The Slash autobiography thread

[jarmo]

Again, were you in Guns n' Roses? 

Now, again, where did I claim I was? 

Slash was and he clearly states that this book is his perception of what went down.

I know he was.

He was also drugged out of his mind.

That doesn't stop you from taking everything he says seriously does it?

Funny how you fail to point out the many times Slash actually sticks up for Axl and praises him and respects him musically. 

Imagine if he didn't.

Like when Duff said Axl didn't write much.....

It'd be pretty ridiculous if Slash started saying shit like "Axl isn't a talented song writer". Don't you think?

What happened between Slash and Axl is between Slash and Axl, not you, Axl, and Slash.  Unless you were in the band then you have absolutely no way of knowing what went on except to read about it.  Each gunner has their own perception of what happened and again, this is how Slash sees it and he says that it is his version. 

Here you go again with the "you were in the band" shit.

Let me ask you this, did you read the book?

When I read it, I got the feeling that a lot of stuff was left out in order to paint a certain picture.

For example, certain things were left out in order to paint a picture of a flexible guy who would've done anything Axl wanted to.

You don't want to mention hating Sweet Child O' Mine for years and then try to tell me you're flexible.


That's my personal opinion.

So unless you were in the band or in the room, you can't prove I'm wrong (Hey! I can play that game too!). 






/jarmo

[spaghetti_incident]

Oh so now it's your personal opinion?  You tryand pass off your personal opinon as fact and it isn't.  You act like you are or were in Guns n' Roses and you aren't and were not.  You act like you know everything that happened back then or now just because you run a website and get accolades from the band now. 


Fact is your arguments are weak and you talk in circles.  We all get it that you don't think too highly of Slash but I bet you'd jump at the chance to meet the guy or party with him if he asked you to.

But hey that is my personal opinion.  Or wait, is that an error?

[Ali]

Now that Jarmo has reminded us about Slash saying he was "flexible", that reminds me of another big problem I had with the book, another thing that stands in contradiction to what he has previously stated.

I am referring to him stating that he would've hung in through an industrial record with Axl. ?He says he isn't close-minded and his flexibility is what allowed him to stay in the band as long as he did. ?Jarmo made a post illustrating all the various times he said he didn't like the direction the band was going in musically. ?That's enough for me to completely undermine the credibility of his statement that he would've hung in through an industrial record. ?But, if you look further at what he said in the book, he says that he was vehemently opposed to adding Dizzy Reed because he thought a keyboardist would dilute the band's sound while Axl felt that was an important step in the band's sonic evolution. ?He didn't even want the synth line in "Paradise City". ?If he was so vehemently opposed to adding a keyboardist that merely accompanied the band's sound without changing it, how plausible is it that he would be interested in a shift to having more elaborate keyboard accompaniment with multiple keyboards sequenced and linked through computers, thus making the keyboards more and more the focus of the band's sound? ?Take into consideration the lack of stylistic diversity in his body of work before considering that question, then answer it.

Ali

[spaghetti_incident]

Now that Jarmo has reminded us about Slash saying he was "flexible", that reminds me of another big problem I had with the book, another thing that stands in contradiction to what he has previously stated.

I am referring to him stating that he would've hung in through an industrial record with Axl. ?He says he isn't close-minded and his flexibility is what allowed him to stay in the band as long as he did. ?Jarmo made a post illustrating all the various times he said he didn't like the direction the band was going in musically. ?That's enough for me to completely undermine the credibility of his statement that he would've hung in through an industrial record. ?But, if you look further at what he said in the book, he says that he was vehemently opposed to adding Dizzy Reed because he thought a keyboardist would dilute the band's sound while Axl felt that was an important step in the band's sonic evolution. ?He didn't even want the synth line in "Paradise City". ?If he was so vehemently opposed to adding a keyboardist that merely accompanied the band's sound without changing it, how plausible is it that he would be interested in a shift to having more elaborate keyboard accompaniment with multiple keyboards sequenced and linked through computers, thus making the keyboards more and more the focus of the band's sound? ?Take into consideration the lack of stylistic diversity in his body of work before considering that question, then answer it.

Ali

Now Ali, this is a good post.  What basically all it boils down to is that Slash and Axl never communicated thorougly.  This was evident in how their recording sessions when down, how Axl used Doug to relay messages to and from him and Slash, etc. 

It's sad when  you think about it.  Slash even says in the book that he and Axl used to have deep conversations.  And when Guns got big, that communication seemed to break down everyone in the band but mostly, Axl and Slash.

[jarmo]

Oh so now it's your personal opinion?  You tryand pass off your personal opinon as fact and it isn't.  You act like you are or were in Guns n' Roses and you aren't and were not.  You act like you know everything that happened back then or now just because you run a website and get accolades from the band now. 

It's common sense really.

Even you admit that Slash is also presenting HIS version of the story. He was 1/5 of the AFD line-up.

So, when I read it, knowing that it's only one part of the full story, and I get the feeling that he's leaving things out, I come to that conclusion.

It's based on personal opinion, common sense and facts.

Fact is your arguments are weak and you talk in circles. 

Says the guy who doesn't answer the questions I posted.

I'm not gonna repost them because they're right there!

We all get it that you don't think too highly of Slash but I bet you'd jump at the chance to meet the guy or party with him if he asked you to.

You bet? Well you just lost that one.

I think you just posted your fantasy and tried to apply it to me.

But hey that is my personal opinion.  Or wait, is that an error?

Well it's certainly not based on common sense or facts. That's for sure.




/jarmo

[sexkitten]

Personally, I don't care about a few mildly inaccurate dates, to me the book is the chance to experience what it was like being part of the thrill ride of that band, that captured my imaginations, many years ago.? Some real glimpses into their character, and beginnings and dissolutions of friendships.?

I don't get arguing over what specific date they played a certain gig.? Whatever.

Exactly! i enjoyed this book immensely....I don't get why everyone is dissecting it over stupid dates, etc...the story is told from his experiences and his perspective, which counts! He's an original member!

[spaghetti_incident]

Personally, I don't care about a few mildly inaccurate dates, to me the book is the chance to experience what it was like being part of the thrill ride of that band, that captured my imaginations, many years ago.? Some real glimpses into their character, and beginnings and dissolutions of friendships.?

I don't get arguing over what specific date they played a certain gig.? Whatever.

Exactly! i enjoyed this book immensely....I don't get why everyone is dissecting it over stupid dates, etc...the story is told from his experiences and his perspective, which counts! He's an original member!

Exactly my point.  Thank you.

[Ali]

Personally, I don't care about a few mildly inaccurate dates, to me the book is the chance to experience what it was like being part of the thrill ride of that band, that captured my imaginations, many years ago.? Some real glimpses into their character, and beginnings and dissolutions of friendships.?

I don't get arguing over what specific date they played a certain gig.? Whatever.

Exactly! i enjoyed this book immensely....I don't get why everyone is dissecting it over stupid dates, etc...the story is told from his experiences and his perspective, which counts! He's an original member!

You can enjoy the book while also pointing out things that stood out to you as contradictions, or merely things that didn't make sense, or things that weren't as clear as you would like them to be.  Again, none of those things are the same as discounting his right to have a perspective and voice it, or the importance of his perspective.

Ali

[jarmo]

Personally, I don't care about a few mildly inaccurate dates, to me the book is the chance to experience what it was like being part of the thrill ride of that band, that captured my imaginations, many years ago.  Some real glimpses into their character, and beginnings and dissolutions of friendships. 

I don't get arguing over what specific date they played a certain gig.  Whatever.

Exactly! i enjoyed this book immensely....I don't get why everyone is dissecting it over stupid dates, etc...the story is told from his experiences and his perspective, which counts! He's an original member!

Exactly my point.  Thank you.

And as I've pointed out, I'm interested in getting the accurate story.

The stupid dates are part of GN'R history.


One of the stupid dates he got wrong was his wedding date.....





/jarmo

[Ali]

Now that Jarmo has reminded us about Slash saying he was "flexible", that reminds me of another big problem I had with the book, another thing that stands in contradiction to what he has previously stated.

I am referring to him stating that he would've hung in through an industrial record with Axl. ?He says he isn't close-minded and his flexibility is what allowed him to stay in the band as long as he did. ?Jarmo made a post illustrating all the various times he said he didn't like the direction the band was going in musically. ?That's enough for me to completely undermine the credibility of his statement that he would've hung in through an industrial record. ?But, if you look further at what he said in the book, he says that he was vehemently opposed to adding Dizzy Reed because he thought a keyboardist would dilute the band's sound while Axl felt that was an important step in the band's sonic evolution. ?He didn't even want the synth line in "Paradise City". ?If he was so vehemently opposed to adding a keyboardist that merely accompanied the band's sound without changing it, how plausible is it that he would be interested in a shift to having more elaborate keyboard accompaniment with multiple keyboards sequenced and linked through computers, thus making the keyboards more and more the focus of the band's sound? ?Take into consideration the lack of stylistic diversity in his body of work before considering that question, then answer it.

Ali

Now Ali, this is a good post.? What basically all it boils down to is that Slash and Axl never communicated thorougly.? This was evident in how their recording sessions when down, how Axl used Doug to relay messages to and from him and Slash, etc.?

It's sad when? you think about it.? Slash even says in the book that he and Axl used to have deep conversations.? And when Guns got big, that communication seemed to break down everyone in the band but mostly, Axl and Slash.

Thank you.? I feel if anything, that kind of distant, disjointed communication seems symptomatic of the growing divide between them, hell, between people in any relationship situation.? Perhaps, in this case, that is what happens when you achieve so much, so fast.? Perhaps many just view you as a cash cow, a ticket to wealth for themselves and attach themselves to you thereby creating a dividing wall between you and those you are supposed to be working with in close contact.? Perhaps that is how the divide begins and continues to grow as more and more fame and wealth is achieved.? As a consequence, you have that disjointed, indirect communication.

Perhaps it all happened so fast and so overwhelmingly that the band didn't know how to deal with it and therefore recognize the potential negative aspects of fame and wealth.? And, perhaps what happened with the band is then the inevitable outcome you are left with.

Ali

[sexkitten]

Personally, I don't care about a few mildly inaccurate dates, to me the book is the chance to experience what it was like being part of the thrill ride of that band, that captured my imaginations, many years ago.? Some real glimpses into their character, and beginnings and dissolutions of friendships.?

I don't get arguing over what specific date they played a certain gig.? Whatever.

Exactly! i enjoyed this book immensely....I don't get why everyone is dissecting it over stupid dates, etc...the story is told from his experiences and his perspective, which counts! He's an original member!

Exactly my point.? Thank you.

And as I've pointed out, I'm interested in getting the accurate story.

The stupid dates are part of GN'R history.


One of the stupid dates he got wrong was his wedding date.....





/jarmo

If he's getting dates wrong including his wedding date...I don't think he's trying to be deceptive or misleading. I think the history of gnr is important, but the book wasn't really about that.

[Ali]

Personally, I don't care about a few mildly inaccurate dates, to me the book is the chance to experience what it was like being part of the thrill ride of that band, that captured my imaginations, many years ago.? Some real glimpses into their character, and beginnings and dissolutions of friendships.?

I don't get arguing over what specific date they played a certain gig.? Whatever.

Exactly! i enjoyed this book immensely....I don't get why everyone is dissecting it over stupid dates, etc...the story is told from his experiences and his perspective, which counts! He's an original member!

Exactly my point.? Thank you.

And as I've pointed out, I'm interested in getting the accurate story.

The stupid dates are part of GN'R history.


One of the stupid dates he got wrong was his wedding date.....





/jarmo

If he's getting dates wrong including his wedding date...I don't think he's trying to be deceptive or misleading. I think the history of gnr is important, but the book wasn't really about that.

He may not be intending to misleading or deceptive, but still, it just undermines the ability of the book to stand as a factual account of much of anything.  For some, the factual inaccuracies may take away from the credibility of the book as a whole as a "setting the record" account of what happened in the demise of GN'R from Slash's perspective.

Ali

[jarmo]

If he's getting dates wrong including his wedding date...I don't think he's trying to be deceptive or misleading.

I never claimed he was.

I'm just pointing them out and correcting them.




In my opinion he's being vague and misleading about other things in the book.



Also, I guess some things he doesn't remember the specifics, other stuff maybe he remembers them as he wishes to remember them. It's only human to forget certain things.

You tend to forget things and remember others. And then you talk to somebody and realize the way you remembered it wasn't 100% true. You've forgotten parts that are vital to the story etc.


People often forget the state he was in at the time. Does anybody think he remembers exactly what happened, how he felt, what others had said/done and so on?

This was like 15-20 years ago.


You can always look at itineraries and pictures, and write based on that.





/jarmo

[SpiritDave]

You don't want to mention hating Sweet Child O' Mine for years and then try to tell me you're flexible.
/jarmo

That makes no sense .... you just expressed WHY he's flexible.  He's many times said he hated the song because he didn't think it fit with the whole feel of the band ... right?  That we agree on.  However ... you're saying he's talking crap about being flexible.  What?  By hating the song, and still playing it every gig ... doesn't that prove he IS flexible?   Yep.

One last thing.  I've seen many interviews in recent times stating that while he hated SCOM, he doesn't anymore...

[SpiritDave]

Of course ... one thing hardly anyone wants to mention about this is that Slash did use notes and diarys etc that he wrote back in the day, to get info that he'd been misty on ... so he could refresh his memory.

[Bobarcord]

Of course ... one thing hardly anyone wants to mention about this is that Slash did use notes and diarys etc that he wrote back in the day, to get info that he'd been misty on ... so he could refresh his memory.

Which would have done a lot of good if he wrote them while he was high and out of his mind.

[ibelieveinaxl]

Of course ... one thing hardly anyone wants to mention about this is that Slash did use notes and diarys etc that he wrote back in the day, to get info that he'd been misty on ... so he could refresh his memory.

Which would have done a lot of good if he wrote them while he was high and out of his mind.

actually, one's inhibitions are loosened when high/drunk and the real feelings and emotions do come out.....

[jarmo]

You don't want to mention hating Sweet Child O' Mine for years and then try to tell me you're flexible.
/jarmo

That makes no sense .... you just expressed WHY he's flexible.  He's many times said he hated the song because he didn't think it fit with the whole feel of the band ... right?  That we agree on.  However ... you're saying he's talking crap about being flexible.  What?  By hating the song, and still playing it every gig ... doesn't that prove he IS flexible?   Yep.

He doesn't even mention it in the book....

In fact, he never had any issues with any songs if you believe the book. Except maybe the lyrics in One In A Million.

He must've loved My World back when it came out?



Sure, if you wanna defend Slash, you can say that he's flexible for playing a huge international hit he hated, live every night.


The actual point I was trying to make, that got lost while you're defending Slash, is that he doesn't mention that little nugget of info.

Now, if you the reader read "I didn't want to record this song because I hated it" in the chapter about the recording of AFD and then skip ten years forward in time and read "I would record anything! Any style!". Maybe you'd think "wait a minute".

The point remains, he doesn't have any issues with any GN'R songs or styles.

Yet, look at what he put out with Snakepit. Hardly a huge departure is it?

The flexible guy brought in those songs and basically wanted it to be the next GN'R record.


Also, he didn't want Dizzy in the band because he didn't think it fit the band.



Maybe to you he comes across as the guy who's ready to try anything and comes up with all these new ideas?

One last thing.  I've seen many interviews in recent times stating that while he hated SCOM, he doesn't anymore...

Yeah, he changed his mind about the song. But is his initial opinion mentioned in the book?

Of course ... one thing hardly anyone wants to mention about this is that Slash did use notes and diarys etc that he wrote back in the day, to get info that he'd been misty on ... so he could refresh his memory.

He wrote diaries?

How come he still got shit wrong then?


Did he write in his diary in October 1991: "Dear diary, today in October 1992 I got married. It was fun!"?




/jarmo

[Bobarcord]

Of course ... one thing hardly anyone wants to mention about this is that Slash did use notes and diarys etc that he wrote back in the day, to get info that he'd been misty on ... so he could refresh his memory.

Which would have done a lot of good if he wrote them while he was high and out of his mind.

actually, one's inhibitions are loosened when high/drunk and the real feelings and emotions do come out.....

And it could also work the other way.

[SpiritDave]

Jarmo ...

1) I didn't defend ... only stated fact.
2) The diaries etc are things he went to when he wasn't sure of something.
3) If you're talking about an October date in 91 and 92 being in dispute... you ever considered typo?