Here Today... Gone To Hell!

Lonn Friend, the former editor of RIP magazine and former editor-in-chief of KNAC.COM, will be the returning special guest of the Junkman on KNAC.COM Monday, November 20 at 3:00 p.m. PST. Friend will be discussing his book "Life On Planet Rock" as well as his days as the editor-in-chief at KNAC.COM and his current plans. You can listen to the interview on www.knac.com and log into the chatroom to post questions for Friend to answer.

As executive editor of the seminal rock magazine RIP from 1987 to its demise in 1994, Friend found himself at the very center of the music scene during one of its most prolific, profligate, and prosperous times. Bands with bad-boy attitudes, big hair, and an even bigger sound GUNS N' ROSES, METALLICA, OZZY OSBOURNE, M?TLEY CR?E, WHITESNAKE, and MEGADETH ruled the charts, but the period also saw the birth of the Seattle-based grunge movement and meteoric rise of bands such as PEARL JAM and NIRVANA, whose multi-platinum 1991 release "Nevermind" effectively sounded the death knoll for the hair-metal era. From his privileged perch within the eye of the hurricane, Friend chronicled in the pages of RIP the successive waves of change that rocked the music universe, offering the world one of the greatest runs in the history of music writing, rivaling the best work of Lester Bangs and Cameron Crowe.

Now, in "Life On Planet Rock - From Guns N Roses to Nirvana, a Backstage Journey through Rock's Most Debauched Decade" (July 11, 2006; Morgan Road Books; Trade Paperback Original; $14.00), Friend provides readers with the ultimate all-access pass, one that takes them backstage, into the recording studios and luxury hotel suites, and onto the tour bus with some of the biggest stars in rock's storied history. Candidly recounting his adventures, friendships, and occasional run-ins with figures ranging from Alice Cooper to Axl Rose, from Slash to Gene Simmons, from Kurt Cobain to Steven Tyler, and from Jon Bon Jovi to James Hetfield, Friend paints a vivid, you-are-there portrait of an era of unbridled excess and shares the personal story of one fan s struggle to navigate the treacherous world of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll while keeping his sense of self and his soul intact.

Read an excerpt from the book at this location. http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780767922081&view=excerpt

I've read his book. Pretty good stuff. Nothing too earth-shattering about GNR though.

Wonder if he'll have any new insight into Chinese Democracy.

I read the book as well.  I enjoyed it and highly recommend it.

Friend seems to be one of the better "classic rock" journalists out there.  I've read some of his stuff and he generally plays fair and avoids a lot of the stereotyping that gets dropped on bands by more mainstream media.  I'll have to check this book out.  : ok:

just mentioning kurt gives me a wierd feeling in my stoumach right now.maybe too much alcohol among other things.but just wierd .someone said to me tonight again kurt was murdered.i feel really dizzy an sick right now at the thought.