No one really knows if Chinese
Democracy, the fabled Guns N’ Roses follow-up album, will ever really see
the light of day. In fact, democracy might break out in the real mainland China
before that happens. But one thing is for certain: no matter the extraordinary
degree of their ill-fated reunion at the MTV
Movie Awards a few years back (and make no mistake, that was awful, and not just because Slash
was subbed out for a guy named Buckethead), in their heyday in the 1980s Guns N’
Roses plain kicked ass. “Big time,” as Dick Cheney would say.

Fronted by slithery, enigmatic singer Axl Rose, they were
the epitome of all that hairspray metal bands aspired to, and then some. The
biggest group on the planet for a few short years, they sold 50 million albums
and created a hard rock sound all their own before imploding in the all-too-predictable
haze of drugs, alcohol, in-feuding and recrimination. The Guns N’ Roses DVD Collector’s Box is a two-DVD set that features
an unauthorized biography and culls together extant interview footage with band
members, close friends and industry colleagues, family members and the like, along
with a good bit of performance footage. With unpublished photographs, location
shoot footage and more, it all rounds together for a nice gift for the super-hardcore
fan that has everything… except the new material that Axl Rose won’t release.
Casual fans, though, can rest easy, waiting for the onslaught of officially sanctioned,
slightly more polished memorabilia that would no doubt accompany any official
reunion tour or project.

The first title herein is Axl Rose: The Prettiest Star, which may be the silliest, most fey
name for any sort of accompanying piece of celebratory biography I’ve ever
heard. With interviews from former manager Vicky Hamilton, guitarist Chris
Weber, Robert John and the like, this is a look back at Axl in the glam-rock
days of the ’80s, charting the deprivation and isolation of his youth, his
arrival in Los Angeles from Lafayette,
Indiana as basically a runaway and his early
escape into the drug-and-party-fueled music scene. More directly titled is Sex N’ Drugs N’ Rock N’ Roll (duh!),
which churns up some good dirt on the decidedly well-earned bad-boy reputation
of the group (Duff McKagan seems to have had a thing for public urination).
There’s not much really new here, but it’s a nice, rowdy trip down memory lane,
and a look back at a time when rock stars could be counted on to be less
eloquent and more self-destructive and devastatingly entertaining than the
leader of the free world. Ahh, those were the days…

Presented in 4:3 format on region-free discs, these titles
come packaged in their own Amray slipcases, which are in turn stored in a nice,
sealable, cardboard slipcover. Extra features are just so-so, with a trivia
section, a lengthy band quiz and an interactive discography. More framing
critical discourse would have been welcome, but hey — this ain’t academia, I
guess. You’re in the jungle, baby… C (Movies) C+ (Discs)