Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band originally formed in 1985 by members of Hollywood Rose and L.A. Guns. [1] After signing with Geffen Records in 1986, the band released its debut album Appetite for Destruction in 1987. [1] All songs on the album were credited as written by the full band, composed of vocalist Axl Rose, guitarists Slash and Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Steven Adler, while "It's So Easy" was co-written by West Arkeen and "Anything Goes" was co-written by Chris Weber, formerly of Hollywood Rose. [2] The following year saw the release of the band's second album G N' R Lies , made up of all four tracks from 1986's Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide EP and four acoustic-based tracks. [3]
Following a period of touring, in 1990 Guns N' Roses replaced Adler with Matt Sorum, and keyboardist Dizzy Reed was added to the lineup. [1] On September 17, 1991, the band released its third and fourth studio albums Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II . [1] The songs on the albums were credited to their individual songwriters rather than the band as a whole, with Rose, Stradlin and Slash contributing to the majority of tracks. [4] [5] Other band members besides Rose performed lead vocals on a number of tracks, and the albums also featured a range of guest musicians including Shannon Hoon, Michael Monroe, and Alice Cooper. [4] [5] Stradlin later left the band and was replaced by Gilby Clarke. [1]
In 1993 the band released "The Spaghetti Incident?" , an album of cover versions and the band's first release to feature Clarke. [1] Among others, the album featured recordings of "Raw Power" by The Stooges, "Since I Don't Have You" by The Skyliners and a medley of "Buick Mackane" and "Big Dumb Sex" by T. Rex and Soundgarden, respectively. [6] The following year, Clarke was replaced with Paul Tobias and the band released a cover of The Rolling Stones song "Sympathy for the Devil" for the soundtrack to the film Interview with the Vampire . [7] [8] This would prove to be the final involvement for long-term band members Slash, McKagan, and Sorum, who would later leave at various points over the next few years. [1] [7]
In the years after the release of "The Spaghetti Incident?", Guns N' Roses went through a number of lineup changes during the recording of the long-awaited Chinese Democracy . In 1999, the song "Oh My God" – the band's first original recording since the Use Your Illusion albums – was released on the soundtrack for End of Days , featuring Dave Navarro and Gary Sunshine on guitar. [9] Chinese Democracy was eventually released, after a number of delays, on November 23, 2008, over 17 years after the release of Use Your Illusion I and II. [10] The album featured contributions from most of the members the band had featured between 1994 and 2008, including vocalist Rose, bassisst Tommy Stinson, guitarists Buckethead, Robin Finck, Richard Fortus and Tobias, drummers Brain and Frank Ferrer, and keyboardists Reed and Chris Pitman, with a number of these performers having co-written songs on the album. [10] Slash and McKagan rejoined the band in 2016 (alongside new member Melissa Reese, replacing Pitman), and a remastered box set of Appetite for Destruction was released in 2018, preceded by the lead single "Shadow of Your Love". From 2021, the band started releasing re-workings of Chinese-era songs, with "Absurd" and "Hard Skool" coming out that year, and "Perhaps" and "The General" in 2023.
† | Indicates song released as a single |
§ | Indicates song released as a promotional single |
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0–9 · A · B · C · D · E · G · H · I · K · L · M · N · O · P · R · S · T · U · W · Y |
In 2019, 19 discs of demos and rough mixes from the Chinese Democracy sessions were leaked online after a fan purchased a storage locker (believed to belong to label rep Tom Zutaut) that contained them. [121] Many previously unknown song titles were revealed from the discs, although the titles may be working titles.
W. Axl Rose is an American singer and songwriter. He is the lead vocalist and lyricist of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, and has been the band's sole constant member since its inception in 1985. Possessing a distinctive and powerful wide-ranging voice, Rose has been named one of the greatest singers of all time by various media outlets, including Rolling Stone, NME and Billboard.
Use Your Illusion I is the third studio album by American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, released on September 17, 1991, the same day as its counterpart Use Your Illusion II. It was the band's first album to feature drummer Matt Sorum, who replaced Steven Adler following Adler's departure in 1990, as well as keyboardist Dizzy Reed. Both albums were released in conjunction with the Use Your Illusion Tour. The album debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, selling 685,000 copies in its first week, behind Use Your Illusion II's first-week sales of 770,000. Use Your Illusion I has sold 5,502,000 units in the United States as of 2010, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Each of the Use Your Illusion albums have been certified 7× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The album was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1992.
G N' R Lies is the second studio album by American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, released by Geffen Records on November 29, 1988. It is the band's shortest studio album, running at 33 and a half minutes. The album reached number two on the US Billboard 200, and according to the RIAA, has shipped over five million copies in the United States.
Use Your Illusion II is the fourth studio album by American hard rock band Guns N' Roses. The album was released on September 17, 1991, the same day as its counterpart Use Your Illusion I. Both albums were released in conjunction with the Use Your Illusion Tour. Bolstered by the lead single "You Could Be Mine", Use Your Illusion II was the slightly more popular of the two albums, selling a record 770,000 copies its first week and debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, ahead of Use Your Illusion I's first-week sales of 685,000. As of 2010, Use Your Illusion II has sold 5,587,000 units in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Both albums have since been certified 7× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It was also No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart for a single week.
Michael Andrew "Duff" McKagan is an American musician. He was the bassist of hard rock band Guns N' Roses for twelve years, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. McKagan rejoined the band in 2016, following their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Hollywood Rose was an American glam metal group formed in June 1983. They are best known as the precursor for what would eventually become Guns N' Roses. The group was founded by Axl Rose, Izzy Stradlin and Chris Weber, while they were aided during live shows by Rick Marrs, Andre Troxx, Daniel "DJ" Nicolson, Johnny Kreis and Steve Darrow. Rose, Stradlin and Weber, along with Kreis and Nicolson, recorded a five-song demo in January 1984. However, after a number of lineup changes, which includes Weber, Kreis and Nicolson being replaced by Slash and Steven Adler as well the departure of Stradlin, the group disbanded the same year.
Chinese Democracy is the sixth studio album by the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, released on November 23, 2008, by Black Frog and Geffen Records. It was the first Guns N' Roses studio album since the 1993 covers album "The Spaghetti Incident?", and their first album of original studio material since Use Your Illusion I and II (1991). It languished in development hell for eight years, delayed by personnel and legal problems, label interference, and the perfectionism of vocalist Axl Rose. It was the first Guns N' Roses album without Izzy Stradlin, Slash, and Duff McKagan, and the first not produced by Mike Clink; instead it was produced by Rose and Caram Costanzo.
Live Era '87–'93 is a double live album by the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses. It was released on November 23, 1999. The record was the first official Guns N' Roses release since "The Spaghetti Incident?" released on the same day 6 years prior in 1993. Guitarist Slash notes that the album is "not pretty and there are a lot of mistakes, but this is Guns N' Roses, not the fucking Mahavishnu Orchestra. It's as honest as it gets."
"Don't Cry" is a song by American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, two versions of which were released simultaneously on different albums. The version with the original lyrics is the fourth track on Use Your Illusion I (1991), while the version with the alternate lyrics is the 13th track on Use Your Illusion II (1991). Only the vocal tracks differ, and even then only in the verses; however, in those verses, not only are the words entirely different, but the meter and melody are also slightly different. There is also a third version, officially released only on the single for the song, which was recorded during Appetite for Destruction sessions in 1986.
Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1985, as the result of a merger between local bands Hollywood Rose and L.A. Guns. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band's "classic lineup" consisted of vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKagan, and drummer Steven Adler. The current lineup consists of Rose, Slash, McKagan, guitarist Richard Fortus, drummer Frank Ferrer and keyboardists Dizzy Reed and Melissa Reese.
"Nightrain" is a song by American rock band Guns N' Roses. The song is a tribute to an infamous brand of cheap Californian fortified wine, Night Train Express, which was extremely popular with the band during their early days because of its low price and high alcohol content. The title is spelled differently, omitting a T and removing the space, making a portmanteau of the two words.
"You Could Be Mine" is a song by American rock band Guns N' Roses from their fourth studio album, Use Your Illusion II. The song was released on June 21, 1991, as the first single from the Use Your Illusion albums. The song was originally released as a song in director James Cameron's 1991 film, Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Backed with "Civil War" from Use Your Illusion II, the single reached number 29 on the US Billboard Hot 100, number three on the UK Singles Chart, and number one in Finland and Spain. It became a top-five hit in more than 10 additional countries.
"Civil War" is a song by American rock band Guns N' Roses that originally appeared on the 1990 compilation Nobody's Child: Romanian Angel Appeal and later on the band's 1991 album Use Your Illusion II. It is a protest song on war, referring to all war as "civil war" and stating that war only "feeds the rich while it buries the poor". In the song, lead singer Axl Rose asks, "What's so civil about war, anyway?"
The discography of Guns N' Roses, an American hard rock band, consists of six studio albums, one live album, two compilation albums, five extended plays (EPs), 24 singles, ten video albums and 27 music videos. Guns N' Roses was formed in Los Angeles, California with an original recording lineup of lead vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Steven Adler. After self-releasing the EP Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide in December 1986, the band signed with Geffen Records and released its debut studio album Appetite for Destruction the following July. It topped the US Billboard 200 and went on to become one of the best-selling albums of all time, with reported sales over 30 million units worldwide, 18 million of which are in the US. Three singles – "Welcome to the Jungle", "Sweet Child o' Mine" and "Paradise City" – reached the US Billboard Hot 100 top ten, with "Sweet Child o' Mine" topping the chart.
"Look at Your Game, Girl" is a song written by Charles Manson from his album Lie: The Love and Terror Cult (1970). A folk rock and psychedelic folk ballad about a confused young woman, the song was included on a tape that Manson sent to record companies. His version of the song received mostly positive reviews from critics, who felt that the track had musical merit and drew connections between its lyrics and the ways in which Manson manipulated his followers.
"Better" is a song by American rock band Guns N' Roses, featured on their 2008 sixth studio album, Chinese Democracy. It was sent out as the second radio promo from the album, after "Chinese Democracy", but was not commercially released as a single eligible for international sales charts.
The Roots of Guns N' Roses is a compilation album containing old songs of Hollywood Rose. It was released on June 22, 2004, by Deadline Music.
"The Spaghetti Incident?" is the fifth studio album by the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses. The album is composed of covers of older songs mostly in the punk rock and hard rock genres. "The Spaghetti Incident?" is the only studio album to feature rhythm guitarist Gilby Clarke, who replaced original Guns N' Roses member Izzy Stradlin during the band's Use Your Illusion tour in 1991, as well as the last album to feature guitarist Slash, bassist Duff McKagan, and drummer Matt Sorum, following their departures in 1996 and 1997, respectively. It is also their final album to date featuring longtime producer Mike Clink.
"Estranged" is a song by American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, included on their 1991 album Use Your Illusion II. Described as a ballad, the song was released as a single in January 1994.
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