Writer Pete Makowski's lost GN'R movie Info

[Guest]

There have been a metric fuckton of scrapped documentarys on the band over the years.
But this is all I ever found out about this one, does anyone know more about it?

 

The Lost GN'R movie

When Guns N' Roses first hit London, writer Pete Makowski was roped into making a documentary of the band...

The following is a piece from Classic Rock magazine ( UK APRIL 2005 ISSUE 78 )

 

London, June 1987. Slash is on the phone. “Please don't give Izzy any heroin!” He says. Hell not only does my reputation precede me, it's walking in front of me. Blowing a great big frigging trumpet. Of course I wasn't going to givre Izzy any class A's, I was a full blown addict who didn't share his wares with anyone. Guns N' Roses had just arrived on the scene,and to my addled mind, along with Janes Addiction they were the only American group that had any vauge individuality, energy or style, and the opertunity to check them out even roused me from an opiated stupor.

In London to promote the single It's So Easy and with a series of dates at the Marquee, I met the band at a record company apartment in High Street Kensington. They were hung over and jet lagged. An incredibly skinny and pale Duff was hunched over a microwave, trying to figure out how to make a ready meal. In the living room the curtains were drawn and Indian scarves were draped over the lights: It looked like the boys had been to the Steven Tyler school of interior design. Both Slash and Izzy had already refined their image - raggle taggle electric gypsies with cigarettes permanently hanging off lips that sneered and pouted simultaneously.
Steven Adler was an archetypal drummer - sociable and dopey while a permanently restless Axl shuffled about the kitchen with a giant banner above his head that proclaimed ' I am uncomfortable in my own skin'. A lovely man, but one totally ill-at-ease with himself.

After a pretty disjointed and incomplete interview, I agreed to hook up with Izzy Stradlin later. Izzy was the most grounded member of the band and a total anglophile.
"Coming to England is a dream come true for the band," Izzy revealed " A lot of our influences are British. It'd be great if we could record this visit on film"
At the time I was residing at a squat in Clapham with some very enterprising people, One of whom happened to have 'liberated' a video recorder during the poll tax riots. I immediately offered my services as film director and presenter to Izzy, who seemed quite enthused with the idea. "Let me tell the rest of the band," he said. "I can't see there being any problems."

Now it seems hard to believe, bearing in mind Axl's reputation as a control freak, but they actually agreed to the idea - while making it perfectly clear that it was made for private consumption and not general release. And that's how I ended up outside the Marquee on Sunday, June 28 with microphone, accompanied by camera man Og and producer Victor (well, when I say 'producer' he did actually 'procure' the camera in the first place!).
The crowd were well lubricated and looked like demented future members of Dogs D'Amour. There was aggression and testosterone in the air, even with the women.

We interviewed the crowd and then filmed the band rehearsing and hanging out. By the time Guns N' Roses hit the stage, the crowd went crazy even though it was quite likely that most of them hadn't heard a note by the band. The audience and group seemed to melt into each other. In It Ain't Easy you could hear echoes of what was to come out of Seattle and bury the group a few years later. It's easy to forget what a hard-core, ass kicking band they were. In fact, Velvet Revolver sound like what Guns N' Roses could and should have become...

Our piece of cinema verite was recorded and duly handed over to the band and management. We were promised a viewing but it never transpired. In fact, we never saw the film again. So what was on it? Well apart from the crowd, group rehearsals and general musical malarkey, there's a great scene where my good friend Roger turns up with an absolutely stunning French girl only to be informed that I can only get one person into the show.
"Oh well, au revoir Roger, mon cheri," sighs the Galic beauty as she totters off, all high heels and mini skirt... Before heading in the general direction of the dressing room. With our chins on the floor, we dragged our beaten and bloodied torsos to the pub next door, as the next generation of rock'n'rollers proceed to conquer an unsuspecting planet.

[MCollins]

Interesting read. I'm sure I've read it before somewhere, probably the orginal article. I don't like it when he says the friend got the video camera in the Poll Tax riots though. They weren't til 3 years later. I find it hard to trust anything else in stories when you read inaccuracies such as those because it measn they're blatantly made up and embellished, not because someone's got a dodgy memory. And how would it even be possible if it was supposedly written in 1987 in the first place?

I don't see why Axl should seem like a man uncomfortable in his own skin. He always seemed incredibly self-assured in interviews at that time. And what is "It ain't easy" supposed to be? It's so Easy?

[Annabelle]

Well let’s believe it’s true, that’s just more reason for us to go nuts over unseen/unheard stuff. 

Typical day in the life on a gnr fan.

[janrichmond]

Never heard of this, but the poll tax riots were in 1990 and why would Slash say not to give Izzy heroin? Also the scene described outside the Marquee doesn't ring true. It was a normal night outside, no different to any other gig there.

[DieselDaisy]

He might be getting the Poll Tax riots mixed up with the Brixton Riots.

[bigpoop]

Marquee '87 soundcheck?   I must see this.

 

 

 

[IncitingChaos]

I don’t like when anyone says Grunge buried gnr. They buried themselves

[MYWIFEMYLIFE]

2 hours ago, IncitingChaos said:

I don’t like when anyone says Grunge buried gnr. They buried themselves

Lemme see, staley, cornell, cobain. Buried.

AFD five is well and alive and kicking worldwide ass.

Who's buried?  

[bigpoop]

4 minutes ago, MYWIFEMYLIFE said:

Lemme see, staley, cornell, cobain. Buried.

AFD five is well and alive and kicking worldwide ass.

Who's buried?  

That's pretty fucked up.

[ludurigan]

wow those rehearsals might be PURE GOLD

[Ratam]

4 hours ago, IncitingChaos said:

I don’t like when anyone says Grunge buried gnr. They buried themselves

Yes, is lazy thought, the easy route, repeat on and on...

[IncitingChaos]

10 minutes ago, Ratam said:

Yes, is lazy thought, the easy route, repeat on and on...

It’s one of the most repeated music revisionist ideas. Truth is Nirvana’s second album dropped, GNR were selling out stadiums, but regardless of Grunge, GNR would have continued to be larger than life. They reached that Rolling Stone, Queen, ACDC, Led Zeppelin status. If they were going to put on a show you wanted to be there. And for the most part history has kept GNR in that category but every now and then this message that they were buried by a grunge movement comes along and it gets repeated too often as fact. 

It would be like saying grunge was buried by boy bands. Grunge got buried by repetitive music and their “hate” for being famous and not “underground” they were full of shit and it didn’t take long for people to see that. 

[Guest]

As many of you have pointed out there are problems with the poll tax riot dates & other things that make this seem dodgy.

Only posted it because this piece in classic rock is all I ever heard about it, that in it's self could mean it's BS

 

[wasted]

The thing is we’ll never know bcos they didn’t do Snakepit as Guns to fit in with grunge, or release UYI 3 or try to make something different. They did put out Spag incident in

the grunge era and it didn’t really set the world on fire. 

I look at Pearl Jam who have been around forever but they don’t get the attention Guns do. If they had disappeared after Vs then they’d probably have s big reunion tour of their hits now. 

[Ratam]

10 hours ago, IncitingChaos said:

It’s one of the most repeated music revisionist ideas. Truth is Nirvana’s second album dropped, GNR were selling out stadiums, but regardless of Grunge, GNR would have continued to be larger than life. They reached that Rolling Stone, Queen, ACDC, Led Zeppelin status. If they were going to put on a show you wanted to be there. And for the most part history has kept GNR in that category but every now and then this message that they were buried by a grunge movement comes along and it gets repeated too often as fact. 

It would be like saying grunge was buried by boy bands. Grunge got buried by repetitive music and their “hate” for being famous and not “underground” they were full of shit and it didn’t take long for people to see that. 

Absolutely as you said,already i don't bother in discuss with this people this poor argument, thorought you show evidence , they continue repeat this ad infinitum.