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List Price: $15.95 | | Publisher: Chrome Dreams
Salesrank: 1071224
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| Media: Paperback |
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Editorial Review:
The personal and musical history of Guns N' Roses is detailed in this revealing band biography. Timed to coincide with the highly anticipated release of Chinese Democracy, their first album in 10 years, this compelling account offers complete, updated information on the band's incredible past and current ambitions. New interviews with ex-band members, including lead guitarist Slash and bass player Duff, provide fresh revelations about the band's key players. Previously unpublished color photographs from the group's early days gathered from ex-members' personal collections offer an intriguing visualization of the band's past.
The Band That Time Forgot: The Complete Unauthorised Biography of Guns N' Roses Reviews:
All over the place 
2006-02-21 - This book is just what I called it, all over the place. The stories are interesting, but the scattered ideas and errors in the text make me think twice about the accuracy of facts. It was difficult to follow because the writer jumps around timelines a lot. I don't recommend it if you are really just getting into learning about the band, but if you are already a fan and pretty knowledgeable, you might get a little something out of it. Be warned, however, that the lack of chronology and scattered narrative make it a somewhat difficult read.
VERY mediocre in some areas,WAY too many typos,BUT.... 
2006-01-28 - Still worth owning if you are a Guns N' Roses fan.
Here,British journalist Paul Stenning traces the entire career and story of Guns N' Roses--one of the world's most succesful and most influential rock bands. The childhoods of Axl Rose,Slash,Izzy Stradlin,Duff McKagan,and Steven Adler and the musical influences Rose,Slash,Stradlin,McKagan,and Adler have had are both documented here,and there is some really good insight and info into the life of Axl Rose and all of what led to Rose doing some of the decadent and outrageous things that he has done in his life (there is also some "Axl Rose Psychology" in this novel,which reads in both a fascinating and shocking way). Here,you will also get to learn all about the formation of Guns N' Roses,the stuff that went on in GN'R's career and the lives of GN'R band members inside and outside of Guns N' Roses,behind the scenes stories to Guns N' Roses songs,more into what made GN'R so controversial,and there are several other interesting things in this book. While this book is mostly focused around Axl Rose (as well as Slash),some of the stories in this book that have to do with either Steven Adler,Izzy Stradlin,and/or Duff McKagan are completely fascinating (most of this book has recycled information in it,and there is not too much new info to be found here,but there is a lot of really good info in this book),and Paul Stenning also documents the whole story behind "Chinese Democracy" in this novel. I always wanted to learn more about the new line-up of Guns N' Roses,the making of "Chinese Democracy",and more on the songs that have been written for the CD(as well as the CDS' planned sequels)and if you want to know those three things(as well as everything else I mentioned in this paragraph)like I did before purchasing this book,this book has what you are looking for.
However,even though this book is very good in several areas,it is very low in some areas also. The large amount of typos in here(I didn't count them all up,but I was able to tell from reading the whole book that EVERY chapter in this book has more than five typos in it)is annoying and just plain ridiculous(there is even one part of this book where Paul Stenning uses a * but then does not say anything about what it is there for),this book does not tell enough about the post Guns N' Roses careers that Slash,Duff McKagan,Izzy Stradlin,and Steven Adler all had and the making of "Appetite For Destruction",and there is a little bit of a setback to this book. That setback is the fact that Paul Stenning is an OK,but mediocre author,so while this book does have several interesting facts in it,the several interesting facts to be found here are told a little bit poorly. Granted,the list of critiscms for this book that are mentioned above does seem long,but the good things about/in this book are all really good and are good enough for me to give this book a four star rating instead of a three star rating(believe me,I did like this book,but I can see where both the good and reviews of it are coming from).
There are actually two editions of this book available--an original version(the version I am reviewing right here)and a revised version(which you can find right here off of Amazon;it has a white cover).I would definitely say to go for the revised version--unfortunately,it fixes very little(if any)of the typos in this version of it,but it does add a new and good interesting chapter on Velvet Revolver,the new rock band that Duff McKagan,Slash,and Matt Sorum are in with former Stone Temple Pilots lead vocalist Scott Weiland and guitarist Dave Kushner,who has played in several different bands.
Despite it's faults,this is a very good book. If you know very little(or nothing)about Guns N' Roses,this book is worth both reading and owning(if you know a lot of information about GN'R and have read other GN'R books,whether or not you want to own this book is really up to you),but if you already know a lot about Guns N' Roses and knew a lot about GN'R before purchasing this book(which was my situation,although I did find a lot of facts in here about Guns N' Roses that I had not known about before I purchased this book),I still do suggest to not hesitate about buying,reading,and owning this novel,even though it does have some faults.
Chinese Democracy, the album we will never see (big surprise) 
2005-09-20 - I used to love Guns N' Roses. I doubt they themselves thought that they would turn into such a worldwide phenomena. They were part of a unique niche of metal bands with similar stories where the members all migrated to the West Coast to make it big. They indulged in sex, drugs and rock n' roll, made no bones about the fact that they weren't choir boys. Riots, fast cars and flashy women, and living on the edge were what it was all about. Appetite for Destruction was perhaps one of the greatest metal albums in history with stadium rock anthems. They were one of the monsters of rock.
And then ... it all fell apart. The music climate had changed as Seattle overtook the landscape. Troubles with the law, tensions within, stints in rehab, and a huge mess of bad choices led to their inevitable split. Axl was greedy, others were stupid, and they were all pretty immature to begin with. In this book you won't find out anything you didn't already know (or can gather if you're completly new to the material). Axl owns the Guns N' Roses name, and he pushed eveyone out of the way to get it. The others moved on to other projects, the latest being Velvet Revolver - which is not bad.
DO NOT ACCEPT THINGS IN THIS BOOK AS THE TRUTH. I say that for several reasons. The typos are just ridiculous. I'm not the best speller in the world but they could've at least run a spell check here and there, leading us to believe that they aren't that swift to begin with. They omit a few key players such as Steven Adler. He would have things to say about them no doubt. The man had a stroke he was doing so much cocaine, and what happened? Like a lot of people who hit rock bottem, the people they thought were their friends abandon them. Shows what kind of friends (let alone people) they are.
Do we miss them? Not really. We moved on and absence didn't make the heart grow fonder. We'll never see the promised Chinese Democracy, and after Axl was Botoxed until his face was pulled taught for the few public appearences he made he learned his lesson and won't be coming out of his cave for a while. This is a dramatic story, and looking back I realize they are all far better off that they aren't together anymore. They chose to self destruct without being in a band.
It's okay ...
2005-08-15 - If you know nothing about the band then bye it, otherwise most of the content of the book is just recycled information. At times I felt like I was reading the "Here Today, Gone To Hell" website. I could have finished a majority of the stories myself ... kind of like taking a peek at my girlfriend's diary. Any value to be had from the book is really just the consolidation of all the various Guns N' Roses information that's out there. Nothing ground breaking here, just a collection of what's all out on the Internet. I read it once and gave it away.
THE BOOK THAT EVERYONE SHOULD FORGET!!! 
2005-08-08 - This book is absolute trash! It contains no new information, everything is just recycled from somthing else, from the likes of rolling stone or MTV. It has no new quotes, true but trashy gossip or anything else AT ALL!!!
DONT WASTE YOUR TIME AND MONEY!!!
The author is somewhat biast aswell, to everything Axl has ever said or done in the past and present.
This book will also bore you to tears!
