The Slash autobiography thread

[Sandinista]

All memoirs have errors, that's why they're called memoirs. I'd expect Slash's to have more errors than most, given his history with substance abuse, but I don't see how he's any less trustworthy than other sources around him at the time.

[recklessroad]

Slash is telling his whole life story not just what went wrong with the old line-up. Also just so you know Slash was the one who took care of most everything that was needed to be done to run a band and keep it going for many of the years that that line-up was together. Now Axl, Beta and Del do that stuff. Also Slash was the one who did most of the interviews with all the press. So Slash did a lot for that band he put his heart into 100% and look at the music that we have from those times. So have some respect for him for what he helped create,because this site would not even be here if not for Slash and the rest of those guys. You can't be a GNR fan and hate Slash its not possible. It's ok to love the new guys but you have to pay your respect to the old first.

[Bridge]

This reply is really directed at most of the posts in this thread....

1. The VIDEO (not the song/lyrics) for "November Rain" was inspired by Del James' story. ?This has been made very clear over the years. ?The stuff about Stephanie dying in the video was in the story.

2. There is a lot of talk about "errors" being made in the book. ?Slash himself admits to not remembering 75% of his time during the GNR years. ?So obviously, errors should be expected, ESPECIALLY when it comes to dates and locations of concerts and things. ?As somebody else said, when a band does 200 concerts in rapid succession, they're not going remember exactly when they first used backup singers, or what the first gig was. ?Any band out there could tell you that.

And I'm not "making excuses" either. ?I'm simply stating the facts. ?Read any book written by by a former drug-fueled rock n roll star. ?I'm sure there are bound to be discrepancies. ?Take The Dirt by Motley Crue for example. ?The "errors" made by those guys were more apparent, because they all wrote their own chapters. ?So a number of things one guy said would later be contradicted by something one of the other guys said later. ?For example, when Vince Neil's daughter died, he swears that none of the other guys called to talk to him. ?But Tommy Lee had said in a prior chapter that he had called Vince and listened to Vince "hurl abuse at himself for an hour" right after his daughter's death.

3. Slash had a cowriter, so it's very possible some facts were misconstrued or "combined" because the author didn't fully understand what Slash meant. ?Again, I'm not "making excuses", this is simply a reality. ?Anybody who's ever done a damn newspaper interview can attest to this. ?They interview you, and then you read the article, and you see you've been misquoted, and certain perceptions have been altered.

[ibelieveinaxl]

And to correct your second error....Nightrain is mispelled on the album, because of possible lawsuits (which did eventually come about, but were dropped because they made a shitload of money after the song was released).? The actual liqour that the song is about is called "Night Train Express".

that's exactly right. the first spelling of the track was "Night Train." Ernest & Julio Gallo wines threatened to sue the band because of the spelling, so they changed it to "Nightrain." The wine company wanted them to change the spelling because they thought it would hurt their brand! I remember looking at the numbers after the song was released. Sales of Night Train Express went up over 100%!!! So, gnr was the best thing to happen to that ernest & julio!!!!

[ibelieveinaxl]

So could it be possible the first day they rehearsed was 6/5/85 - the day i was born

In Reckless Road, he says they had one day of rehearsal....

Then in his own book it's three days.


Your guess is as good as mine.?



/jarmo

As for dates, Thursday June 6th, 1985 was the first day they rehearsed. They played the Troubadour the following Saturday June 8th, 1985. On Wednesday June 12th, 1985 they left on their trip to play Seattle, Portland, Eugene, Sacramento, and San Francisco. Their car broke down in Fresno and they hitchhiked to Seattle in 2 days. There were between 10 and 20 people at that gig!!! (according to Izzy)

[recklessroad]

The fisrt show was on June 6th at the Troub. Then a few days after that they whet to Seattle. The Seattle gig was booked before Slash came back to the the band. He was playing with Axl a year The first show was on June 6th at the Troubadour. Then a few days after that they whet to Seattle. The Seattle gig was booked before Slash came back to the band. He was playing with Axl a year before in Hollywood Rose. When Slash said we had one rehearsal together and it was like we were playing together for years does not mean that they only had one rehearsal before the first gig. It just means It was a very strong rehearsal. One thing for sure Slash was in black Sheep still on Fri may 31,1985 and the first GNR gig with the Appetite line up was June 6th. So thetas less then a week. Also Slash has had way too much to drink in his life so lots of things could be off by a little. In his book he said that the first time they played Sweet Child was at the Santa Monica Civic but he was wrong by 1 week. The first time it was played was at the Whisky on Aug. 23,1986 and the Civic show was on Aug 30,1986. That's what he remembers So he is close but you will find that he is wrong about some dates and yes he is wrong about Nov Rain. The video is based on the short story "Without You" by Del James not the song and so is Estranged. Axl wrote Nov Rain before he met Del Reckless Road some of the info is also wrong because when you interview people they think they remember things but they get things wrong but it comes from their mouth so how can you cut that out? Willie Base the singer in Black Sheep said that Slash played 2 gigs with them but he was wrong. Slash only played one gig. Spencer Proffer( a producer that worked with the band in 1986) said some things that were not true, but that's what he thinks that he remembers. So when you interview someone you sometimes have to print what they said even if it is somewhat off and then maybe counter act it. Reckless Road has lots of typos for a few different reasons. They ran out of time for the deadline and the book had to go to the printer without a spell check and without me looking at it. Also The copy editor never got a chance to proofread it. In the next printing that will be fixed and I was not happy about that. They said that I would have 3 days to look at it on line while it was at the printer but they never let me see it. The thing with Slash is he is trying to tell the people what his life was like but not everything is right on the button. Its just all that he can remember.

[Bridge]

The thing with Slash is he is trying to tell the people what his life was like but not everything is right on the button. Its just all that he can remember.

Exactly.  Everyone expecting 100% accuracy from an admitted former junkie is just being really nit-picky.

[Bridge]

Page 446-447 where Slash explains when he went to Axl's house. Slash points out that he WAS drunk. He didnt convince me in those pages that he didnt say those things about his bandmates at VR. As he specifically points out that he WAS drunk, its almost like his excuse and maybe he did say those things but was too 'drunk' to realise what he was saying.
I would have thought he would have laid into Axl more if it wasnt true.

Since when has he "laid into" Axl about anything?? During the 2002 shows, Axl said some very inflammatory things onstage about Slash ("they [Slash and Duff] can suck my dick!"), as well as to the press in the past.? And somebody had to have alerted Slash to these things at some point.? But he's never retaliated.

And he didn't say he was drunk as an excuse, he was refuting Axl's statement that he came to Axl's house coherent.

[lynn1961]

I found a bunch of errors but I'd like to see all those who love the book, and who say this is the best book about GN'R, to point out the errors they found first.




/jarmo

Well, since there is no real book about (the original/founding) GnR, where all of them can put it all together, as one (The Doors, Aerosmith, etc), this is the best we're going to get, for now.  I would love to see an autobiography of this original line up.....told by themselves.   Since this is going to become a Slash slamming thing, with the release of this book, I'll say it....the story could be told, I'm sure, by the original guys, except for one hold out, there.  Wasn't there something about a waiver that had to be signed by anyone that went on the UYI tour, a "don't tell" type of waiver?  Is that partly why we don't see any real "tell all" stories?  That's why I've thought that we'll never see it, plus the fact that I think 4 guys, there, can half-way relate, today, and keep in touch, here or there.  The 5th one seems to avoid it all.       

[kimberly]

Yes the video trilogy is based on "W/O You". But Nov. Rain, correct me if I'm wrong, was written well before Axl met Del James.

Axl started writing November Rain when he was very young ( I think it started out as a poem or something) Axl read Del's story 'without you' years later and thought it fitted the song very well and decided to use that as the story for November Rain. If I'm not mistaken the video for Estranged was supposed to be the explanation for why Stephanie died in November Rain...but that plan changed because Stephanie and Axl broke up.

[Bridge]

After reading the book, especially the parts having to do with GN'R, it's pretty apparent that Slash isn't the guy to tell the "inside story about GN'R".

Ummm hmmm.? And I'm sure the other guys on their own would be?? ?They would all tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, wouldn't they?? I can only imagine how honest Axl might be about GNR, and for that matter, some of the things in his personal life.? Brings to mind the deposition Erin Everly filed against him, where she talked about how Axl repeatedly beat and raped her.? I wonder how honest our favorite frontman would be about that?

He's just one part of the band and he gets many things wrong.? ?what makes a book like The Dirt work is that you get more than one guy telling the story. It's not just Mick Mars telling the reader what happened.

I won't disagree, you would need Steven, Izzy, Duff, and Axl to have a definitive GNR autobiography.? But bear in mind, this book isn't a GNR biography.? It's Slash's.

But you know what struck me about The Dirt?? All four members of Motley Crue did indeed contradict each other on a number of issues through the book, but their overall stories were pretty well aligned.? The only real difference between the four stories was perspective.? I highly doubt that very much of the actual story would change if it were all five original members of GNR.? I think what you'd have is an instance of Steven's story "corrects" Slash's, Axl's story "corrects" Steven's, Izzy's story "corrects" Duff's, etc.? I seriously doubt the overall tone of the story would change if all five guys were telling it.? Though the perspective would undoubtedly be clearer.

Also, Slash mentions working on songs and what not, but one thing strikes me, he never mentions if there were any songs he didn't like.

It's like he had no issues with any GN'R songs.

He's admitted many times that he used to hate playing "Sweet Child o Mine".? He's made that no secret.? So he didn't mention it in the autobiography.? Big deal.? Just because he didn't mention it doesn't make that an "error".

[fuckin crazy]

Well, since there is no real book about (the original/founding) GnR, where all of them can put it all together, as one (The Doors, Aerosmith, etc), this is the best we're going to get, for now. I would love to see an autobiography of this original line up.....told by themselves. Since this is going to become a Slash slamming thing, with the release of this book, I'll say it....the story could be told, I'm sure, by the original guys, except for one hold out, there. Wasn't there something about a waiver that had to be signed by anyone that went on the UYI tour, a "don't tell" type of waiver? Is that partly why we don't see any real "tell all" stories? That's why I've thought that we'll never see it, plus the fact that I think 4 guys, there, can half-way relate, today, and keep in touch, here or there. The 5th one seems to avoid it all.

Your avatar frightens me.

The post ... well

[lynn1961]

After reading the book, especially the parts having to do with GN'R, it's pretty apparent that Slash isn't the guy to tell the "inside story about GN'R".
.....
He's just one part of the band and he gets many things wrong.

What makes a book like The Dirt work is that you get more than one guy telling the story. It's not just Mick Mars telling the reader what happened.....




/jarmo

This is true.   So true.  Problem, here, is - at this point, anyway - we're not going to get the whole story from all of the founding members, together.       

[lynn1961]

Oh yeah, Halloween's over...gotta' change that!  Thanks for reminding me!    

[fuckin crazy]

Oh yeah, Halloween's over...gotta' change that! Thanks for reminding me!

No, keep it. You can rip shreds out of those that ...

[lynn1961]

Changed it.....this one could rip shreds, too.  (wish I could.....)

[fuckin crazy]

Changed it.....this one could rip shreds, too. (wish I could.....)

That one says ... I will shred you a new one! You go girl!

[lynn1961]

Thank you, fat freddy. 

[kimberly]

Brings to mind the deposition Erin Everly filed against it, where she talked about how Axl repeatedly beat and raped her.? I wonder how honest our favorite frontman would be about that

and what exactly has that got to do with Jarmo saying that Slash isn't the guy to tell ''the inside story about GNR''? ? Telling the story about GNR is very different than going on about a lawsuit with his ex wife.

I don't think that it's paticularly relevant to talk about who is telling the truth and who isn't (in this case anyway) Slash tells his version of the story and I'm sure that Axl's version would be completely different...it would be weird if Axl's version would be exactly the same as Slash's...if their version would be the same then the old line-up would probably still be together, because hey what would there be to dissagree about right? Just suck the info Slash gave in, just don't take everything as solid fact or 'your bible to whatever happened to GNR' That's what I liked so much 'about the Dirt', these contradictions that constantly came up.

It would be interesting to see if Axl will ever release those 10.000 pages (or at least narrow it down until it can be published as an actual book? ) to hear his version, because he (out of all the ex GNR members) is pretty much the only one who hasn't been doing all these interviews about what happened to old GNR.

[fuckin crazy]

Thank you, fat freddy.

Haha! Sman says, your welcome.

Now on topic, I think I might just go and line the pockets of Slash after reading this thread ... Nah, I'll wait untill I can find it used.