Annotation #6 - W.A.R.

Title: W.A.R. - The unauthorized biography of William Axl Rose
Author: Mick Wall
Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st Edition (February 5th, 2008)
Pages: 368
ISBN: 0312377673
Genre: Non-Fiction/Biography

I love Guns N Roses and I don't care who knows! As soon as I saw this book I had to have it and I actually buy very few books. William Bailey aka Axl Rose is from Lafayette, Indiana as is another original member of GNR, Jeff Isabel aka Izzy Stradlin. I grew up listening to their music and I have always followed the band. A band that was at one time labeled "The Most Dangerous Band in the World". Fights, arrests, death, drugs, and sex are all covered in this book. It is the story of a young boy in Indiana that becomes the biggest rock star in the world.

The author is Mick Wall, he has been a rock journalist since 1977 and did have unprecedented access to the band at the peak of their fame. He has written other books about Guns and Roses and other bands of the same era. There was a falling out between Axl Rose and Wall was mentioned in the song "Get in the ring".

This book is as much about the band as it was about Axl but it does have sections devoted to the infamous front man. The book mostly covers the formation of the original lineup to the breakup of Axl and Slash which for all purposes ended Guns and Roses. Rose actually owns the Guns and Roses name and has continued on after a reclusive six years after the initial split of Slash from the band. He has continues to play with others under the name Guns and Roses. This book was published just before Axl's much hyped and overdue album "Chinese Democracy" was released and includes some information about the album. An album that took over 15 years and 13 million dollars to make!

This is a good book if you do not already know much about the band. There is not a lot of new information in this book and almost all of the information is pulled from the sources listed at the back of the book. What is new is the biased opinions and comments of the author throughout the book that become old very quickly. If you followed the band or Axl you would probably know most of this information from previous stories, articles or books.

Once upon a time, Axl Rose was the biggest rock star in the world. Now he is a seen as a reclusive figure that shut himself out from the world in his mansion and rarely comes out or is seen in public for long periods of time. It is said that he is bi-polar and he has been prescribed medicine for his mental disorders. Axl Rose is a person that hast turned into more of a myth than a person. A lot of people close to Axl have said "Axl likes to do what he likes to do no matter what time of the day or night it is". When the author asked one person during the band's peak how that made him different from any other rock star, they said "You'll find out". That is what this book attempts to explain.