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'''Guns N' Roses''' is an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985. The band, led by frontman and co-founder Axl Rose, has gone through numerous line-up changes and controversy since its formation. Guns N' Roses has released five studio albums, two EPs, one live album, and three music video DVDs during its career
. The band is currently working on the infamous album Chinese Democracy, which has been in production for over a decade and is scheduled for release on November 23, 2008. Once released, the album will be the first original recording from Guns N' Roses since the 1991 releases of Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II.
Guns N' Roses has sold an estimated 90 million albums worldwide,
[title = All Music - Appetite for Destruction - Charts and Awards] 1991's Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II debuted on the two highest spots on the Billboard 200 and have sold a combined 14 million copies in the United States alone.
HistoryFormationThe group was formed in March 1985 by Hollywood Rose members Axl Rose (vocals), Izzy Stradlin (rhythm guitar), and L.A. Guns members Tracii Guns, Ole Beich (bass) and Rob Gardner (drums). The band created its name by combining the names of the two original groups. Its first performance took place on March 26, 1985. A short time later, guitarist Tracii Guns left the group to reform L.A. Guns and was later replaced by Slash, after Duff McKagan replaced Ole Beich. Slash had known Rose and Stradlin during a short stint in Hollywood Rose. The new line-up came together quickly, and, after Gardner quit and was replaced by Steven Adler, the band established its first stable line-up. It wasn't until June 1985, when the band members went on what they dubbed the "Hell Tour" from L.A. to Seattle, that their camaraderie as members of Guns N' Roses really solidified. According to an interview with SuicideGirls.com, Slash insists, "That to Seattle is really what cemented the band" and established its chemistry.
DiscoveryAfter witnessing a Guns N' Roses show at the Troubadour, Tom Zutaut, a Geffen Records A&R executive, falsely warned other scouts "they suck" so he could have more time and leeway to try to sign them. Axl Rose demanded, and received, a $75,000 advance from Zutaut before revealing that he had promised an A&R executive from Chrysalis that the band would sign with her if she walked naked down Sunset Boulevard. For three days, Zutaut nervously watched from his office window for a naked A&R executive before he could close the deal.
Live ?!*@ Like a SuicideBefore the first full album was ready Geffen decided to release an EP to keep the interest in the band that had to disappear from the clubs scene to work on the album. For this purpose an "independent label" Uzi Suicide Records was created by Geffen and on December 16 1986, a four song EP entitled Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide was released.
Designed to gauge public opinion of the band outside of Los Angeles, the record contained covers of Rose Tattoo's "Nice Boys" and Aerosmith's "Mama Kin", along with two original compositions: the punk anthem "Reckless Life" and the classic rock inspired "Move to the City", both of which were co-written by Hollywood Rose's founding member Chris Weber. Despite having the look and sound of a live album, band members have admitted that the tracks were actually studio recordings with a live audience overdubbed.
Only 10,000 vinyl copies of the album were produced, and even though the tracks were re-issued verbatim two years later as part of the ''GN'R Lies EP, the original Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide'' has been a valuable and sought after collector's item among fans since the late 1980s.
Appetite for Destruction, ''G N' R Lies (1987–1989)The band's first album, Appetite for Destruction was released on July 21, 1987. In the US, "Welcome to the Jungle" was issued as its first single with an accompanying music video. Initially, the album and single lingered for almost a year without performing well, but when Geffen Records founder David Geffen was asked to lend support to the band, he obliged by personally convincing MTV executives to play "Welcome to the Jungle" during their after hours rotation. Even though the video was initially only played one time at 4 a.m. on a Sunday, rock and punk fans took notice and soon began requesting the video and song en masse.
Overseas, countries were often treated to material that never saw release to the US market, and went unexposed to US fans. The original UK "Welcome to the Jungle" single was backed with a Marquee Club performance of AC/DC's "Whole Lotta Rosie" and a in single included live renditions of "It's So Easy" and the Bob Dylan classic "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" (which would later be covered by the band in the studio on Use Your Illusion II). In Japan, an entire EP entitled Live from the Jungle was issued, containing the album version of "Sweet Child o' Mine" along with a selection of numerous Marquee Club recordings.
The album underwent an artwork change after the original Robert Williams cover design (a surrealist scene in which a dagger-toothed monster vengefully attacks a robot rapist) spawned complaints from religious groups and caused some record stores to brown bag, obscure, or refuse to sell the album. The revised cover was gleaned from a tattoo that Axl Rose had recently commissioned featuring skeleton faces of the five musicians arranged on a cross. Rose later insisted that the Gold and Platinum plaques issued by the RIAA be set using the original cover. The artwork from the original cover can be found in the booklet of the CD release.
"Sweet Child o' Mine" was the album's second US single co-written by Axl Rose as a poem for his girlfriend and future wife, Erin Everly. Due to the growing grassroots success of the band and the cross-gender appeal of the tune, the song and its accompanying music video received heavy airplay on both radio and MTV, and became a smash hit during the summer of 1988. "Welcome to the Jungle" was then re-issued as a single, with new pressings of records and tapes and new artwork. The UK re-release was backed with an acoustic version of "You're Crazy", recorded much earlier than the one featured on the ''G N' R Lies EP.
By the time "Paradise City" and its video reached the airwaves, the band's touring success and fame had catapulted the album to #1 on the Billboard charts. "Welcome to the Jungle", "Sweet Child o' Mine" and "Paradise City" were all top ten singles in the U.S. To date, Appetite for Destruction has sold over 26 million copies.
Guns N' Roses began opening shows for major acts, but as their fame began to take hold, a world tour in support of Appetite for Destruction was scheduled. The band traveled across the United States, and in spring 1988 were invited to the notorious Monsters of Rock Festival at Castle Donington in Leicestershire, England, where they shared the bill with groups like KISS and Iron Maiden. At the start of the Guns N' Roses set, the capacity crowd of over 100,000 began jumping and surging forward. Despite Rose's requests that the crowd move away from the stage, two fans were trampled to death. The media largely blamed the band for the tragedy, and reported that the band had continued playing even when there were dangerous crowd conditions. In fact, the final report on the Donington incident filed by the head of security at the venue noted that the band had not been aware of the extent of fan injuries, had immediately halted their set when requested to do so, and had attempted to calm the crowd. Nonetheless, events such as these during the Appetite for Destruction tour earned the group the title of "the world's most dangerous band". In addition, the behavior of the band members also garnered negative attention from the media. Duff, Slash, Izzy and Adler were often seen intoxicated both on and off stage.
The band's next release was ''G N' R Lies in 1988, which reached #2 in the Billboard music charts. The album included the four Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide'' recordings on one side and four acoustic songs on the other. The song "One in a Million", which included the words "niggers" and "faggots" among other such profanities, led to controversy in which critics accused the band, and specifically Axl Rose, of racism and homophobia. Rose responded (in a 1990 interview with MTV) by saying the claims were unfounded, particularly considering Slash himself is half black. He went on to explain that the words were those of a protagonist and not a personal statement, and that the lyrics reflected racial and prejudicial problems within society rather than promoting them. Rose also cited that he idolized gay/bisexual singers like Freddie Mercury and Elton John. The band had played gigs alongside the all-black metal band Body Count, and lead singer Ice T wrote in his book, The Ice Opinion, that Axl had been "a victim of the press the same way I am".
Even after the release of ''GN'R Lies, Appetite for Destruction continued to be popular for the rest of 1988 and 1989, which resulted in them winning both Favorite Heavy Metal/Hard Rock Artist and Favorite Heavy Metal/Hard Rock Album (Appetite for Destruction) at the nationally televised 1990 American Music Awards, where Slash and McKagan appeared visibly intoxicated and used profanities on the air. The members finally took steps to deal with their addictions after Rose threatened to end the band if they continued with their heavy drug abuse. He even spoke publicly about the situation, specifically the heroin addictions, while opening for The Rolling Stones at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 1989.
Fame and fortune (1990–1993)Use Your IllusionGuns N' Roses in Israel, 1993
In 1990, Guns N' Roses returned to the studio to begin recording their most ambitious undertaking yet. During the recording session of "Civil War", drummer Steven Adler was unable to perform well due to his struggles with cocaine and heroin addiction - his difficulties in the studio caused the band to do nearly 30 takes. As a result, Adler was fired in July 1990, and was replaced by former Cult drummer Matt Sorum. A few months prior, keyboardist Dizzy Reed became the sixth member of the group when he joined as a full time member. The band fired their manager, Alan Niven, in May 1991, replacing him with Doug Goldstein. According to a 1991 cover story by Rolling Stone magazine, Rose forced the dismissal of Niven (against the wishes of some of his bandmates) by refusing to complete the albums until he was replaced.
Many of the successful performances during the tour were equally matched, and often overshadowed in the press, by riots, late starts and outspoken rants by Rose. While the band's previous drug and alcohol issues were seemingly under control, Axl was often agitated by lax security, sound problems and unwanted filming or recording of the performances. He also used the time in between songs to fire off political statements or retorts against music critics or celebrity rivals.
On July 2, 1991, at the Riverport Amphitheater in Maryland Heights, Missouri, just outside of St. Louis during a performance of "Rocket Queen", Rose jumped into the audience and tackled a fan who was recording the show with a video camera. After being pulled out of the audience by members of the crew, Rose said: "Well, thanks to the lame-ass security, I'm going home!", slammed his microphone on the ground and left the stage. The sound the microphone made caused some fans to think he shot someone, so Slash quickly told the audience, "He just slammed his mic on the floor. We're outta here." The angry crowd began to riot and dozens of people were injured. The footage was captured by Robert John, who was documenting the entire tour for the band. Rose was charged with having incited the riot, but police were unable to arrest him until almost a year later, as the band went overseas to continue the tour. Charges were filed against Rose but a judge ruled that he did not directly incite the riot. In his defense, Rose stated that the Guns N' Roses security team had made four separate requests to the venue's security staff to remove the camera, all of which were ignored, that other members of the band had reported being hit by bottles from the audience and that the venue's security had been lax, allowing weapons into the arena and refusing to enforce a drinking limit. Consequently, ''Use Your Illusion's artwork featured a hidden message amidst the Thank You section of the album insert: "Fuck You, St. Louis!"
After a repeat of the St. Louis incident nearly unfolded during a concert in Germany,[Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York. p. 344] rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin quit the band due to a combination of being upset with Rose's management of the band
In 1992, the band appeared at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, performing a two song set. Slash later performed "Tie Your Mother Down" with the remaining members of Queen, while Axl Rose performed "We Will Rock You" and duetted with Elton John on "Bohemian Rhapsody". When they returned to the U.S. for the second leg of the Use Your Illusion tour, Queen guitarist Brian May opened the shows with a band that included Cozy Powell on drums.
Later in the year they went on the mini-GNR-Metallica Stadium Tour with American Metal band Metallica. During a show in August 1992 at Montreal's Olympic Stadium, Metallica frontman James Hetfield suffered severe burns after stepping too close to a pyrotechnics blast. Metallica was forced to cancel the second hour of the show, but promised to return to the city for another show. After a long delay, during which the audience became increasingly restless, Guns N' Roses took the stage. However, the shortened time between sets did not allow for adequate tuning of stage monitors, resulting in musicians not being able to hear themselves. In addition, Rose claimed that his throat hurt,
title= News - Guns N' Roses
The Use Your Illusion Tour is also notable for the many videos the band released to support it, including "Don't Cry", "November Rain" and "Estranged" - some of the most expensive music videos ever made. The hit ballad "November Rain" became the most requested video on MTV, eventually winning the 1992 MTV Video Music Award for best cinematography. During the awards show, the band performed the song with Elton John accompanying on piano.
The historic tour ended in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on July 17, 1993. The tour set attendance records and lasted for 28 months, in which 192 shows were played. The show in Buenos Aires marked the last time original members Slash and McKagan as well as newcomers Clarke and Sorum would play a live show with Rose.
"The Spaghetti Incident?"On November 23, 1993, Guns N' Roses released a collection of punk and glam rock covers entitled "The Spaghetti Incident?". Despite protests from Rose's bandmates, an unadvertised cover of the Charles Manson song "Look at Your Game Girl" was included on the album at his request. Years later, Rose said he would remove the song from new pressings of the album, claiming that critics and the media had misinterpreted his interest in Manson. However, as of 2008, the song is still on the album. The Spaghetti Incident? did not match the success of the Illusion albums and tension increased within the band.
Decline (1994–1998)Axl Rose began work on a new album of original material in 1993, but none of the material has ever been released.[title=The Most Expensive Album Never Made]
In 1994, Gilby Clarke left the band, and was replaced with Paul Tobias. That same year, the band recorded a cover version of The Rolling Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil" for the movie Interview with the Vampire. According to Slash's autobiography published in 2007, the first version of guitar track was rejected by Axl - he wanted Slash to copy Keith Richard's playing on the original while Slash wanted to create a 'Guns N' Roses version' of the song rather than copy Keith's style. Reluctantly Slash agreed and recorded another version closer to the original. Slash was further infuriated when he discovered Tobias' guitar copying his own solo note by note layered in the final mix of the song. This would be the last recording by the original version of the band, and five years would go by before any new material came out under the Guns N' Roses name.
Slash then drifted in and out of the band for the next couple of years, beginning a side project called Slash's Snakepit. In August 1996, the band returned to the studio, even though McKagan and Sorum were simultaneously touring with their side project Neurotic Outsiders. Eventually, only Slash and Rose were left alone to continue working. During this period, Slash commented in an interview, "My relationship with Axl right now is sort of at a stand still." Additionally, during this period, Axl had approached guitarist Zakk Wylde (Ozzy Osbourne, Black Label Society) about jamming with the band and possibly joining Guns N' Roses.
In 1996 and 1997 Slash, Sorum and McKagan all left the band for good, leaving Rose as the only remaining charter member of the band. Despite what many people believe, Slash did not leave Guns N' Roses due to artistic differences between Axl and Slash, however, he left due to three reasons, according to his book:
1) Axl Rose's insistence on unnecessarily going onstage late, despite every member of the band being ready.
2) The lack of respect felt by Slash and Duff from Axl by downgrading them to sign contracts giving Axl the rights to the name of the band, and hiring extra musicians to play over Slash's guitar parts.
3) The loss of Steven Adler and Izzy Stradlin, who were such a huge part of Guns N' Roses, and without them the band were never the same.
Slash, McKagan and Sorum later formed rock supergroup Velvet Revolver with former Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland and Infectious Grooves/ Loaded guitarist Dave Kushner.
In 1998, a "clean" (i.e. profanity removed) version of Use Your Illusion was released (in the USA only), mainly so the album could be sold in Wal-Mart and K-Mart stores.
Also in 1998, Axl put a new version of the band together and returned to the studio. This version of the band has been touring and recording sporadically ever since. The new band's membership has changed frequently, but its core members have included guitarist Robin Finck, effects man Chris Pitman, and bassist Tommy Stinson (formerly of The Replacements)— as well as Paul Tobias, drummer Josh Freese and longtime Guns N' Roses keyboardist Dizzy Reed.
Chinese Democracy (1999–present)In 1999, the band released one new song, "Oh My God", which was included on the soundtrack of the film End of Days. The track featured additional guitar work by Dave Navarro and Gary Sunshine, Rose's personal guitar teacher. The song's release was intended to be a prelude to their new album, now officially entitled Chinese Democracy. Geffen also released ''Live Era: '87-'93, a collection of live performances from various concerts during the Appetite for Destruction and Use Your Illusion tours. Also in 1999, during an interview with Kurt Loder for MTV, Axl said that he had re-recorded Appetite for Destruction'' with the then-new band, apart from two songs which he had replaced with "Patience" and "You Could Be Mine".
In 1999, guitarist Robin Finck departed the band in order to rejoin his former band, Nine Inch Nails, on tour. In 2000, avant-garde guitarist Buckethead joined Guns N' Roses as a replacement for Finck. Josh Freese was replaced with Bryan Mantia (formerly of Primus). Robin Finck returned to Guns N' Roses in late 2000, to complement Buckethead on lead guitar.
The New Guns N' RosesThe revised lineup finally made a public appearance in January 2001, with two well-received concerts, one in Las Vegas and one at the Rock in Rio Festival in Rio de Janeiro. The band played a mixture of old hits as well as new songs from their forthcoming album. During their Rock in Rio set, Rose made the following comment regarding former members of the band:
Recent eventsOn May 4, 2007 three more tracks leaked from Chinese Democracy; an updated version of "I.R.S.", "The Blues" and the title track. All three tracks had previously been played live. Guns N' Roses embarked on the 2007 leg of the Chinese Democracy World Tour in Mexico on June, followed by dates on Australia and Japan. The songs "Nice Boys" and "Don't Cry" were played for the first time since the Use Your Illusion Tour. The tour ended on the twentieth anniversary of Appetite for Destructions release date, in Osaka. During this tour, the band featured Axl Rose, Robin Finck, Ron Thal and Richard Fortus on guitars, Tommy Stinson on bass, Dizzy Reed and Chris Pitman on keyboards and Frank Ferrer on drums.
Rose appears as a guest performer on three of the tracks on Sebastian Bach's album, Angel Down, which was released on November 20, 2007. In a posting on Guns N' Roses' official site, Rose responded, "We are surprised and very happy to have the support of Dr Pepper with our album 'Chinese Democracy,' as for us, this came totally out of the blue. If there is any involvement with this promotion by our record company or others, we are unaware of such at this time. And as some of Buckethead's performances are on our album, I'll share my Dr Pepper with him."
On April 5, 2008, a picture of Robin Finck appeared on Nine Inch Nails web page , under the title "Welcome Back!" starting the rumour of his possible reunion with Trent Reznor. Later, on April 11, 2008, Robin Finck expressed his happiness on playing again with NIN.
On April 20, 2008, on Guns N' Roses official website, Axl Rose expressed his surprise about Robin Finck's latest news but assure that the band was working with its management on the release of Chinese Democracy and thanked the fans for the continuous shows of support
Nine tracks purported to be from Chinese Democracy were leaked to an online site on June 19, 2008 and quickly removed due to a cease-and-desist letter from the band's label. Six of the leaked tracks had surfaced previously in some form, while three were new. The leaked songs are fleshed out more than previously heard tracks.
On July 14, 2008, Harmonix, in conjunction with MTV Games, officially announced the release of a new song from the upcoming Chinese Democracy album, called "Shackler's Revenge", through their new game Rock Band 2. The game is slated to ship first on September 14 for Xbox 360 game console, with subsequent releases for other platforms expected during the autumn.
On August 27, 2008, FBI agents arrested 27 year old Kevin Cogill for allegedly streaming 9 unreleased tracks on his web blog, Antiquiet, in June 2008. The tracks were apparently mastered and finished.
October 10, 2008, More than a decade after its conception, Guns N’ Roses’ “Chinese Democracy” will finally see the light of day before year’s end, sources close to the situation told Billboard.
The set will be a Best Buy exclusive and will be available Sunday, Nov. 23, rather than the usual Tuesday.
Musical styleThe music of Guns N' Roses is a fusion of punk rock, heavy metal and classic rock and roll.
In the 1990s, the band integrated keyed instruments (played by either Rose or Reed, and accompanied on tour by Teddy Andreadis) into the band, and for roughly half of the Use Your Illusion tour, added a horn section to the stage. While Reed has remained on some of the Chinese Democracy demos, tours since 2000 have not included wind instruments, though the band has employed synthesized horns on some of their new songs.
A heavy influence on both the image and sound of the band was Finnish band Hanoi Rocks (singer Michael Monroe and Rose have collaborated on various occasions). Rose has stated that the band was massively inspired by bands like Queen, The Rolling Stones, Rose Tattoo and AC/DC, and also that the sound of Appetite for Destruction was influenced by Aerosmith, The New York Dolls, AC/DC and Hanoi Rocks.
title=AllMusic - Appetite For Destruction
LegacyGuns N' Roses signed with a major label within eight months of their inception and topped national sales charts weeks after garnering late hours airplay on MTV. Appetite for Destruction was the second highest-selling debut album of all time, behind Boston's self-titled debut album.
Their peers in the music industry often spoke highly of the band: Ozzy Osbourne called Guns N' Roses "the next Rolling Stones." In 2002, Q magazine named Guns N' Roses in their list of the "50 Bands To See Before You Die". Also, the television network VH1 ranked Guns N' Roses ninth in its "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock" special, and also ranked 11th on "Top 50 bands". Appetite for Destruction appeared in the Rolling Stone Magazine special issue "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Guns N' Roses #92 on their list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time"..
The band has not been free of criticism by the media. The flagrant alcohol and drug abuse by some members of the group, and Axl's fondness of Charles Manson T-shirts, were used by the media to portray Guns N' Roses as a poor example and negative influence on their young fans. The long periods of time that the band took to release albums were also a source of heavy criticism (the band's second album, ''GN'R Lies'', was actually an EP and an old EP packaged together, and one of the songs was an acoustic cover of one from the band's debut album, it took from 1987 to 1991 to come up with a proper follow up to Appetite for Destruction and it has been 15 years since the band began work on their Chinese Democracy album).
Frontman Axl Rose has become a source of both controversy and criticism since the other founding members left the group. His constant elusiveness, such as the fact that he has not held a press conference since 1994, has led to several stories claiming he is suffering from bipolar disorder. Music critics have blamed Rose for the break-up of the original group, have criticized him for continuing the band after the original members had departed and have questioned the constant change in band members. They also cite his neurotic behavior and sense of perfectionism as a cause of personal conflict and the long delays between albums. However, Rose still has fans who view him as a sort of musical anti-hero.
Discography- 1987: Appetite for Destruction
- 1988: ''G N' R Lies
- 1991: Use Your Illusion I
- 1991: Use Your Illusion II
- 1993: "The Spaghetti Incident?"
- 2008: Chinese Democracy
Band membersCurrent members- Axl Rose - lead and backing vocals, piano (1985–present)
- Dizzy Reed - piano, keyboards, backing vocals (1990–present)
- Robin Finck - lead guitar (1997–1999, 2000–present)
- Tommy Stinson - bass, backing vocals (1998–present)
- Chris Pitman - keyboards, programming (1998–present)
- Bryan Mantia - drums (2000–present, has been on hiatus since September 2006)
- Richard Fortus - rhythm and lead guitars, backing vocals (2002–present)
- Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal - lead guitar (2006–present)
- Frank Ferrer - drums (2006–present)
Copyright Citations
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