Magnum Opus

By 1993, Guns N' Roses had hit practically every benchmark possible for a rock n' roll band.

Their eight-year journey had 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, band members' 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
fifteen-year saga was about to unfold over the creation of the group's sixth studio album,
Chinese Democracy-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 soft drink company, and the FBI. Cultural critics
couldn't agree if the resulting work was unprecedented genius or criminally mediocre.

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 a thrilling narrative
of the mishaps, detours, and near-death experiences that accompanied the long
journey to its release. Combining outrageous facts and never-before-told stories from
as many direct sources as possible, this is the definitive story of a famously troubled
album that will allow rock 'n' roll die-hards to finally separate truth from fan lore and
outright fabrications.