What a dissapointment it was. First of all, I felt like Slash took Anthony Kiedis's Scar Tissue and rewrote it - he only changed the names and made it 10 times worse. Then I changed my mind because Anthony focused mostly on drugs and selfanalysis, and Slash - on music. You would think it's good, but it's not. It's just simply BORING. I was reading it and reading and it was such a struggle. The thing is, it's not written well. It's just one fact after another, nothing to make it interesting. I didn't get to know anything about Slash. The only thing I know after reading it is that 'Axl is an asshole'. That's it. This sentence is also a great summary of this book. I jumped at the opportunity to see Slash performing live with Kings of Chaos in Cape Town last year and it stands as one of the greatest concerts I’ve been to (my wife and I were right there in the front).

He discusses his reasons for leaving the band, what he did after leaving, the other projects he worked on between leaving Guns N' Roses and the formation of Velvet Revolver, and the drama surrounding that band, and everything in between. I learned more about booze and drugs in this book than watching a documentary on the History Channel. Damn. It would actually be unfair to leave it at that. Yes, there is the debauchery, the indifference to your own health, and the natural musical gift. But this is not all that we can learn about Slash from his biography. There is an important thing missing. And it is this:If you're expecting a memoir of drug addiction, you may be disappointed. Not to say that there isn't drug use here - there certainly is, including one memorable anecdote where Slash finds himself running naked across a golf course, pursued by little monsters only he can see. But he doesn't go into much more detail than is necessary, and his main focus in the book is the music. A doctor installed a defibrillator in my heart when I was 35. Fifteen years of over-drinking and drug abuse had swollen that organ to one stop short of exploding. When I was finally hospitalized, they told me I had six days to six weeks to live. (p VIII) Slash calls the Epiphone the first “good acoustic” he ever took ownership of, and he received it in a moment of goodwill. “When I was 15, I would do some babysitting, and this one kid I babysat for, his parents had it hanging on the wall next to a mandolin,” he recalls. “I asked them, ‘Can I play it while the kid’s sleeping?’ I was still playing it when they got home, and they actually ended up giving it to me.” It’s been a blast working with Gibson to create a platform for me to talk about my favorite thing, guitars,” says Slash. “This book is a great exposé of all the great guitars I’ve collected over many years.”

No one expects the rug to be yanked out from underneath them; life-changing events usually don’t announce themselves. While instinct and intuition can help provide some warning signs, they can do little to prepare you for the feeling of rootlessness that follows when fate flips your world upside down." Slash's mom had an affair with David Bowie and since it was the 70ies Bowie brought his wife and son along when he met up with her. Slash also explains how he dealt with and overcame the harsh chains of addiction, and his many close calls with death because of heroin, cocaine, pills, alcohol, and more. There's this line in Bull Durham where Kevin Costner's character tells Tim Robbins's character, "You got a gift. When you were a baby, the Gods reached down and turned your right arm into a thunderbolt." A lot of the point of this movie is that while the young pitcher has been blessed with incredible talent (and is also, being played by baby Tim Robbins, very sexy), it's the seasoned but mediocre career minor league journeyman Crash Davis who's the leading man with the depth (and sexiness, despite being played by Kevin Costner who is, outside of this role, completely gross and unsexy) to fascinate Susan Sarandon's incomparable Annie Savoy. In the movie Ebby Calvin LaLoosh is this kind of silly dude whose right arm is a thunderbolt, and that talent is fascinating but it doesn't mean he is. I noodle with the guitar a bit and I would have liked some more insight into Slash’s technique and approach, but he steers well clear of this kind of thing (for the most part), opting to focus on the lifestyle and the people involved instead. The book is sordid and tragic and funny and a whole lot of other things, but it provides a great snapshot of the musical scene at the time of what Slash refers to as the Guns ‘n Roses Reign of Terror, i.e. the 80s and very early 90s. Something else that fans will want to read is the depiction of events leading up to the end of Slash’s tenure with the band, and the issues with Axl Rose.

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The Collection: Slash Deluxe edition is presented in a Les Paul slipcase and measures 240 x 340 mm (9.45 x 13.39”). It includes a cover poster, four guitar art prints, and a certificate of authenticity. The initial print run of the Deluxe edition is hand-signed by SLASH and is limited to 1,000 copies worldwide. Explore The Collection: Slash Deluxe edition. Above (L-R): The Collection: Slash Custom, Deluxe, and Standard editions. Slash was a kleptomaniac who stole his favorite bands' entire catalogs on cassette tapes. He also stole snakes by coiling them around his arm and just brazenly walking out the store. The first top hat he got was also stolen. Weirdly enough he only got caught once (being underage they let him go).

I used to be a HUGE Guns-N-Roses fan. I even spent a couple hundred once to see them live (and then Axel cancelled the concert!(. But I have always been a fan and always loved their music. Estranged is one of my all time favorite songs by anyone. My wife, Perla, [...] had the record company remake me platinum copies of all of my records. She hung them on the wall leading up the stairs in our house. I think they lasted a week; they drove me so nuts I took them down one night and put them in storage. I don't need accolades on the wall to remind me who I am. (p 215) I've always had to do things my way; I play guitar my way; I've taken myself to the edges of life my way; I've gotten clean my way; And I'm still here. Whether or not I deserve to be is another story." - Slash I have to believe the pitch to the Harper Collin publishing house went something like this: Tommy Lee "wrote" two books, I am sober an average of 5% of the time these days, Scott Weiland is a mess again, and Axl is still working on Chinese democracy somehwere . . . so yeah, I want to write a book. What's that, you say you love the idea? Great. Make sure the ghost writer likes to drink. Oh yeah, and about the money . . . . Born in the UK, in Stoke of all places, Slash grew up in LA and was a decent BMX rider. He started playing the guitar and hung out a lot with Steve Adler, the two later hooking up with Axl, Izzy and Duff to form Guns N´Roses. Never steady and reliable, most members drunk, stoned, junkies or all three, the band made a blistering album and a couple of other decent ones, and collapsed after a few record-breaking years of touring during which they became famous for going on late. Slash got himself together and formed Slash´s Snakepit and, later, Velvet Revolver, and at the time of writing is touring the world with a reformed Guns N´Roses.

The tone of the book is neither boastful nor repentant. Slash tells it like it is, without false modesty. I appreciated the shooting-from-the-hip approach, except possibly for one thing, namely the peer-bashing (It comes across as slightly narcissistic when “every other band is rubbish and hateful except us”). Taking into account, however, the nature of the L.A. scene at the time, and the larger-than-life personalities involved, it probably shouldn’t be surprising that there would be some bad blood. Launching Gibson Publishing in partnership with Slash for our debut book The Collection: Slash marks an important milestone for all of us at Gibson Brands,” says Cesar Gueikian, Brand President of Gibson Brands. “We continue to leverage our iconic past and lean into the future creating more opportunities for music fans around the world to experience original storytelling. With Gibson TV, Gibson Records, and now Gibson Publishing, we are organically growing our own media platform that continues to create compelling original content. I am proud of what our media team led by Beth Heidt, Mark Agnesi, Todd Harapiak, Lee Bartram, and Chris Vinnicombe have accomplished together with the extended team. And I am grateful to Slash and his team’s partnership for our debut publication.”