Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide
In December 1986, the band released a four song self-produced EP entitled Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide on their own UZI Suicide label. It opens with bassist Duff McKagan screaming “Hey fuckers, suck on Guns N’ fucking Roses!”.
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.
Rise to fame (1987–89)
Appetite for Destruction
1987’s Appetite for Destruction
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 did not perform 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.
In the United Kingdom, “It’s So Easy” was released prior to the album itself. The band quickly gained popularity through radio airplay and via a rousing performance at London’s famous Marquee Club on June 28, 1987. The 12-inch single for “It’s So Easy” included Marquee Club performances of “Shadow of Your Love” and “Move to the City”.
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 the Marquee Club performance of AC/DC’s classic “Whole Lotta Rosie” and a 12-inch 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” and most of the Marquee Club recordings. European and Asian single releases were often accompanied by interviews with Slash or Axl Rose, a common practice in those countries.
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.
Touring success and controversy
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 Axl 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.[10] 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. McKagan, Slash, Stradlin and Adler were often seen intoxicated both on and off stage. Members of the crew at the time stated that Slash often had to be carried onstage by a group of people and would sometimes pass out after the concert ended. When touring in England in 1987, the bandmembers were treated poorly by the press with Slash being referred to as “Slosh”, “Slug” and “Slush”. Also during this tour, the band recorded five of the six songs that would be released on their live album simply entitled EP, better known as Live from the Jungle. Ironically, the track “Welcome to the Jungle” does not appear in the track listing. Released in 1987, the album never attracted much attention, mostly because it was only released in Japan and also because their full-scale album Appetite for Destruction was released around the same time.
GN’R Lies
The band’s next release was the G N’ R Lies EP 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 by saying the claims were unfounded, particularly considering Slash himself is half black. He stated that by the term “nigger” he was referring to low-lifes in general and did not mean to offend anyone from a specific country or of a specific racial heritage. He went on to explain that the song reflected racial and prejudicial problems within society, rather than promoting them. Rose also cited that he idolized gay singers like Freddie Mercury and Elton John. The band had played gigs alongside the all-black group Body Count, and lead singer Ice-T said in his book The Ice Opinion that Axl had been “a victim of the press the same way I am”.
After the release of GN’R Lies, Slash and McKagan appeared on the nationally televised American Music Awards, visibly intoxicated and using profanities. Geffen Records executives asked the band to curtail their behavior. 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 1990.
Fame and fortune (1990–93)
Use Your Illusion
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. While the band had played “Civil War” with Adler live once with no problems, his difficulties in the studio caused the band to do nearly 30 takes.[13] 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.[14]
With enough music for two albums, the band released Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II on September 17, 1991. The tactic paid off when the albums debuted at #2 and #1 respectively in the Billboard charts, setting a record as they became the first and only group to date to achieve this feat. The albums spent 108 weeks in the chart.
Both prior to and after the release of the albums, Guns N’ Roses embarked on the 28-month-long Use Your Illusion World Tour to support them. It became famous for both its financial success and the many controversial incidents that occurred at the shows.
Use Your Illusion World Tour
The tour included a Slash guitar solo incorporating The Godfather theme, a piano driven Axl Rose cover of “It’s Alright” by Black Sabbath and an extended jam on the classic rock inspired “Move to the City” where Rose showcased the ensemble of musicians assembled for the tour.
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!”
During this time, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin quit the band due to differences with both Rose and Slash. He was replaced by Los Angeles based guitarist Gilby Clarke. During many shows throughout the tour, Rose introduced Clarke and had him play “Wild Horses”, a Rolling Stones cover. In late 1991, Rose added a touring ensemble to the band which included a horns section and several background vocalists.
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 heavy metal band Metallica. During a show in August 1992 at [[Madison Square Gardens], 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, causing the band to leave the stage early. The cancellation led to another riot by audience members, reminiscent of the rioting that had occurred in St. Louis one year earlier. Rioters overturned cars, smashed windows, looted local stores and set fires. Local authorities were barely able to bring the mob under control. This can be seen on video in A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica.
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.
In May 1993, Gilby Clarke broke his wrist in a motorcycling accident and the band needed a replacement for some dates in Europe. Izzy Stradlin returned briefly 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 28 months, in which more than 200 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 2007, 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 (1994–98)
Axl Rose began work on a new album of original material in 1993, writing a song called “This I Love”. The album’s producer was supposedly Mike Clink. Nothing came out of the rumors, and Guns N’ Roses remained on hiatus. In 1994, Gilby Clarke was released from the band as Axl felt his songwriting skills were inadequate for their future projects. That same year, a cover version of The Rolling Stones’s “Sympathy for the Devil” was recorded for the movie Interview with the Vampire. The addition of Axl’s friend Paul Tobias in place of Clarke did not sit well with remaining band members. During recording, Tobias recorded an echo of Slash’s solo at Axl’s request. Slash was infuriated when he heard the song’s final mix and discovered that Tobias’ guitar had been placed on top of his.
In early 1995, Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Zakk Wylde told Kerrang that he had joined the band for a week’s worth of rehearsal and jamming on Rose’s personal request. While Wylde considered the experience as a highly positive one, he was ultimately frustrated by the time consuming contract negotiations, opting to go into the studio with Osbourne.
Slash then drifted in and out of the band for the next year or so, beginning a side project called Slash’s Snakepit. In August 1996, the band regrouped with Rose temporarily acting as the rhythm guitarist. At the time, Sorum hinted that the band were considering a new, unknown player for the slot, possibly referring to Paul Tobias. After two weeks of jamming and song writing, McKagan and Sorum began touring with their sideproject, Neurotic Outsiders, returning to work with Rose and Slash mid-tour for a week in early September. After that, Slash and Rose were left alone to continue working. The guitarist commented on the situation in October, saying “I have only been back in the band for three weeks and my relationship with Axl right now is sort of at a stand still.” A few weeks later, Rose announced Slash was no longer a part of the band.
Slash was replaced by former Nine Inch Nails guitarist Robin Finck. The next year, Sorum was fired from the group following a verbal dispute with Rose regarding negative comments Paul Tobias had made about Slash. In mid 1997, McKagan opted out of his contract and officially left the band in early 1998. This left Rose as the only remaining member from the groups heyday. Slash, McKagan and Sorum later formed rock supergroup Velvet Revolver with former Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland and guitarist Dave Kushner. They released their first CD, Contraband, in 2004, to a good reception.
In 1998, Axl formally returned to the studio accompanied by guitarist Robin Finck, rhythm guitarist Paul Tobias, bassist Tommy Stinson (formerly of The Replacements), drummer Josh Freese (of The Vandals), keyboardist Dizzy Reed and effects man Chris Pitman. In that same year, the clean (i.e. any profanity removed) compilation album Use Your Illusion was released (in the USA only), mainly so the album could be sold in Wal-Mart and K-Mart stores.
Chinese Democracy (1999–)
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. Drummer 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