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

Mick Wall

Feb 2008 · Sold by St. Martin's Press

About this ebook

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.

Ratings and reviews

On stage during song "parasite city" he swings his Mic. Stand in to a full floor of people. Hitting a girl in the SKULL . in any case from my spot we assumed it was aPuker. But, why the disperace of people who are now pushed back in a circle it wasn't puke it was her brain. I was on the first level close to the stage. It was farther down to the left. He had to know what a stupid decision that was as soon as he did it. He watched it fly from his hands and hey he payed it off. I love AXL That is my music ti

Slash and axle rose are lower than a dog and a slave to sin and not worth the powder to blow there brains out.

It was OK. All I took from it was he has herpes and gave it to Stephanie Seymore

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.