Description: For die-hard fans and curious newcomers alike, this is the definitive account of how Guns N' Roses' Chinese Democracy redefined what it means to chase greatness-no matter the cost.
Brief description: JAMES GREENE, JR. has previously written three books: Brave Punk World: The International Rock Underground from Alerta Roja to Z-Off, This Music Leaves Stains: The Complete Story of The Misfits, and A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever. As a freelance writer, he has contributed to such publications as New York Press, Orlando Weekly, Crawdaddy!, and No Recess!. He lives near Ding Dong, Texas.
Review Quotes:
"Magnum Opus is a Guns N' Roses book that deserves to be in the library, for research and historical preservation purposes-a scholarly tome you reference when the internet, AI, publicity machines, and social media algorithms fail us. This is, as it should be, a political-historical study on one of the most intriguing subjects in the history of popular art: Chinese Democracy (and why we never got it, and probably never will)." --Art Tavana, Goodbye, Guns N' Roses.
"Raw and brutally honest storytelling behind Guns N' Roses' most turbulent record." --Laviea Thomas, freelance journalist "Colossal self-delusion. Olympian egos. Obscene wastes of talent, time, and money. Incessant bickering and backbiting. And that's just the part about the record label - wait till you read about what happened in the recording studios! James Greene, Jr. ably guides us through the mind-numbing 15-year slog that was Chinese Democracy. You'll laugh. You'll cry. And you'll better understand the decline of the once-mighty music industry." --Joe Gore, musician and music journalist "Greene's writing has an affectionate irony ... [It] avoids simplistic judgments but also doesn't try to mythologize the story any further. What remains is the portrait of an artist who - perhaps unknowingly - created one of the greatest cautionary tales in rock history." --ROCKS Magazine