If ever there was a band whose story was going to jump right off the page larger than life, especially with last year’s latest twist in the tale, it would have to be the Gunners. As a subject they are of course the perfect band – still touring, remarkably all still alive and still in the news.
Mick Wall has written some great Rock bios over the years but its his familiarity and connection to the Gunners that makes what could well just be another rehash of the largely well-known facts remarkably fresh and even personal at times.
Wall tells it like it is, warts and all, and his portraits of the various members, while they might seem skewed in one direction or the other are all largely faithful to how the world perceives them to be. The interesting part is that he both looks at the band that was and the band today and its clear that no party really survived the initial craziness intact, whether band members, management or hangers on.
Sure all the sleaze and scandal is detailed and there are even some parts I’d either never heard before or forgot over the years – the most impressive of many stories for me though has to be the one about getting Axl to the Rolling Stones support show in L.A. it’s part farce, part desperation and a piece of great theatre if ever they make the movie!
Pitched squarely at fans the book does the job nicely rekindling memories of times that will probably never be seen ever again, more than that though it reminds you of a time when the big news wasn’t saturated by celebrities telling you what they’re eating or videos of kittens. It’s of course also a reminder of a pre-internet era where news was slow but far, far better written. It does make you wonder if a story like this could ever unfold in public in these PC-saturated times.
The title too is very apt of course these days where music has been devalued by technology and having a number one record wouldn’t have gotten you in the charts in the 80’s. Will we ever have a giant Rock band again when today all of the big stars take mediocrity and homogeny to new heights.
Guns N’ Roses were of course the biggest band in the world and in 2017 their partial reformation is huge as ever.The irony of course is that both the mainstream media and the highbrow press hate rock bands, always have, always will and yet they still continue to dominate the world of touring year in year out.
This is a great read, a tale of excess, a tale of great heights and stunning lows, but all the players are still here, still on the board, and… with events of last year there is even a sort of happy ending.
Guns N’ Roses is touring Australia in February 2017- its might not quite be 1987 but 30 years on it’s gonna be a blast.
