{"product_id":"9780826419248","title":"Guns N' Roses' Use Your Illusion I and II by Eric Weisbard","description":"It was the season of the blockbuster. Between August 12 and November 26 1991, a whole slew of acts released albums that were supposed to sell millions of copies in the run-up to Christmas. Metallica, Michael Jackson, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Garth Brooks, MC Hammer, and U2 - all were competing for the attention of the record-buying public at the same time. But perhaps the most attention-seeking act of all was Guns N' Roses. Their albums \"Use Your Illusion I \u0026amp; II\", released on the same day, were both 75-minute sprawlers with practically the same cover design - an act of colossal arrogance. On one level, it worked. The albums claimed the top two chart positions and ultimately sold 7 million copies each in the US alone. On another level, it was a disaster. This was an album that Axl Rose has been unable to follow-up in fifteen years. It signalled the end of \"Guns N' Roses\", of heavy metal on the Sunset Strip and the entire 1980s model of blockbuster pop\/rock promotion. \"Use Your Illusion\" marked the end of rock as mass culture.   In this book, Eric Weisbard shows how the album has matured into a work whose baroque excesses now have something to teach us about pop and the platforms it raises and lowers, about a man who suddenly found himself praised to the firmament for every character trait that had hitherto marked him as an irredeemable loser.\u003cbr\u003eBinding: Paperback \/ softback","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56294972653941,"sku":"9780826419248","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780826419248.jpg?v=1762766694","url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/products\/9780826419248","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}