Slash
by Anthony Bozza, Slash
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Book Reviews of Slash
Book Review: Tragically Humanizing
Summary: 3 Stars
So yeah, this book is a "humanizing" look at of one of the worlds greatest, most gifted bands of all time, as told by one of the greatest rock musicians of all time. I hesitated reading this because I am a huge music fan, and GnR fan specifically, and I prefer my rock and roll gods more, er....god-like. I expected the debauchery, general buffoonery, VD, strippers, heroic drug abuse and over-all wanton disregard for anything other than sex drugs and rock n roll- that's a given. But I was mildly surprised at how Slash really kow-tows to the narcissistic and beyond tediously infantile Axl Rose and what a sort of shiftless moron he is in general. You'd think Slash of all people would have the balls to say: "You know what, Axl is an f'in bully and a jerk and should have not been in a position to bring down the whole band with his relentless hissy fits/shenanigans. And I, Slash, should not have given him that power." There's not a whole lot of that. The band members relations to one another are heart-breakingly high school at best and embarrassingly "Melrose Place" at worst. There is a healthy dose of blame shifting, especially vis-a-vis drug addiction- "it wasn't my fault I was a drug addict". Yeah yeah....still don't see a whole lot of accountability 25 years after the fact which I guess would be a necessary coping mechanism if you were dumb enough to let something like being in one of the greatest rock bands of all time and having the world at your feet slip right through your hands. The good old time-tested stupid/selfish combo is what brought this rock n roll legend to a fiery halt- not unpredictable but no less depressing. What the band collectively did to Steven Adler is obvious, horrifying, and unforgivable, even given the authors clear attempt at spin doctoring how it all went down- shame on all of them for that. That for me is the most repugnant of all the stunts and all the BS.
That said, I admire Slash as a musician purely, which was why I decided to read the book ultimately. I wanted to get to know the mind of this person with this thunderous all consuming raw talent that has provided the soundtrack for my life's best and worst times over the last 2 decades. And I kind of wished I hadn't. Interesting for what it was though and definitely falls under the "page turner" category. Offers substantial proof that brains and talent are often mutually exclusive in life and the knowledge that the heart and soul you find in another's art, might sometimes simply be a reflection of yours.
Book Review: Appetite for Self Destruction
Summary: 3 Stars
I was captivated by Slash's book...so captivated that I stuck with it through the middle third of the 400+ pages that just went on and on about his drug use. I was afraid that the book might turn into a dissertation about what happens when you do heroin, and then hypocritically get preached to by the guilty party about "staying off drugs." But really only the first part happened. Slash spent a lot of time recounting his heroin escapades, but he never preached. On the contrary, he couldn't care less what the reader did with his tales of close to death drug induced experiences.
This review is actually belated relative to when I read the book prior to the end of 2009. I just never got around to the review because it just was just an okay book. Slash recounts the beginning of his life and his road to the formation of Guns & Roses. The fun parts of the book are the side stories of the absolute mayhem and debauchery that took place during GNR's early years through Appetite. It was also really interesting reading Slash's side of the story on the destruction of GNR caused by Axl Rose. The not so fun part is reading about what was really going on in the drug-laden head of one of the greatest guitarists ever.
The first 100 or so pages are great. The last 100 pages are also very interesting including Slash's departure from GNR into Velvet Revolver (although not nearly as much time is spent on the after GNR era). The middle 200 pages were hard to get through. Repetitive story after story of a heroin induced state. Grueling. However, the middle of the book is filled with about 20 pages of candid photos of Slash and GNR that one would not want to miss, so don't go for the Kindle version or audio version of this book.
Any GNR/Slash fan will enjoy this book. It will certainly leave you wanting more...more of the good stuff anyway. And there is certainly more to be told. Even Slash himself started a few stories in this book, only to say something like, "but I can't tell you the rest." C'mon, Slash, put out a sequel of stories from the road with GNR and Velvet Revolver; I'm sure you left out hundreds that would be, perhaps to your surprise, some really great reading.
Book Review: Eh...
Summary: 3 Stars
While some parts of the book are interesting, you have to question a lot of the events described in it. For the most part, there's a lot of "I was so *insert drug-related adjective* on *insert drug* that I can't really remember *insert famous incident, song writing session, video making, etc*". The entire book is like that. But yet, he sticks word-for-word mini stories and memories into the chapters, things that happened nearly twenty years ago, but can't remember anything else.
I already knew a lot about GNR, and this book didn't tell me anything new. For a new fan it can be informative. But mostly, Slash's stories are either a) barely able to be recalled, b) trying to prove a point (goes out of his way to point out people he thought were screwing them over, people he thought were stupid, points out a lot of his possibly biased opinions) or c)...really boring. I found the writing style very annoying - Anthony Bozza, come on! A lot of the writing is repetitive. If you're a slow-paced reader, then this may work in your favor.
But, if I got one thing out of this book, it's that the man just loves to play some rock and roll. He's all about the music, the guitar, the feeling of belonging on a stage. We can chalk this up to the fact that he really never had any formal education (hey, he says so very clearly himself) so his mentality is basically that of a twelve year old, or we can call it being a true musician.
I was a huge Slash fan before reading this book. As I read, my opinion actually started dropping. I was hoping it would get better, so I continued. I read the other reviews, some seem to think this was a deep insight into the inner workings of GNR (apparently, none of these people knew anything about them before reading this) but it's really basic information. The only thing I learned that I never knew before was the synthesizer setup Axl had during the recording of Illusions.
If you already know that Slash and Duff are the reason for "7 second delay" on live programming, then you do not need this book. If you didn't know that, then pick up a copy...it might be more worth it.
Book Review: I think I like the band less now...
Summary: 3 Stars
I am a very big GnR fan. I bought this book for inspiration for a bit of my own writing and out of curiosity because I had read about how Slash is evenhanded in his descriptions of Axl. Well... I was always more of an Axl person myself but now I like Duff best.
The fact is that Slash just isn't that smart, is immature, and can't tell a good story. The only way that Slash describes women is in terms of their breast size. Every woman "has great tits" or has "big tits." He also seems to think nothing of destroying places and things just for the fun of it - because any normal adult would trash the set of a show just because he wanted to. And it's sort of disappointing to realize that the band really isn't going to get back together because they were never really "together" for very long anyway. Nearly all of their songs were written when Appetite for Destruction came out - just recorded later. And the Use Your Illusions were recorded with Axl doing his own parts separately. Depressing - though that's not Slash's fault.
Seeing things through the eyes of a junkie is interesting but he just can't tell a good story. Things aren't funny or don't come to any sort of realization. There's no sense of humor or talent in storytelling. He is very reflective about what makes a good band and sound. He is also forgiving of Axl's behavior - his descriptions though lead me to believe that Axl is truly crazy.... not sure if that can be considered forgiving.
I'm also reading Keith Richards' book and I'm not a Stones fan. However that book is witty and interesting and I am eager to know more about the Stones. Ironically, Slash writes about meeting Keith Richards once and realizes quickly that Richards is just putting up with him and looking to get rid of him. I see now that it's because Keith Richards is smart and respects women while Slash isn't and doesn't.
Book Review: Less Slash, More Guns
Summary: 4 Stars
An engaging read, I had a hard time putting this down. The most interesting part is the early history of GnR. The book provides a good background of the L.A. hard rock scene in general. I appreciate that the book is about Slash, but I think he missed an opportunity to provide some real insight into what made the band tick. For example, Slash writes really not a whole lot about Stephen Adler or Axl. There is a fair amount of info on the songwriting process and guitars and things like that, but Slash doesn't really provide valuable insight into the band dynamics (although he tries). Also, the later Guns years are not very eventful. He should have spent more time describing the band when they were hungry and at their creative peak.
The book is pretty light-hearted on the whole, but Slash's drug and alcohol addiction can be difficult to stomach at times. He comes across as a real jerk half the time, which I imagine he is fully aware of. I like that he doesn't try to glamorize his lifestyle and that he recognizes the pain and inconvenience that he caused other people. A book like this might actually be a helpful deterrent to kids who are getting into drugs. A couple glaring typos for me--the L.A. metal station was KNAC (not KNEC), and the Dave Mustaine fronted thrash band is Megadeth (not Megadeath).
Oh, and how the hell does he manage to date Traci Lords for a whole month and not get any sex out of it? You know you do too many drugs when you can't lay a porn star.