Review: Guns N’ Roses

Guns N’ Roses
DVD Collector’s Box

Chrome Dreams
Street 01.30

This box set consists of two separate British-made documentaries – Axl Rose-The Prettiest Star, and Guns N Roses- Sex N’ Drugs N’ Rock N’ Roll. Both films are completely unauthorized, and neither of them feature any GNR music or recent band interviews. The box set is essentially two hours of still photographs mixed with clips from one early interview, and set to a generic LA metal music score. The extensive interviews promised on the slipcase are not with the band members themselves, but are chats with people close to the band (like a former photographer, the guy that did Axl’s tattoos and several scenesters and music industry workers from the mid-Eighties). Missing is any real Guns N Roses content. No behind the scenes revelations, no concert footage, and none of the classic music videos that hearken back to a time when MTV actually played music. Other than a short synopsis of the Los Angeles rock scene circa 1984, there is nothing on either of these DVDs worth seeing. Guns N Roses fans, put your wallets away, and stop waiting for the long-fabled new album Chinese Democracy to come out. Just like a real Chinese democracy, it’s never going to happen. – James Bennett