Watch You Bleed : The Saga of Guns N' Roses

9781592403776
1-59240-377-8

From the "New York Times" bestselling author, the complete story of the last rock supergroupa from their drugfueled blast-off in the 1980s to the turbulent life of legendary singer Axl Rose and his fifteen-year,.

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multi-million dollar effort to make the perfect hardrock album. With 90 million of the bandas records sold worldwide since 1987, Guns Na Roses prolonged rock music past its sell-by date with controversial albums and immense, often riotous world tours. But the bandas complete story has never been fully toldauntil now. In his sixth major rock biography, Stephen Davis details the riveting story of a band that originated in the gutters of Sunset Strip and went on to set attendance records on the biggest stadiums on the planet. "Watch You Bleed" documents the improbable story of W. Axl Rose, the biggest rock star of his generation. Taken from an abusive father in his infancy, he was raised as aBill Baileya in a strictly religious Indiana household by a stepfather who beat him for playing Led Zeppelin songs on the family piano. After quitting high school, and on the run from the police in his hometown, Axl arrived in Los Angeles in the midst of the street battles for supremacy among the top music genres of the eightiesapost-punk, thrash, hair metal, and glam. The book also charts the backgrounds of every band member, especially Slash, a Hollywood street kid whose designer mother dated David Bowie. Davis brilliantly captures the birth of Gunsa raw power, whichadespite rape charges, drug-induced rampages, and a general appetite for destructiona launched the band into the pantheon of rock gods such as Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones. With a wealth of detail, Davis looks at Axlas unrelenting quest to release the long-awaited, mystery-shrouded "Chinese Democracy" album, as well as the further adventures of some of the Gunners under the banner of the hard-rocking band Velvet Revolver. For the first time, millions of Guns Na Roses fans will learn the whole truthasometimes funny, sometimes tragicaabout the last of the great rock bands.