Saul was just 14 when he wrote and illustrated the following letter to Michelle Young — an ex-girlfriend who had just recently ended their relationship and, in a previous letter, blamed the decision on Saul’s unending talk of his guitar. The guitar obsession never ended and Saul soon became Slash, one of the world’s most admired guitarists and member of Guns N’ Roses, whilst Michelle stayed in the picture and after dating Axl Rose in the mid-80s became the subject of My Michelle, a song that frankly spoke of her drug-fuelled lifestyle, her father’s career in “porno” and her mother’s death.

Incidentally, the Starwood Club closed down two years later. Quiet Riot, however, went on to huge success and released an album in 1983 that topped the U.S. charts; unheard of for a heavy metal band.

Transcript follows.

(Source: Jeff at Hard Rock Memorabilia; Image of Slash in his youth via.)

Transcript

Tuesday Oct. 2. 79 Dear Michele, Your letter scared me, upon first glance, I hadn’t any idea what it was about, but when you told me, it struck in a strange way, I hadn’t any idea that I talked about my guitar so often, I’m going to have to change that, no matter who I talk to. It’s a drag that it screwed up our relationship, you should have told me sooner, but I don’t think that’s the only reason, you just don’t like me that much, and I can see why, because I’m a hard person to get along with at times. But any I’m glad we got that straight, thank you for not lying to me. To get off the subject, you look really nice today, you get prettier & prettier every day. My weekend was pretty good. Steve came by and we went to a couple parties, and we went to the Starwood, I spent pretty much of my weekend on cloud 9 if you know what I mean. I had never been in the Starwood before, like, we hung around outside, but I’ve never been inside. It’s not such a hot place, I mean the Bands are alright, the girls are pretty (I still think you cuter than any of the girls there) the drugs are cool but it’s not a place I would want to waste my life at. The most exciting part of the night was, a guy mouthed off to this black guy, and the black got a hundred friends and chased him around all Hollywood. It’s a pretty crazy place. I’m going there next week to see Quiet Riot, because I hear there pretty good. One of these days I’ll play there. Love you Saul [PIC] HAVE A NICE DAY [PIC] This leaf was perfect untill I put the fucking lines in it