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Slash Paperback – Illustrated, October 21, 2008
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From one of the greatest rock guitarists of our era comes a memoir that redefines sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll.
For the first time ever, Slash tells the tale that has yet to be told from the inside: how the legendary band Guns N' Roses 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. Slash is a window into the world of the notoriously private guitarist and a front 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. Slash is everything Slash is: funny, honest, ingenious, inspiring, jaw-dropping . . . and, in a word, excessive.
- Print length480 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherIt Books
- Publication dateOctober 21, 2008
- Dimensions6 x 1.09 x 9 inches
- ISBN-100061351431
- ISBN-13978-0061351433
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“Wonderfully frank.” — Entertainment Weekly
“Entertaining and educational...a crash course for aspiring rock gods.”” — Spin magazine
About the Author
Slash, Velvet Revolver founding member and guitarist, lives in California with his wife, Perla, and their two children.
Anthony Bozza is the author of four New York Times Bestsellers, including Whatever You Say I Am: The Life and Times of Eminem, Slash, co-written with Slash and the #1 bestselling Too Fat to Fish, co-written with Artie Lange. Bozza was a staff writer and editor for Rolling Stone magazine for seven years, during which he profiled a diverse range of artists from Eminem and the Wu-Tang Clan to Trent Reznor and U2. He lives in New York City.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Slash
By Leopoldo SlashHarperCollins Publishers, Inc.
Copyright © 2008 Leopoldo SlashAll right reserved.
ISBN: 9780061351433
Chapter One
I was born on July 23, 1965, in Stoke-on-Trent, England, the town where Lemmy Kilmister of Motörhead was born twenty years before me. It was the year rock and roll as we know it became greater than the sum of its parts; the year a few isolated bands changed pop music forever. The Beatles released Rubber Soul that year and the Stones released Rolling Stones No. 2, the best of their collections of blues covers. There was a creative revolution afoot that has never been equaled and I'm proud to be a by-product of it.
My mom is an African American and my dad is English and white. They met in Paris in the sixties, fell in love, and had me. Their brand of interracial intercontinental communion wasn't the norm; and neither was their boundless creativity. I thank them for being who they are. They exposed me to environments so rich and colorful and unique that what I experienced even while very young made a permanent impression on me. My parents treated me as an equal as soon as I could stand. And they taught me, on the fly, how to deal with whatever came my way in the only type of life I've ever known.
My mom, Ola, was seventeen and my dad, Anthony ("Tony"), was twenty when they met. He was born a painter, and like painters historically do, he left his stuffy hometown to find himself in Paris. My mom was precocious and exuberant, young and beautiful; she'd left Los Angeles to see the world and make connections in fashion. When their journeys intersected they fell in love, then got married in England. And then I came along and they set about creating their life together.
My mom's career as a costume designer started around 1966, and over the course of it, her clients included Flip Wilson, Ringo Starr, and John Lennon. She also worked for the Pointer Sisters, Helen Reddy, Linda Ronstadt, and James Taylor. Sylvester was one of her clients, too. He is no longer with us, but he was once a disco artist who was like the gay Sly Stone. He had a great voice and he was a supergood person in my eyes; he gave me a black-and-white rat that I named Mickey. Mickey was a badass. He never flinched when I fed rats to my snakes. He survived a fall from my bedroom window after he was tossed out by my younger brother, and was no worse for the wear when he showed up at our back door three days later. Mickey also survived the accidental removal of a section of his tail when the inner chassis of our sofa bed cut it off, as well as close to a year without food or water. We left him behind by mistake in an apartment that we used as storage space, and when we eventually popped in to pick up some boxes, Mickey came up to me congenially as if I'd been gone only a day, as if to say, "Hey! Where you been?"
Mickey was one of my more memorable pets. There have been many, from my mountain lion, Curtis, to the hundreds of snakes I've raised. Basically I am a self-taught zookeeper and I definitely relate to the animals I've lived with better than to most of the humans I've known. Those animals and I share a point of view that most people forget: at the end of the day life is about survival. Once that lesson is learned, earning the trust of an animal that might eat you in the wild is a defining and rewarding experience.
Soon after I was born, my mother returned to L.A. to expand her business and to lay the financial foundation our family was built upon. My dad raised me in En¬gland at his parents', Charles and Sybil Hudson's, home for four years?and it wasn't easy on him. I was a pretty intuitive kid, but I could not discern the depth of the tension there. My dad and his dad, Charles, from what I understand, had less than the best relationship. Tony was the middle of three sons, and he was every bit the middle child upstart. His younger brother, Ian, and his older brother, David, were much more in step with the family's values. My dad went to art school; he was everything his father wasn't. Tony was the sixties; and he stood up for his beliefs as wholeheartedly as his father condemned them. My grandfather Charles was a fireman from Stoke, a community that had somehow skated through history unchanged. Most residents of Stoke never leave; many, like my grandparents, had never ventured the hundred or so miles south to London. Tony's unyielding vision of attending art school and making a living through painting was something Charles could not stomach. Their clash of opinion fueled constant arguments and often led to violent exchanges; Tony claims that Charles beat him senseless on a regular basis for most of his youth.
My grandfather was as consummately representative of 1950s Britain as his son was of the sixties. Charles wanted to see everything in its right place while Tony wanted to rearrange and repaint it all. I imagine that my grandfather was properly appalled when his son returned from Paris in love with a carefree black American. I wonder what he said when Tony told him that he intended to be married and raise their newborn child under their roof until he and my mom got their affairs in order. All things considered, I'm touched by how much diplomacy was displayed by the parties involved.
My dad took me to London as soon as I could handle the train ride. I was maybe two or three, but instinctively I knew how far away it was from Stoke's unending miles of brown brick rowhouses and quaint families because my dad was into a bit of a bohemian scene. . . .
Continues...
Excerpted from Slashby Leopoldo Slash Copyright © 2008 by Leopoldo Slash. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Product details
- Publisher : It Books; Reprint edition (October 21, 2008)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 480 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0061351431
- ISBN-13 : 978-0061351433
- Item Weight : 1.46 pounds
- Dimensions : 6 x 1.09 x 9 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #28,589 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #56 in Rock Music (Books)
- #62 in Rock Band Biographies
- #321 in Actor & Entertainer Biographies
- Customer Reviews:
About the authors
Anthony Bozza understands what it is to love music, to hear every note as if you’re by yourself and it’s being played just for you.”
– Cameron Crowe
Anthony Bozza is a New York City native author and journalist who has penned multiple New York Times and international bestselling books. His career began as a staff writer for Rolling Stone magazine where he wrote the first national cover story on rapper Eminem in 1999. His first book, Whatever You Say I Am: The Life and Times of Eminem (2003), the definitive story of the rapper's rise to fame, was a runaway bestseller in the US and UK and was published in fourteen foreign languages. He has co-written bestsellers with Slash of Guns n' Roses, Tommy Lee of Motley Crue, and three books with comedian Artie Lange including the number one NYT bestseller Too Fat to Fish. Bozza has also written the autobiographies of Wyclef Jean, INXS, Tracy Morgan, and Mick Fleetwood, Why AC/DC Matters, a biography of the Australian rock band, as well as a follow up to his Eminem biography titled Not Afraid: The Evolution of Eminem. He also wrote and edited the NYT Bestseller Jeter Unfiltered, chronicling the famed Yankee captain's final season. Bozza's next co-write will be published in November 2021 by Gallery/Simon and Schuster, titled From Staircase to Stage: the Story of Raekwon and the Wu-Tang Clan. It is the life story of the legendary Staten Island rapper and one of the most iconic rap groups of all time. Anthony is also the host of WINYL, an interview-based podcast that pairs his guest's favorite record with the perfect wine. You can find it on your preferred podcast platform.
find out more about Anthony...
on the web: www.abozza.com
Instagram: @anthonybozza, @winylgram
Twitter: @AnthonyBozza1
FB: @AnthonyBozza1
Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more
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PROS: This book moves in an effective and engaging way. This will evolve into a con (we'll get to that later), but the pacing (while erratic) feels genuine, like a guy with a dozen lifetimes worth of experiences just chatting with me. I love the genuine nature of his storytelling.
It's a rock and roll memoir, and it's definitely got the sex, drugs, and rock and roll you'd look for. But often these types of memoirs feel more about the stories than the person, but Slash as a human being comes out here, and I feel like a get a sense of him as a person I certainly never had before this. The stuff about his childhood felt carefully told and important. In other memoirs I've read, it often feels like the writer is just trying to get through that stuff. Not here. And that's pretty cool.
But the rock and roll stories are still great. He's a terrific storyteller, really. Maybe he doesn't give you fully fleshed portraits of everybody he discuss, but he definitely keeps me informed and engaged and I was rarely lost on what childhood friend or whatnot he's talking about at a given moment. I felt his voice in my head as I read through this, and certainly was entertained.
As I mentioned above, I picked this book up to research more about the relationship between Slash and Axl, but I was vacationing when I read it, and wasn't particularly short of time, so I didn't just jump ahead in the book to find the Sunset Strip and beyond stuff, and instead read through. I'm glad I did. I was entertained, educated, and ended up feeling much more informed about an artist I was already interested in and liked. I certainly liked Slash a lot more after I finished the book.
CONS: As I mentioned above, it does meander at times, and it certainly jumps around. This style didn't bother me, but the flow feels less like a writer and more like a guy telling stories. For a memoir like this, that's fine by me.
Likely you're not going to be interested in the book if you aren't already interested in Slash or Guns N' Roses, but if you got this far in thinking about it, just read it. It's a good read, accessible and engaging. Absolutely recommended.
This book has alot of great information,starting from the very beginning of his upbringing,and explaining how he was so musically inclined through his families work in the music business. The book is very informational in the sense it talks about how he grew up & his interests as a boy such as BMX & artwork. As he grew up it talks about some of Slash's famous stunts such as how he would boost cassette tapes in his pants,snakes wrapped around his arms and all other kinds of reptiles. His love for snakes & reptiles explains why he named his solo project after his departure in G&R Slash's Snakepit.
This book gets into how he made the decision to pick up the axe and start wailing away on the 6string,how he came to form a bond with Duff and Steven as well as how he met up with Axl and Izzy. The band progressed themselves almost too fast as they were added on to open up for the equally as hedonistic band Motley Crue. The book goes into great detail about their individual tastes and such but this book is from Slash's perspective and talks about him and his endevours but also,obviously has to go into detail about Guns & Roses. The book is very insightful about the inner workings of G&R and how and why the tension slowly built after years on the road & info about the lineup changes as well as Axl constantly being late to gigs or just deciding to bail before the set was scheduled to end. Personally,being born in 1990 i can't say i knew all of this about the band,but now i do. There is alot of detail about the throes of addiction & substance abuse in this book but trust me it isn't nearly as bad as Nikki Sixx's Heroin Diaries,or even Steven Adlers book about substance abuse. Regardless this book goes through the different events in his life,pertaining to groupies and debauchery. Alot of great detail about how he tried to kick the dope and did it successfully(but replaced it with booze) and all the cocaine and crack that he would consume,almost killing him in 1 story. He took some time out to explain about his houses and buying a new one,then moving into a new place with his wife Perla. This book really goes through alot and covers alot of ground,from Guns to Snakepit to Velvet Revolver as well as his collaborations with Ray Charles,Michael Jackson and many others. Alot more stories about how he & the band had to hitchhike around the country to get to gigs when they first started. There is stories about how much excessive spending went on & how the band got sued by outside sources as well as Axl. There is info about his children and how he raised them with his wife,they both went to rehab for their own substance issues. Slash had a defibrulator installed in his heart because he OD'd and his heart got weak from all the years of excess parties and gallon of vodka a day drinking habits. There is just so much in here that i can't really say on this review but there are some great pictures in here as well as his personal views on subjects such as life,love,addiction,family,etc. If you are a fan of Slash,Guns,Velvet Revolver or the Snakepit or just a straight up fan of the band and want to learn a bit from their perspective then go and grab a copy. I have gotta say i have books from Ozzy,Lemmy,the Crue,Zakk Wylde,Metallica,Rex from Pantera,Korn,Manson and many other rock stars including Duff & Steven Adler and i have gotta say this book is top-notch. For fans of the band this book is a must own.
I think this book is worth a read, especially if you’re a fan of GNR, guitarists, or 80’s/90’s hard rock music.
Top reviews from other countries
A friend in work actually reccomended the book to me as I’d previously mentioned I don’t mind an autobiography or two, however I’ve never touched up on the music genre when it comes to reading. What a life; what a memoir. It’s hard to believe with everything that’s gone on in his life and career that now 2024, 17 years after the book was released that Slash is still at the top of his game back with Axl, Duff and the gang.
Honestly get out of your comfort zone and read this absolute classic of a book. What a journey
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 29, 2024
A friend in work actually reccomended the book to me as I’d previously mentioned I don’t mind an autobiography or two, however I’ve never touched up on the music genre when it comes to reading. What a life; what a memoir. It’s hard to believe with everything that’s gone on in his life and career that now 2024, 17 years after the book was released that Slash is still at the top of his game back with Axl, Duff and the gang.
Honestly get out of your comfort zone and read this absolute classic of a book. What a journey
Spiega dettagliatamente tutta la sua vita!
Reviewed in Mexico on July 9, 2020