Guns N Roses lead man chronicles life

From 1988 to 1993 Guns N' Roses were the biggest and most controversial band on the planet, renowned for their excess as much as their success, with charismatic lead guitarist Slash leading the way on and off the stage.

His new autobiography, woven together by former Rolling Stone journalist Anthony Bozza, chronicles the life of the English-born Saul Hudson, from his early years in the UK, to growing up a BMX-obsessed petty thief in LA and finally the more than 20 years of sex, drugs and rock n' roll that almost claimed his life.

The core of the book is the about rise and fall of Guns and the disintegration of Slash's volatile relationship with lead singer AXL Rose, which led to Slash quitting the band in 1996.

Slash is brutally honest and refreshingly candid in the book.

Considering that at the height of the band's success he was drinking a gallon of vodka a day - and that was before he went out at night - it's remarkable he can remember anything.

The book also reveals the huge role heroin played in his life and Slash pulls no punches when it comes to the devastating effect it had on him and those around him.

He recounts how seeing one of his closest friends die from an overdose in a hotel room in New York led to a downward spiral of heroin, cocaine and booze, which had him downing at least three bottles of Jack Daniels a day.

The first half of the book is somewhat pedestrian, falling into the common autobiographical trap of being too chronological, with too much emphasis on his formative, though certainly unconventional, years.

The book bursts into life when Guns N' Roses begin their bid for world dominance, with their Appetite for Destruction and Use Your Illusion One and Two albums, followed by epic two-year world tours.

Slash is open in his admiration for Rose as a singer-songwriter, but the book does little for the rocker's personal reputation, with tales of paranoia and a need to control that Slash says ultimately caused the band's demise.

Slash says the departure in the early 1990s of rhythm guitarist and Rose's co-writer Izzy Stradlin (after overcoming a battle with heroin) and drummer Steven Adler (who is still fighting one) was the beginning of the end.

But it was Rose's increasingly bizarre behaviour that sounded the death knell.

He says towards the end, Rose refused to record with or associate with the rest of the band and constantly turned up late for concerts, sometimes making the band go on stage up to an hour late.

This, along with a habit of walking off stage mid-song, led not only to a riot at a stadium in St Louis and the band being barred from the city for life, but also caused tensions in the band to reach breaking point.

Despite his sometimes bitter recriminations, Slash's memories of touring - the groupies, the drugs, the debauchery - and his emergence as a sober father-of-two, are largely positive and make for a riveting read.

Intriguingly, Slash reveals he is prepared to defend Rose when criticism comes from others.

But he quashes any hope that the band will ever reform with its original line-up.

The book is sprinkled with humorous moments, such as the day the band found out Rose was a huge fan of crooner Billy Joel, while it turned out Joel was a bigger fan of the band's backstage stash of booze.

There are the usual rock `n roll tales of smashing up hotel rooms and houses, and Slash makes no bones about the disdain the Guns had for 'soft rockers' such as Bon Jovi and Kiss.

A must for the Christmas stocking of any genuine music fan.

Source: AAP