Guns N' Roses History
Guns N' Roses was founded in Los Angeles in June 1985. Their unique style incorporated punk, blues, thrash, and other genres of music into the popular heavy metal music
of the time. The band was formed by singer Axl Rose, guitarists Tracii
Guns and Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKagan, and drummer Rob Gardner.
The name was derived from the last names of Guns and Rose, and makes
reference to members previous bands: Hollywood Rose and LA Guns.
When Tracii Guns and Robbie Gardner could not attend the first Guns N' Roses show in Seattle, Rose called guitarist Slash and drummer Steven Adler, whom he had met recently, and asked if they would join the band on stage for the show, they agreed and creating band's most famous line-up. On the way back to Los Angeles, the five members wrote the lyrics for the song "Welcome to the Jungle", which eventually became their signature song.
The band released a self-produced EP, Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide, in 1986. Copies of the EP reached Geffen Records executives who soon signed the band. Appetite for Destruction, GNR's debut album, was released on August 21, 1987. The album sold twenty million copies and hit #1 on the charts. The album included the songs "Welcome to the Jungle", "Sweet Child O' Mine" and "Paradise City", all of which were top ten singles on the Billboard charts. As of 2005, Appetite For Destruction remains the best-selling debut album of all time.
The band began opening shows for major bands in the rock industry, but as Appetite for Destruction's sales began to rise, a world tour in support of the album was scheduled. Guns N' Roses traveled across United States, and in the spring of 1988, they were invited to the notorious Monsters of Rock Festival in Europe. The band shared the stage with groups including Iron Maiden, KISS and Judas Priest. The behavior of the members of GNR was gathering attention from the media. McKagan, Slash and Adler were constantly seen on stage under the influence of alcohol or other drugs. Members of the crew at the time even stated that Slash had to be carried on to the stage by a group of people and that he often passed out after the concerts ended. During the Monsters of Rock concert in the UK, two fans were killed when the crowd present at the concert began jumping and surging forward at when the Guns N' Roses' show started. The media blamed the deaths of the fans on the band, although they were unaware of the incident until after the show ended. All these events during the Appetite for Destruction tour earned the group the title of "the most dangerous band in the world".
The song "Welcome to the Jungle" was included on the soundtrack of the fifth Dirty Harry movie The Dead Pool, which led to a couple of seconds of screen time for the band.
Guns N' Roses' next release was the half-acoustic CD G N' R Lies in 1988, which hit #2 on the music charts. The song "One In A Million", which used the words "niggers" and "faggots", led to controversy that accused the band (or Axl) of racism and homophobia. Axl denied these allegations, pointing out that he was a fan of homosexual singers like Freddie Mercury and Elton John and that his then lead guitarist was half black.
In 1989, Guns N' Roses were presented with an American Music Award for favorite Pop/Rock single for "Sweet Child O' Mine". At the televised annual award show in 1989, Duff McKagan and Slash appeared intoxicated and used strong language while accepting the Best Heavy Metal Album award for Appetite For Destruction, and Best Heavy Metal Song award for "Paradise City". Because of the incident, subsequent American Music Award shows have been broadcast using a five second delay.
The behavior of some members of the group lead their music label to demand the band modify their habits. The members took steps to deal with their addictions after Rose threatened to end the band if they continued with their heavy drug abuse. He also spoke up about them during an opening set for the Rolling Stones in 1989 saying that "if some members don't stop dancing with Mr. Brownstone, Guns N' Roses will end." The band's heavy use and abuse of heroin is referenced throughout Appetite for Destruction; the song Mr. Brownstone is about heroin and its effects. (Brownstone is a slang term for heroin.)
The Use Your Illusion Tour (1991–1993): In 1990 Guns N' Roses returned to the studio to begin recording their most ambitious undertaking yet. During the recording, drummer Steven Adler was unable to perform due to his struggles with his cocaine and heroin addiction. Adler was fired in August 1990, and replaced with the former drummer of The Cult, Matt Sorum. Keyboardist Dizzy Reed joined the band as a full time member. With enough music for a double album, the band instead chose to release Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II as two separate albums on September 17, 1991. The tactic paid off when the albums debuted as #2 and #1 on the Billboard Music charts.
After the release of the albums, Guns N' Roses went on a 28 month long world tour, which was famous for its success and for many controversial incidents along the way. In the summer of 1991, Axl Rose jumped into the audience during a concert in St. Louis, Missouri and hit one of the fans after taking away a video camera, which he was recording the show with. After that, Rose left the stage and the angry crowd began a riot in which dozens of people were injured. Rose was charged with having incited a riot, but the police were unable to arrest him until almost a year later, because the band went overseas to continue the tour. Charges were filed against Rose, but a judge ruled he had not directly incited the riot. During this time, guitarist Izzy Stradlin quit the band due to differences with Rose. He was replaced by Los Angeles based guitarist Gilby Clarke.
The band also appeared at The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert that year, and went on a mini-tour with American heavy 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 machine. Metallica was forced to cancel their part of the show, but asked Rose and Guns N' Roses to continue the concert. After a long delay, Guns N' Roses took the stage. However, Rose claimed he had problems with his voice that night and decided to cancel the band's presentation after just four songs. This led to another riot during a Guns N' Roses concert.
The Use Your Illusion Tour is notable for the many videos the band released to support it, including Don't Cry, November Rain [1] and Estranged - are some of the most expensive ever made.
During this time, the hit ballad November Rain became the most requested video on MTV, eventually winning an MTV Video Music Award for best cinematography. During the awards show, the band performed "November Rain" with singer Elton John.
In May 1993, Gilby Clarke broke his wrist in a motorcycling accident and the band needed a replacement for some shows in Europe. Stradlin briefly returned for a string of five shows.
The historic tour ended in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on July 17, 1993. The tour set attendance records and lasted for twenty eight months in which more than 200 shows were played. The last show in Buenos Aires was also the last for the classic line-up of the band.
In November 1993, Guns N' Roses released a collection of mostly punk covers entitled The Spaghetti Incident?. This album did not match the success of the Illusion albums and tensions continued to increase within the band. In 1994, Rose fired guitarist Gilby Clarke without informing the rest of the group. That same year, a cover version of The Rolling Stones' Sympathy for the Devil was recorded by the band (with Rose's childhood friend Paul Tobias replacing Gilby Clarke), for the movie Interview with the Vampire.
The addition of Tobias seemed to be the spark that set off the final disintegration of the band's original line-up. During the recording of Sympathy for the Devil, Tobias played over the original solo that Slash recorded, and Rose deleted several contributions from the other members. Slash drifted in and out of the band for the next years, beginning a side project called Slash's Snakepit before finally quitting in late 1996. He was quickly replaced by Robin Finck. The next year, Sorum was fired from the group after having a serious verbal dispute with Rose in the studio. In early 1998, McKagan opted out of his contract. This left Axl Rose as the sole original member of the band.
When Tracii Guns and Robbie Gardner could not attend the first Guns N' Roses show in Seattle, Rose called guitarist Slash and drummer Steven Adler, whom he had met recently, and asked if they would join the band on stage for the show, they agreed and creating band's most famous line-up. On the way back to Los Angeles, the five members wrote the lyrics for the song "Welcome to the Jungle", which eventually became their signature song.
The band released a self-produced EP, Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide, in 1986. Copies of the EP reached Geffen Records executives who soon signed the band. Appetite for Destruction, GNR's debut album, was released on August 21, 1987. The album sold twenty million copies and hit #1 on the charts. The album included the songs "Welcome to the Jungle", "Sweet Child O' Mine" and "Paradise City", all of which were top ten singles on the Billboard charts. As of 2005, Appetite For Destruction remains the best-selling debut album of all time.
The band began opening shows for major bands in the rock industry, but as Appetite for Destruction's sales began to rise, a world tour in support of the album was scheduled. Guns N' Roses traveled across United States, and in the spring of 1988, they were invited to the notorious Monsters of Rock Festival in Europe. The band shared the stage with groups including Iron Maiden, KISS and Judas Priest. The behavior of the members of GNR was gathering attention from the media. McKagan, Slash and Adler were constantly seen on stage under the influence of alcohol or other drugs. Members of the crew at the time even stated that Slash had to be carried on to the stage by a group of people and that he often passed out after the concerts ended. During the Monsters of Rock concert in the UK, two fans were killed when the crowd present at the concert began jumping and surging forward at when the Guns N' Roses' show started. The media blamed the deaths of the fans on the band, although they were unaware of the incident until after the show ended. All these events during the Appetite for Destruction tour earned the group the title of "the most dangerous band in the world".
The song "Welcome to the Jungle" was included on the soundtrack of the fifth Dirty Harry movie The Dead Pool, which led to a couple of seconds of screen time for the band.
Guns N' Roses' next release was the half-acoustic CD G N' R Lies in 1988, which hit #2 on the music charts. The song "One In A Million", which used the words "niggers" and "faggots", led to controversy that accused the band (or Axl) of racism and homophobia. Axl denied these allegations, pointing out that he was a fan of homosexual singers like Freddie Mercury and Elton John and that his then lead guitarist was half black.
In 1989, Guns N' Roses were presented with an American Music Award for favorite Pop/Rock single for "Sweet Child O' Mine". At the televised annual award show in 1989, Duff McKagan and Slash appeared intoxicated and used strong language while accepting the Best Heavy Metal Album award for Appetite For Destruction, and Best Heavy Metal Song award for "Paradise City". Because of the incident, subsequent American Music Award shows have been broadcast using a five second delay.
The behavior of some members of the group lead their music label to demand the band modify their habits. The members took steps to deal with their addictions after Rose threatened to end the band if they continued with their heavy drug abuse. He also spoke up about them during an opening set for the Rolling Stones in 1989 saying that "if some members don't stop dancing with Mr. Brownstone, Guns N' Roses will end." The band's heavy use and abuse of heroin is referenced throughout Appetite for Destruction; the song Mr. Brownstone is about heroin and its effects. (Brownstone is a slang term for heroin.)
The Use Your Illusion Tour (1991–1993): In 1990 Guns N' Roses returned to the studio to begin recording their most ambitious undertaking yet. During the recording, drummer Steven Adler was unable to perform due to his struggles with his cocaine and heroin addiction. Adler was fired in August 1990, and replaced with the former drummer of The Cult, Matt Sorum. Keyboardist Dizzy Reed joined the band as a full time member. With enough music for a double album, the band instead chose to release Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II as two separate albums on September 17, 1991. The tactic paid off when the albums debuted as #2 and #1 on the Billboard Music charts.
After the release of the albums, Guns N' Roses went on a 28 month long world tour, which was famous for its success and for many controversial incidents along the way. In the summer of 1991, Axl Rose jumped into the audience during a concert in St. Louis, Missouri and hit one of the fans after taking away a video camera, which he was recording the show with. After that, Rose left the stage and the angry crowd began a riot in which dozens of people were injured. Rose was charged with having incited a riot, but the police were unable to arrest him until almost a year later, because the band went overseas to continue the tour. Charges were filed against Rose, but a judge ruled he had not directly incited the riot. During this time, guitarist Izzy Stradlin quit the band due to differences with Rose. He was replaced by Los Angeles based guitarist Gilby Clarke.
The band also appeared at The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert that year, and went on a mini-tour with American heavy 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 machine. Metallica was forced to cancel their part of the show, but asked Rose and Guns N' Roses to continue the concert. After a long delay, Guns N' Roses took the stage. However, Rose claimed he had problems with his voice that night and decided to cancel the band's presentation after just four songs. This led to another riot during a Guns N' Roses concert.
The Use Your Illusion Tour is notable for the many videos the band released to support it, including Don't Cry, November Rain [1] and Estranged - are some of the most expensive ever made.
During this time, the hit ballad November Rain became the most requested video on MTV, eventually winning an MTV Video Music Award for best cinematography. During the awards show, the band performed "November Rain" with singer Elton John.
In May 1993, Gilby Clarke broke his wrist in a motorcycling accident and the band needed a replacement for some shows in Europe. Stradlin briefly returned for a string of five shows.
The historic tour ended in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on July 17, 1993. The tour set attendance records and lasted for twenty eight months in which more than 200 shows were played. The last show in Buenos Aires was also the last for the classic line-up of the band.
In November 1993, Guns N' Roses released a collection of mostly punk covers entitled The Spaghetti Incident?. This album did not match the success of the Illusion albums and tensions continued to increase within the band. In 1994, Rose fired guitarist Gilby Clarke without informing the rest of the group. That same year, a cover version of The Rolling Stones' Sympathy for the Devil was recorded by the band (with Rose's childhood friend Paul Tobias replacing Gilby Clarke), for the movie Interview with the Vampire.
The addition of Tobias seemed to be the spark that set off the final disintegration of the band's original line-up. During the recording of Sympathy for the Devil, Tobias played over the original solo that Slash recorded, and Rose deleted several contributions from the other members. Slash drifted in and out of the band for the next years, beginning a side project called Slash's Snakepit before finally quitting in late 1996. He was quickly replaced by Robin Finck. The next year, Sorum was fired from the group after having a serious verbal dispute with Rose in the studio. In early 1998, McKagan opted out of his contract. This left Axl Rose as the sole original member of the band.
