Product Description

A human cartoon of hair, super-strength cigarettes and the rock world's most famous top hat, Slash is one of the most iconic guitarists in recent memory. Although born in Stoke-on-Trent, this one-off guitarist came to prominence through the debauchery and stellar chart success of the American west coast's Guns N' Roses; Slash's highly productive but volatile relationship with lead singer Axl Rose led to a perhaps inevitable split in the mid-90s. Moving on first to his own Snakepit project, then a blues band, then on to a career as one of the world's most sought after soloists, Slash's profile has finally returned to its highest peak with the formation of the outrageous and hugely successful Velvet Revolver, a super-group of rock stars that lives life as hard as his former band-mates ever did. His story is inevitably one of massive rock and roll excess, exhausting and famous live shows, fiery confrontations with other musicians but also of incredible discipline, a unique natural musical gift and, of course - through "Sweet Child O' Mine" and "Paradise City" to name but a few - the creation of some of rock music's most legendary songs.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #107540 in Books
• Published on: 2007-05-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 215 pages

About the Author
Mick Middles is the veteran author of fourteen books including Torn Apart, The Life of Ian Curtis (co-authored with Lindsay Reade), The Fall (with Mark E Smith), the official history of Factory Records and Breaking Into Heaven, on The Stone Roses as well as books on a diverse range of artists including Shaun Ryder, George Michael, Les Dawson, Ian McCulloch and cricket legend Viv Richards.

Customer Reviews

Very Dissappointing - a Commentary at best
The anticipation for this book was huge, as I've been a life ling fan of Guns n' Roses, and anything that Slash has ever produced. The guy is, without doubt, a living Rock and Roll legend, who's excessive living, would of put 99% of us 6 feet under. With this in mind I was hoping to find out more behind the hair and top hat, to really try and get a perspective of how Slash saw the world, and all of the well documented ups and downs of his career to date.

What I got was nothing more than a brief review of whats already been written a hundred times before. The Rise of GnR, the fall of Gnr, Slash's SnakePit, and the rise of VR. Most of the quotes quotes in the book have been borrowed (by permission and referenced) from various websites related to the great man.The Chapters rarely go into detail on the subject matter, and some of the most important times in Slash's life were just skimmed over, and hardly goes into any detail.

Having said that, its well written, and is an easy read, which does look at the relationships that have had an impact on Slash's life, from another perspective. It's not a biography in the classic sense, rather a commentary and review.

Slash has recently signed a deal with a writer (can't remember his name) to publish a full auto-biogrpahy, which coming from the man himself, in his own words, would be a much more insightful read. You will still enjoy this book if you are a big fan, but don't expect any new revelations.

Not what I expected
I would agree whole-heartedly with the review by G.Lea as I too found this a disappointing read from the perspective of a fan looking for more of an insight into Slash's world. This book uses the internet as a main reference for quotes and as such seems to re-state what many already know or could learn within just a few minutes of searching online as opposed to providing a fresh look into the guitarist's thoughts.

As an additional critique I felt when reading it, as did a good many friends, that early on the book was written with very derogatory tones towards the UK and that there were a plethora of spelling and grammatical errors throughout.

That said, if you haven't the time to trawl the internet looking for quotes and brief biographies or to filter through the many untruths and rumours that are out there, then this would be a very good and cheap way for anyone who knows very little about the great man to gain some knowledge and history of both him and his bands both past and present.

As such, for those who can't wait until October when the Autobiography is released or who simply want a brief Slash timeline with a few good pictures and quotes, then for the price this will tide you over nicely. For any die hard fans though, I would recommend giving this a miss.

Absolute rubbish
Do not buy this book. Slash deserves much better than this, its full of inaccuracies, spelling mistakes and poor journalism.

The author has spent so little time researching his subject, he calls Tracii Guns HER, claims that a gig on the first UK tour at Rock City Nottingham lasted over 2 hours - I was there it didn't, he claims that they played many encores - I remember Axl shouting " you can suck on the encores" and storming off, never to return

Total rubbish - Don't buy, wait for the official book in October