Last of the Giants: The True Story of Guns N' Roses

There are a number of biographies I have been waiting for of singers and bands I grew up with, such as Madonna - still waiting, Whitesnake - just published and got at Xmas and many more - but mostly GNR. During the late 80s and early 90s there was an amazing rock club in Brighton - 'The Hungry Years' where I went and certain tracks filled the dance floor such as 'Welcome to the Jungle', 'Paradise City' or my favorite song of all time 'Sweet Child of Mine' was played in the club with 300 people 'headbanging' and 'air guitaring' as one. Unfortunately those days have long gone, but Mick's outstanding book has taken me back to those days and reminded me why I loved the songs, why I bought the tapes and CDs, the emotions I felt each time a GNR song was played on the radio, in the club or in my car - but mostly the mystic of the band - in the days before the internet, the information came from 'Kerrang' and 'Headbangers Ball', or the newspaper - so you had to wait for the next excess of the band and search for it. 'Last of the Giants' covers all those stories and so many more in what I perceive as balanced and fair representation of the band, the good, the bad, the selfish, the very selfish, the (avoidable??) destruction, the hypercritical and the madness of GNR. I read the book in a few days and just sad it has ended, but it was a brilliant reminder of what a rock band should be. If you buy one biography this year, and particularly if you grew up in the hay day of GNR whether you loved, hated or were indifferent to them this is a fantastic insight into 30 years of rock n roll - hope you enjoy as much as I did

Gives a comprehensive background on the history of Gn'R, their relationships with each other and their other work colleagues. The struggles and triumphs individually and as a band, coming up to present time. They really are the last of the giants.

This is a fantastic book ! I have been a fan of GNR on and off through the Appetite era as a kid and the Use your illusions albums as a young teenager. I never made it to see them live but their music was always just there lingering in the background. As any fan knows GNR songs are timeless and just get better the more you hear them. Ive never been the biggest of readers until i got a kindle for fathers day and started to look for books that interested me, I found Bruce Dickinsons autobiography and then Black sabbath by Mick Wall and then i was hooked ! This GNR book was next on my list and i am so glad it was as Mick took me on a journey back to the 80s and i felt like i was right there on the Hollywood strip with the Guns as they become the biggest,unrivalled rock band the world has ever known! Mick has done a truly astonishing job writing this book the details are just amazing and covers everything you need to know following the bands career paths and what a life its been for all involved. I will spare you any details as i want you to find them all for yourself right here in this awesome book. I finished reading it a few weeks ago but like the Guns N Roses story it will be alive forever and it will never end. Im so grateful to Mick for writing this book it has rekindled my flame for the band and brought back so many memories listening to guns in my youth. Happy reading guys !

Such was the power and pull of Mick Wall's writing, I simply could not put this down. Whether you're a hardened G n' R nut or merely have a passing interest in learning more about one of the most influential and complex bands in history, the warmth, style and ultimately satisfying style that Wall writes in is genuinely engrossing. Thoroughly entertaining from start to finish and highly recommended.

3 out of 5 stars? why only 3?well - firstly, this is not a bad book at all, Mick Wall is a great music journalist and the book is exhaustive and well written. Trouble is, it simply makes me lose respect for GNR in every way. When i was a kid, GNR were indeed 'Giants' - but if Wall is to believed, (and as others confirm) Axl, or 'the Ayatollah' as the rest of the band referred to him, was an A-class a-hole and broke up the band due to his demanding, dictatorial and flaky behaviour. the story of GNR is not s happy one - essentially it's a story of early brilliance - (majority of the songs for Appetite and Illusion were written before the band were signed by Geffen), and essentially the period until 95 was simply one 5 musicans, who basically tolerated each other, massive alcohol, drug use, becoming more isolated from each other, until they simply realised they were not together.Of course, you can see my view here - GNR as a band essentially finished in 95 when the last founder member (of course, aside from Rose himself) quit because there was no heart of the band. If you are a huge GNR fan (like i... was as a kid) then it's a difficult book to take.Wall does a great job, but....Its sometimes difficult to separate your love of the music from your opinions of the musicians themselves. When i was a kid, they were my heroes. This book sort of takes that away.... :(

Great book. I'm not a GnR fan , and I loved it. If you like rock music , and rock music books. I guarantee that you'll enjoy this . Up there with The Dirt . Mick wall is great, I need to check out his other books.

I was only ever a fan up to and including the Use Your Illusion albums and this book had a great over-arching look at this great band. I skipped a lot towards the end, as i was not as interested in post Guns story but enjoyed the writing a lot.

I finished this book on my train journey home tonight. I absolutely loved it. I thought i knew the story but there was a lot of detail here that I wasn't aware of in the past. One or two factual errors (Velvet revolver were not at the SECC when Weiland announced it was their last show...it was the o2 Academy. I was there and the early AC/DC cover was "whole lotta rosie" and not "whole lotta love")But these and one or two other errors did not distract from my overall enjoyment of the book. Highly recommend this to anyone with an interest in rock music, anyone who wants an insight into what the music industry once was, and any fans of biography/real life stories.Truth is stranger than fictionWell done Mick Wall

Un libro interesante, para conocer las interioridades del grupo. No trata el tema creativo o musical, sino todo lo demás. Aún así, necesario para entender la historia de G’n’R

Thrilling book, especially the first two thirds. Very well written and researched. Only a minor negative: towards the end, everything seemed a bit "rushed" and fast forwarded, but due to the development of the band, still sort of authentic (if nothing happens, what can you write?). All the coincidences, childhoods and mishaps have been written in a nailbiting way. Fair price too! I will read this again and again and surely other books by Mick Wall also.

"Mick Wall of Kerang" writing a Guns N' Roses bio in 2016? It sounded like another nasty hatchet job, especially given his rocky past with The Most Dangerous Band In The World. But this is great, unbiased rock n' roll writing. And the last couple of pages says it all.Well worth the read.

Bello

Very will written and informative. Learned a lot of things I didn’t know, also some repetition form stories told in magazine interviews. Great book. Thoroughly enjoyed it.