses fan. I even spent a couple hundred once to see them live (and then Axel cancelled the concert!(. But I have always been a fan and always loved their music. Estranged is one of my all time favorite songs by anyone.

I'd also read Duff's "It's so easy" before this and found that to be outstanding, maybe the best book written by musician that I ever read. So I was looking forward to reading this book. But I wasn't crazy about it.

I cannot really say WHY I wasn't. Suffice to say I did not click with it as strongly as I'd have liked. There was some humility and soul but I never really felt I knew Slash, reading this book. I also felt it to be more of a typical rock-N-roll book then I would have liked.

Or maybe I was comparing it to much to Duff's which just wowed me. I would not call this bad by any stretch. And I have read many a bad rock bio. But it just did not make a strong impression on me either way.

[LooseLips · Rating 5 out of 5]

slash was on loveline, back when it used to be on mtv in the mid 90's, and he smoked the whole time he was on the show, dishing advice to quick boys and oversexed girls, and his face was covered in hair, as usual, and midway through a sentence he leaned over and his cigarette fell into his boot and the crowd gasped and then got real quiet for about 20 seconds and then he leaned over, pulled the still smoking cigarette out of his boot, put it back into his mouth, leaned back and said "happens all the time, man. happens all the time."

[Mark Hebwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sex
As we mixed down the song "Rocket Queen", Axl felt that the bridge needed something; some other element to elevate the drama. He suggested that [his girlfriend] Adrianna Smith, who was with us in the studio that day, fuck him in the live room so that we could record her vocals and layer them over the breakdown. [...] So we lit some candles for atmosphere, then she and Axl went out into the live room, got down on the floor by the drum riser, and we recorded Smith's performance in all of its honest moaning and groaning. Enjoy it - it's right there in the final mix. (p 180).

Drugs
A doctor installed a defibrillator in my heart when I was 35. Fifteen years of over-drinking and drug abuse had swollen that organ to one stop short of exploding. When I was finally hospitalized, they told me I had six days to six weeks to live. (p VIII)

Rock'n Roll
Axl remembered a riff that I'd played him when he was living over at my mom's house [...]. We were sitting around rehearsal looking to write something new when that riff came to Axl's mind. [...] I started playing it and instantly Steve came up with a beat, Duff joined in with a bass line, and away we went. I kept throwing parts out to build on it: the chorus part, the solo, as Axl came up with the lyrics. Duff was the glue on that song - he came up with the breakdown, that wild rumbling bass line, and Izzy provided the texture. In about three hours, the song [Welcome to the Jungle] was complete. The arrangement is virtually the same as it appears on the album. (pp 108-9)



But there's more
It would actually be unfair to leave it at that. Yes, there is the debauchery, the indifference to your own health, and the natural musical gift. But this is not all that we can learn about Slash from his biography. There is an important thing missing. And it is this:

Throughout the biography, we sense that Slash is true to himself, and that he knows who he is. He was never tempted to jump on the bandwagon of popular fashions in music to fulfill his dream and become a rock musician. Indeed, this was not even his dream - being a rock guitarist is just who he is. As far as we can tell from his account, he remained true to himself at all times, he knew who he was, and he knew what he needed. If I knew nothing else about the man, that would be enough to inspire me. And what more I do know about him, is not enough to diminish that.

So I leave you with three more quotes:

Know who you are
My wife, Perla, [...] had the record company remake me platinum copies of all of my records. She hung them on the wall leading up the stairs in our house. I think they lasted a week; they drove me so nuts I took them down one night and put them in storage. I don't need accolades on the wall to remind me who I am. (p 215)

Know what you need
You can't wait around for destiny to give you what you think you deserve, you have to earn it, even if you think you've paid your dues. (p 417)

Get it!
By the time that Perla and London [their first son] and I were photographed for the cover of some baby magazine whose name I can't remember, I was totally into it. That photo shoot wasn't the cover of Creem or Rolling Stone, but I was pretty excited - we'd hit the big time on the baby circuit. And I was just as proud. (p458)

[Russell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually enjoyed this book more than the three stars would indicate because I'm a big GNR fan and enjoy reading about people drinking, fucking and doing drugs until their livers, blood vessels and wangs fall off. But asking Slash to 'author' an auto-biography is predictably going to end up like this:

"I picked up a guitar when I was young and was good at it. Then I had sex with a bunch of girls and did a lot of drugs. Then I drank a gallon of vodka every day. All the while, I was still really good at playing the guitar. Axl Rose is an anti social douche but a very talented musician. I met some other people who are like famous and shit. I did drugs and drank with them too. And one time I ended up naked from the drugs. But now I'm clean and still good at guitar so, you know, don't do drugs. And shit."

In other words it was a fun book to read if you're a GNR fan, but not exactly well written and certainly not substantial enough to justify the 450+ pages.

There is definitely a picture of his wife giving him analingus in public included in its pages though, so it's got that working for it.

[James Hartley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good read, started slow, but built into a decent portrait of one of the most iconic rock guitarists of recent years. My version finished at the second Velvet Revolver album so not sure if there´s an updated version out. Guns and other rock fans will get something out of this - it´s designed to evoke The Dirt, the Motley Crue bio, but has nothing of the freshness and punch of that. It´s Slash´s own story, his take on what went down, and you come away with a feeling you know him, which is what any autobiography should achieve.

Born in the UK, in Stoke of all places, Slash grew up in LA and was a decent BMX rider. He started playing the guitar and hung out a lot with Steve Adler, the two later hooking up with Axl, Izzy and Duff to form Guns N´Roses. Never steady and reliable, most members drunk, stoned, junkies or all three, the band made a blistering album and a couple of other decent ones, and collapsed after a few record-breaking years of touring during which they became famous for going on late. Slash got himself together and formed Slash´s Snakepit and, later, Velvet Revolver, and at the time of writing is touring the world with a reformed Guns N´Roses.

The salacious stuff comes in the form of drugs - mainly heroin, but speed, coke and crack, too - lots of boozing, sex, snakes and namedropping. There are some moments which justify the jacket hype - Slash reaches some low depths - but no craziness on a Mike Tyson level, for example.

Although Axl Rose is in the book, he and Slash, apart from a period right at the start of their friendship where they lived together, were never great "mates" yet when Axl appears the story operates on a different level. Axl sounds complex, interesting and fucking annoying: he´s a far more nuanced, damaged character than Slash, and more intruguing. There´s a scene early on when the two are talking in a car and Slash tells Axl he´s been rude to a member of Slash´s family, whose basement they´re sleeping in. Axl simply opens the car door and throws himself out...

[Nick · Rating 1 out of 5]

You know who was a great guitar player? Slash. Would that I could say he is as good a storyteller. Instead he seems content to write what amounts to a 482-page 'Creem' article. The poor guy is so pickled, he can't even remember the name of his music school (and by "remember", I mean hire someone to research it for him so that he could at least avoid embarrassment in his own autobiography).
We should also wish this book's crappiness ends at poor storytelling, but it doesn't. There is a fundamental failure of human depth here. I look for two things in the autobiographies of mega-stars: Good anecdotes and a little bit of humility. Even Keith effin' Richards opened every section of the book by saying how lucky he was, how many talented musicians he played with and who were certainly just as, if not more, deserving of fame. Instead, Slash presents his story as proof that he is the chosen one who succeeds in spite of his relentless consumption of booze, drugs, and stupidity.

[Robyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

read my progress tab...absolutely a waste of time. A repetitive story of doing drugs, smack, coke, drinking booze and fucking porn queens, strippers etc. If he had a vocabulary it would be a lot more interesting to learn how a guy living such a fucked up life made it into one of the best bands of the 90's. His recall is terrible and makes Keith Richard's "Life" read like Shakespeare...at least Keith can tell a story and captivate you and suck you in. I didn't even read the last 50 pages...I didn't want to waste anymore of my time. He barely touches on the real reason Gn'R broke up...I admire how he wanted to respect the privacy of his bandmates...but Slash...why do you think people want to read your book?...save your money and don't buy it.

[Eddie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of course, I'm automatically biased when it comes to Slash. He's my favorite guitarist and I've got a lot of respect for the man.

I found his autobiography to be a genuinely good read. When Slash speaks, he always comes across as an intelligent, articulate person, and nothing has changed in the book. You can tell he was expecting some backlash over parts of this book, as he stresses several times that he wishes Axl no harm and has the utmost respect for him. You can't blame him for needing to reiterate these points, because people will always find a way to misinterpret everything.

Perhaps the problem with this book is that it seems to follow the basic formula for the rock and roll biography, so you may feel as if you've read it before. Though that in itself is interesting - you can see the trends in rock music. Drink and drugs from an early age, trouble with the law and at school and a broken family. Yet Slash never sounds bitter or boastful. He simply tells things as they were, for the best part.

If you're expecting a memoir of drug addiction, you may be disappointed. Not to say that there isn't drug use here - there certainly is, including one memorable anecdote where Slash finds himself running naked across a golf course, pursued by little monsters only he can see. But he doesn't go into much more detail than is necessary, and his main focus in the book is the music.

I would recommend this book to any Guns N' Roses fan who maybe wants a clearer picture of why the band split up and what the dynamics were between Slash and Axl at the time. Mostly it's just an enjoyable read, because if there's one thing you can say for Slash it's that he hasn't led a boring life.

Oh, I counted 'all things considered' 28 times in this book.

[K · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess I need to start with saying that Guns N' Roses is one of my favorite bands and I'm a sucker for autobiographies of junkie rockstars of that time. I thought this would be a great book.

What a dissapointment it was. First of all, I felt like Slash took Anthony Kiedis's Scar Tissue and rewrote it - he only changed the names and made it 10 times worse. Then I changed my mind because Anthony focused mostly on drugs and selfanalysis, and Slash - on music. You would think it's good, but it's not. It's just simply BORING. I was reading it and reading and it was such a struggle. The thing is, it's not written well. It's just one fact after another, nothing to make it interesting. I didn't get to know anything about Slash. The only thing I know after reading it is that 'Axl is an asshole'. That's it. This sentence is also a great summary of this book.

I rate it two stars just because I could learn a little bit about some songs and how the albums were made. But if you consider reading it, keep in mind that it's a waste of money and time.

[Katja · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had dragged my feet for a long time reading this book although it had been on my to-read list for a long time. Why? Well, Slash is definitely my favorite guitarist of all times and Guns N' Roses is one of my top three favorite bands, so there was a lot at stake here. I had already read Duff McKagan's book and knew the rough facts about the history of GNR (although Duff is such a nice, fair and level-headed guy that he didn't get into any dirt in his book).
I should not have feared. Slash's memoir is highly entertaining and despite what some reviewers said very well written, full of great anecdotes and insight into one of the greatest rock bands of our era.

Some fun / hilarious / horrifying facts I learned:

- Slash's mom had an affair with David Bowie and since it was the 70ies Bowie brought his wife and son along when he met up with her.
- Slash dressed up as a woman after the bouncer didn't let him enter a bar. He couldn't find his buddy Steven Adler after he got admitted no problem (his mom who is a costume designer helped him get ready, he still lived with her at that point) and was so disturbed by all the cat calls and laughs around him that he fled the scene and concluded that "it must be really tough being a woman".
- Slash was a kleptomaniac who stole his favorite bands' entire catalogs on cassette tapes. He also stole snakes by coiling them around his arm and just brazenly walking out the store. The first top hat he got was also stolen. Weirdly enough he only got caught once (being underage they let him go).
- Besides being a junkie and cocaine addict (not even mentioning the groupies...) he was such a severe alcoholic that he drank around four liters of vodka every day (not counting in the beer and whiskey he did at night). I'm surprised and glad he's still alive after all this excessive debauchery.

There are so many other great stories that make this book both fascinating and highly entertaining. Axl is pretty much how you picture him already, but I liked the fact that Slash always stayed incredibly fair and remarked a couple of times "that's my side of the story, I'm sure Axl's side is completely different". He doesn't gossip, but tells it how he sees it with honesty and (for a rock star) uncharacteristic introspection and self-criticism.

[William Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not for the light hearted. This is the down and dirty true story of one of the biggest rock stars on the planet. Although this well written autobiography shows the real rock star life, it also shows the human side to it, the suffering, and the comforts most of us would not trade just to be a guitarist in a band. We meet a lot of the people who helped Slash out along the way in his journey. Among one is David Bowie who warns Slash at one of his lowest points, "You are exposing yourself to the darker realms of your subconscious being. You are making yourself vulnerable to all kinds of negative energy." And of course we get the best and worst of, and inside truth, to what really broke up one of the most controversial rock bands.

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ever since I was four, I have always worshiped Slash and Guns N' Roses. I remember hearing their song "Paradise City" in our stereo because my mother used to own a CD of their very first album "Appetite for Destruction. "Paradise City" was the first ever rock and roll song that made me perch up and listen, very intrigued, because of its awesomely heart-ripping guitar riff. Right then and there, a delinquent musician named Saul Hudson that isn't really such a good role model, turned into my personal God.

Afterwards, my infatuation turned into a deep obsession which made me decide in my pre-teens to buy every single one of their albums, sadly to say I haven't gotten Use Your Illusions I just yet. My favorite song turned from "Paradise City", to "November Rain", to "Estranged", and then "Welcome to the Jungle", "Garden of Eden", "Sweet Child O' Mine", "Civil War" and then just about every single one of their songs.

Many years later, Slash released a memoir that would then become one of my most valued treasures. I have re-read this book so many times that I've lost track, but never in those times have I really finished it. I would always stop just when there are only 20 or so pages left all because I don't ever want to part with the book. Each time I put down a book and then forget the page I am at, I have the habit of starting all over again, especially if it's a really good book, and that is what happened to me with this one.

Because Slash is Slash, you can't really not expect the no-bullshit straight-to-the-point way he told his life story and answered every single question we had for him about every single controversy that used to wrap him around. I loved how the editor respected him much to not filter out any of the (should I say) gruesome details in his book. This book is just about the epitome of the sex, drugs, and rock and roll notion. Slash was just so honest yet so respectful of every person he mentioned (and yes, even with Axl) that I can't help but fall in love with him more. The information contained within this book is so precious that it will probably forever be etched inside my mind. He's so humble and he knows that he's not the best, that there are others better than him, but he's cool and accepts it that at some times I just want to hug him or cry regardless of his disregard for drama.

[Sandra Harvey · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book reads like a blog. The storytelling focuses on so much on small detail it starts to get boring. Slash just retells the same story of getting high.
The book does seem to jump from one thing to another. I'm surprised he can remember dates and places? Considering he was otherwise out of his box, at the time. Not that Slash doesn't consider his drug problems to be that serious!
The rock star hotel trashing recounts were boring and not what I expected. It's a shame this book let me down. Being a huge GNR fan back in the day.
I expected a lot more from one of the best guitar players in the world. Although I will always be a fan of their music. I'd recommend this to a GNR fan because of the strange but interesting way they wrote music.

[Reggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to believe the pitch to the Harper Collin publishing house went something like this: Tommy Lee "wrote" two books, I am sober an average of 5% of the time these days, Scott Weiland is a mess again, and Axl is still working on Chinese democracy somehwere . . . so yeah, I want to write a book. What's that, you say you love the idea? Great. Make sure the ghost writer likes to drink. Oh yeah, and about the money . . . .

The book is definitely lacking a cohesive narrative structure and the grammar can be abysmal at times, but what did you expect? One of the more annoying examples of such problems is the fact that the book is littered with the statement "but we'll get to that later" placed at the end of certain pargraphs as almost an afterthought. I can't help but wonder how much better this book would have been if Neil Strauss had been the one helping Slash out.

Don't get me wrong, some of the stories in this book are great. I won't go as far as to say that on a whole they rival those found in The Dirt, but there are some good ones. The story of Slash's one man pre-party prior to his attempt to meet up with Steven Adler at an Arizona golf resort for some self imposed "rehab" was particulary entertaining. On the musical side of things, the stories about how some of the old G n' R staples were written and recorded are also interesting. The description of the recording method employed for Rocket Queen is especially insightful.

If W. Axl ever happens to write a book with his version of the events, I suspect that coupling it with this work would make a great topic for one of those compare and contrast essays we all had to write freshman year of high school. I might even consider reenrolling to write said essay.

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

It seems excessive, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. From his childhood hanging around David Bowie, to his BMX days, to Guns and then Velvet Revolver, we follow Slash through his highly entertaining life. He was a vagrant who bounced around from place to place, and all he wanted to do was play guitar. We hear about the highs and lows of Guns N’ Roses, and we get new insight into Slash’s relationship with Axl, as well as what happened that infamous night and St. Louis. (and another night in Germany) We read about his various addictions, that range from alcohol to coke to heroin to women, and his eventual cleaning up once and for all after his boys were born. Slash answers the question once and for all about whether he will ever get back together with Guns. I am very glad that Richie asked me to read this book. I have developed a new appreciation for Slash and everything has had to go through to get his various bands off the ground. I also have a new interest in all of his music- from Guns, to all the Snakepits, and Velvet Revolver. After reading about what it took to make those songs, I know want to go back and re-listen to some of those songs, or listen to them for the first time. This is a great book, and I’m glad I read it. 5 out of 5 stars.

[Cliff Hays · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book! It was fascinating to learn how GNR formed and what went on behind the scenes. The story of how the Use Your Illusion albums were made is awesome. I always wondered how they managed to release two incredible albums all at once in 1991. Learning of how and why they broke up was very interesting too, as it seemed that after The Spaghetti Incident they just silently vanished from view. Slash's writing style and storytelling is great. Oftentimes he is very blunt and the effect is hilarious as a result. Some of the situations he got himself into are simply unbelievable in themselves, but when he tells about them you just have to laugh out loud due to their absurdity. All in all a wonderful and entertaining read for anyone curious about how GNR formed, operated, and eventually fell apart; well-written by their awesome lead guitarist. I highly recommend it!

[Bronwen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I debated even adding this book to my Goodreads list. Do I really want to admit I read all 480 pages of Slash's memoir? Well, it was no better or worse than I expected it to be. but it was several hours of my life I can't get back.
If you're only interested in the Guns n Roses years, skip to page 250. If you want to hear detailed accounts of everything Slash shoplifted as a 13 year old and every girl he dated as a teen, read the entire thing.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

"What I learned from this book?"

Don't do drugs
Don't have sex with strippers
Don't be in a band with Axl Rose

It's a pretty thick book and a little maddening to read about a guy making the same mistake(s) over and over and over and over and over again. The same addictions, different people around.

[Iris Bravo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Talvez não sejam bem as 5 estrelas, talvez sejam menos, mas a Iris de 14 anos nunca me perdoaria dar menos que isso ao meu adorado Saul, aka Slash. Já tinha ideia do quão loucos, drogados e terríveis eles eram, mas ainda não sabia que o famoso chapéu era um cinto de Elvis e uma cartola roubada numa loja em 2a mão ;)

[**Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Sometimes the truth lies is in front of your eyes and makes so little sense that you just don't see it; it's like confronting your reflection in a fun-house mirror-it's hard to believe that the twisted figure staring back I syou. Guns had become a similar monster; we were such a bizarre version of what we once were that I could barely recognize us. But unlike the fun-house, I couldn't escape; when I turned away from the glass, the reflection was still there.


WOW. JUST WOW. As Slash said, "It seems excessive... but that doesn't mean it didn't happen."


I learned more about booze and drugs in this book than watching a documentary on the History Channel. Damn.
I was such a fan of Guns' music in the late 80s and early 90s, but I never took the time out to watch MTV news for all the drama. I just remember hearing that Axl never showed up for a show or somewhat and there was major rioting. That was, unavoidably, the beginning of the end. It wasn't much longer that the whole band broke up and music was forever changed...at least rock 'n roll was.

[Liz · Rating 2 out of 5]

After reading a series of intensely serious books (Into the Wild, The Nazi Officer's wife, and Under the Banner of Heaven), I was ready to indulge in a little mindless fun, so I thought, "Who better to provide that than Slash?".

All I can say after reading this boring, almost screen play -like crap is that If you want to read a good hard rock book, read Motley Crue: The Dirt.

Slash may have done a lot of drugs, but from what he tells us, he didn't do many "exciting" things while on them. I prefer my rock novels to contain more crazy backstage antics, and, let's face it: smut. Slash apparently just shot up in his room alone all the time. Bo-ring.

Also, he won't REALLY dish on Axl, so that was another minus.

[Telma Castro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Contada na primeira pessoa, esta autobiografia do Slash é soberba. Exatamente como todas as biografias deveriam ser diretas, sem filtros e genuínas.
Slash começa por nos contar a sua infância, a família, os seus tempos de escola, as suas paixões e como a música entrou na sua vida.
A par disso Slash não se coíbe de expor os altos e baixos da sua vida. O vício da heroína, a perda do seu melhor amigo com uma overdose, os seus sucessos e os seus fracassos na música, os primeiros concertos, as bandas a que pertenceu até alcançar a fama com os Guns N' Roses.
Foi interessante perceber como algumas músicas surgiram, os ajustes que foram feitos, etc.
Com episódios muito interessantes.
Recomendo aos apaixonados pela música e não só.

[Mel Padden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Obviously I'm biased, but Slash's down to earth tone, good pace and narrative rythm mark this it as exceptional in the canon of rockumentary autobiographies. Of course the fact that he is the teller of the best rock 'n roll stories ever lived through doesn't hurt.

[Marita Hansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it, will write a review... hopefully, when I get some free time.