Slash Explains Why He Isn’t Interested In Reading Other Rock Biographies

Just because Slash has written an autobiography on his life doesn’t imply he’s interested in reading about other people’s lives. The guitar legend hinted as much in an interview with Barbara Caserta for Italy’s Linea Rock.

Although the guitarist confesses that he enjoys reading about rock ‘n’ roll, he is less enthusiastic with biographies of specific musicians. “To tell you the truth, I don’t read rock and roll books. I’ve read a book about national artists, and I’ve read books about rock and roll, but I’ve never read anybody else’s… Well, I read the Jim Morrison one, and I read the most recent Joe Perry one, but for the most part, I stay away from autobiographies,” says the guitarist, the guitarist, says.

“A lot of it is because I know people — I know the people that wrote them — and it feels like spying on them. [Laughs] It’s like following people on their Instagram; if you know them, it feels like spying,” he explains.

He goes on to add, “I also used to think that rock and roll books were 75 percent bullshit too, and I didn’t want to get into… ‘Cause autobiographies are largely written by other people, or biographies are totally written by other people, so it’s their own fantasy that they’re sort of building up in these books. That sort of inspired me to write my book myself and not rely too much on a ghostwriter — to be as honest as possible. So they inspired me in that way.”

With his memoir Slash, In the years after that book, which he authored to clear the air on parts of his time with Guns N’ Roses, he has rejoined with Axl Rose and Duff McKagan in the band’s current lineup. Slash’s solo career has continued, with his fourth album with Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators, 4, set for release on February 11th.