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karen_pug's review
1.0
Expected the rags to riches story of guns & roses to be full of sex, drugs and rock & roll, instead it was boring and bland. Disappointing.
lias_little_book_shelf's review
5.0
What a read. Such a history of a real rock legend, told with real emotion and unrestricted access to the deepest and darkest parts of his life. From begging to end its a mix of everything from love to hate to the happiest time to times when you are welling up from the sad stories, but a must read for those who are interested in finding out how the great man became who he is.
branamalyssa10's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
5.0
Love slash so naturally it’s a good one, love how he tells stories
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Grief, Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug abuse, Addiction, Death, Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Vomit
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Medical trauma
Minor: Cancer, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Gore
savsimon's review
5.0
The first time I blushed in public reading a book. So OUT OF THIS WORLD. Been telling all my demented friends to read this with me.
kitty_whimsical's review
4.0
*snicker* HOW CAN I NOT READ THIS? Honestly. I have been fascinated by this man since I saw him standing on top of Axl Rose's piano in the "November Rain" video. I was a a sweet, impressionable young thing of about 12, I think. Lust at first sight, baby. Yeah, I was a strange kid.
elena_gilbert's review against another edition
4.0
This made me really really really want to read Duff McKagan's book. Steven Adler's was better. I would've liked this better when I was 16.
postitsandpens's review against another edition
3.0
While reading this, I couldn't help the comparisons between this and Nikki Sixx's The Heroin Diaries, which I LOVED. Overall, I think Nikki had a much more solid story, even though his only took place over one year of his life. He was much more straightforward regarding his drug abuse and addiction problems. Slash, on the other hand, talks about his entire life from his childhood all the way through 2007, when this book was first published, and at times sort of talked around his addiction, almost to the point where he said yes, I did have a problem, but I was able to handle it (the term "functioning drug addict/alcoholic" was used many times, which honestly is an oxymoron, no?). Slash's narrative was also a bit all over the place - he'd be talking about one incident, and then jump to another, and then go on a third tangent, and then get back to his original thought. It's probably the way his brain works, but it was a bit disconcerting. I did like, however, that even though at this point he was really angry with Axl for everything that happened with Guns N' Roses, he made sure to say that this was his viewpoint, and that Axl no doubt had his own, and both were equally as valid. I liked that this wasn't just "dumping on Axl Rose", which it could easily have been considering their history. And it makes me wish so badly that I could have been a fly on the wall as they finally worked through some of their differences to reunite earlier this year. It's pretty clear from this book that Slash never thought it would happen!
ckjaer88's review
4.0
I didn't know a lot about Slash or Guns for that matter, before reading the book. I new they were on drugs and stuff, but it shocked me HOW far off they actually were back then. I mean, how can you become such a legendary rockband and go through all taht shit at the same time?! It's actually written in such a way, that you get a feeling they only did like 10 shows all and all.
But I think I got a good sense of who Slash is as a person. It was kinda fascinating to read how he was shocked when a guy OD'ed in front of him, when he himself had OD'ed a couple of times before!
It's a really good read and you feel like Slash is a friend when you're done.
Warning: it makes you wanna buy everything guns ever released!
But I think I got a good sense of who Slash is as a person. It was kinda fascinating to read how he was shocked when a guy OD'ed in front of him, when he himself had OD'ed a couple of times before!
It's a really good read and you feel like Slash is a friend when you're done.
Warning: it makes you wanna buy everything guns ever released!
nilsjesper's review
3.0
I wanted to love this book a whole lot more than I did, especially after it gets off to a roaring start. It was fascinating to get an insight into the early years of guns n' roses and to realize just HOW drunk and strung out everyone was when that album came together. But from there it's kind of like Use Your Illusions, a few bright moments punctuated by a lot of crap and corporate rock. There's more talk about managers and lawyers and a&r guys than there is about songwriting basically and you realize that despite their scrappy appearance, GNR were on the major label payroll very very early on and I guess that's how it goes.
Slash spends about a solid 3 pages at the end of this book actually clean and in between yes, there's tales of amusing druggy debauchery but also just a lot of really sad pathetic stuff. It's made worse when the guy who admits he couldn't get out of bed without drinking talks about how other people like steven adler were too messed up to be of use to him. Between the drugs and serial self-justified unfaithfulness, slash just comes across as kind of a douche.
At the end of the day, any book where the climactic event is the formation of Velvet Revolver is going to be kind of a letdown. But hey, all of this negativity aside, I plowed through this book so it's got its entertainment points.
Slash spends about a solid 3 pages at the end of this book actually clean and in between yes, there's tales of amusing druggy debauchery but also just a lot of really sad pathetic stuff. It's made worse when the guy who admits he couldn't get out of bed without drinking talks about how other people like steven adler were too messed up to be of use to him. Between the drugs and serial self-justified unfaithfulness, slash just comes across as kind of a douche.
At the end of the day, any book where the climactic event is the formation of Velvet Revolver is going to be kind of a letdown. But hey, all of this negativity aside, I plowed through this book so it's got its entertainment points.