Magnum Opus

By 1993, Guns N' Roses had hit practically every benchmark possible for a rock n' roll band. Their eight-year journey included an explosive and game-changing debut record, a self-indulgent but even more successful double album release, a handful of raucous global tours, and various front page controversies over their lyrics, drug addictions, and lead singer Axl Rose's rattlesnake temper. The most captivating part of the Guns N' Roses story was just beginning, however. A 15-year saga was about to unfold over the creation of the group's sixth studio album, a perverse and jaw-dropping tale that would come to involve not only a small nation of diverse musical talent but also several figures from the world of professional sports, a multinational soda company, the estate of Martin Luther King, Jr, and the FBI. In the end, cultural critics couldn't agree if the resulting work was unprecedented genius or a crime of mediocrity. Magnum Opus: The Unbelievable 15 Year Saga of Guns N' Roses' Chinese Democracy recounts in engaging depth and detail the long and often ludicrous road to the last mythic rock n' roll album of the 20th Century. Of course, Chinese Democracy was not released until well into the 21st Century, and Magnum Opus assembles all the outrageous facts from as many direct sources as possible and places them in a thrilling narrative spanning our millennia. Rock n' roll die-hards can finally separate the truth about Chinese Democracy from the GNR lies.