W.A.R.: The Unauthorized Biography of William Axl Rose

by Mike Wall

Overview

A journalist who had unprecedented access to Guns n' Roses at their peak delivers a big, brash history of the band's charismatic, fantastically talented and idiosyncratic leader—W. Axl Rose

Even in the world of rock and roll, a figure like Axl Rose doesn't come along very often. Mercurial and brilliant, deluded and imperious, Rose defies easy description or analysis. Few people have studied Rose as closely as Mick Wall has. Traveling with Guns n' Roses and writing about them in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Wall first earned Axl's trust and later his fury.

W.A.R. goes back to the beginning, revealing Rose's childhood influences (and how he got his name), and tracking the birth of the band and their enormous success with albums like "Appetite for Destruction" and "Use Your Illusion." With fame and money came substance abuse and infighting, and a lead singer who morphed from eccentric to seemingly unhinged. Wall's book is richly detailed and offers surprising new views on some celebrated Guns 'n Roses and Axl Rose incidents, including:

--the death of two fans at a concert in Donington Park in England,

--Rose's fall-out and eventual split from every one of the other original Gn'R band members,

--fights with perceived enemies like Kurt Cobain, Motley Crue's Vince Neil and fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger,

--Rose's consistent refusal to show up at concerts throughout his career,

--Axl becoming a virtual recluse at his Malibu mansion for most of the past 15 years.

The book goes right up to the present, to explore why a new Guns n' Roses—with a reconfigured band—has toured but still hasn't released their long-awaited album "Chinese Democracy", now over a decade in the making at a cost of over $13 million. W.A.R. is about great music, bad relationships, and the public and private personas of one of the most controversial performers of our time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781429928847
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	06/04/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	408
Sales rank:	310,097
File size:	600 KB

About the Author

MICK WALL has been a rock journalist since 1977 and currently writes for Mojo, Guitar World, Classic Rock and several other newspapers and magazines around the world. He has also worked in music public relations, handling Dire Straits, Black Sabbath, The Band and Journey, among others. His books include best-selling biographies of Pearl Jam, Iron Maiden, Bono and the legendary British DJ John Peel as well as 1992's Guns N'Roses: The Most Dangerous Band in the World. He lives in England.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Guns or Knives, Motherfucker     1
One in a Million
What's So Civil About War Anyway?     17
Just a Hick on the Strip     39
Dream House in Hell     64
You're in the Jungle, Baby
Suck on This     91
War All the Time     120
Niggers, Faggots and Mr Brownstone     148
Ringside
The Red-Headed Dictator     183
Inside the Court of King Axl     219
After the War     250
Chinese Curse
Where's Slash?     285
Cold Black Cloud Comin' Down     313
Epilogue: Estranged     339
Notes and Sources     343

Editorial Reviews

If you're beginning to suspect that all too many celebrity biographies resemble one another, it's time to sample the fierce satanic outbursts of William Axl Rose. Wal Mick's unauthorized biography displays the controversial lead singer of Guns N' Roses in full brilliance and fury. Mick proves convincingly that Rose was raising hell years before he became famous shouting expletives as a heavy metal rock star. Aficionados of rock gossip will relish W.A.R.'s impressive roundup of Axl's almost innumerable feuds, including his nuclear fallouts with every other original member of his band.

You don't have to be a Guns N' Roses fanatic to dig this energetic, comprehensive, few-holds-barred portrait of modern metal's most charismatic figure.” —Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher