Background and composition
Axl Rose wrote the lyrics while visiting a friend in Seattle:"It's a big city,but at the same time,it's still a small city compared to L.A. and the things that you're gonna learn. It seemed a lot more rural up there. I just wrote how it looked to me. If someone comes to town and they want to find something,they can find whatever they want." [11] Guitarist Izzy Stradlin summarizes the song as "about Hollywood streets;true to life". [12]
Slash describes the development of the music in his self-titled autobiography. As the band was trying to write new material,Rose remembered a riff Slash had played while he was living in the basement of Slash's mother's house. He played it and the band quickly laid down the foundations for the song,as Slash continued coming up with new guitar parts. "It was really the first thing we all collaborated on…" the guitarist recalled. "In that whole 'discovering ourselves' period from '85 through '86 –when we were living together very haphazardly and getting together and jamming –there was something going on that not a lot of people had. And this song just had this natural feel that was very cool." [13]
The breakdown was based on a song called "The Fake" that Duff McKagan wrote in 1978 for his punk band the Vains. [14] The bassist said it was the first song he ever wrote,and that it was later released as a single by that band. [14]
According to Slash,the song was written in approximately three hours. [15]
Rose claimed the lyrics were inspired by an encounter he and a friend had with a homeless man while they were coming out of a bus into New York. [16] Trying to put a scare into the young runaways,the man yelled at them,"You know where you are? You're in the jungle baby;you're gonna die!" [16] [17] "It was a very telling lyric –just the stark honesty of it," said Slash. "If you lived in Los Angeles –and lived in the trenches,so to speak –you could relate to it." [13]
Saul Hudson, known professionally as Slash, is a British-American musician who serves as the lead guitarist of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Slash has received critical acclaim and is considered one of the greatest guitarists ever.
W. Axl Rose is an American singer and songwriter. He is best known for being 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.
Appetite for Destruction is the debut studio album by American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, released by Geffen Records on July 21, 1987. It initially received little mainstream attention, and it was not until the following year that Appetite for Destruction became a commercial success, after the band had toured and received significant airplay with the singles "Welcome to the Jungle", "Paradise City", and "Sweet Child o' Mine". The album went on to peak at number one on the US Billboard 200, and it became the seventh best-selling album of all time in the United States, as well as the best-selling debut album. With over 30 million copies sold worldwide, it is also one of the best-selling albums globally.
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.
Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide is an EP by American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, released on December 16, 1986, on the UZI Suicide record label. When referred to by band members, they have simply called the EP Live Like a Suicide. The record itself was reportedly limited to only 10,000 copies, released only in vinyl and cassette formats.
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.
"Sweet Child o' Mine" is a song by American rock band Guns N' Roses, released on their debut studio album, Appetite for Destruction (1987). In the United States, the song was released on June 21, 1988 as the album's first single, topping the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and becoming the band's only US number-one single. In the United Kingdom, the song was released in August 1988, reaching number 24 on the UK Singles Chart the same month. Re-released there in May 1989, it peaked at number six.
"November Rain" is a song by American hard rock band Guns N' Roses. Written by the band's lead vocalist Axl Rose, the power ballad was released in February 1992 as the third single from the band's third studio album, Use Your Illusion I (1991). The song peaked at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100, and was the longest song to enter the top ten of the chart at the time of its release. As of 2019, it was the fourth longest song to enter the Hot 100 chart. Additionally, "November Rain" reached number two on the Portuguese Singles Chart, number four on the UK Singles Chart, and the top 10 on several other music charts around the world.
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.
"Paradise City" is a song by the American rock band Guns N' Roses, featured on their debut album, Appetite for Destruction (1987). Released as a single in January 1989, it is the only song on the album to feature a synthesizer. The song peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100—becoming the band's third single to reach the Top 10—and number six on the UK Singles Chart. It also topped the Irish Singles Chart, their first of three singles to do so.
"Patience" is a song by American rock band Guns N' Roses from their second studio album, G N' R Lies (1988), released as a single in April 1989. The song peaked at number four on the US Billboard Hot 100. The song is a ballad, played using three acoustic guitars and was recorded in a single session by producer Mike Clink. A music video of the song was shot and appears on the band's music video DVD, Welcome to the Videos.
Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in March 1985 when local bands Hollywood Rose and L.A. Guns merged. 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?"
"Yesterdays" is the third track on the Guns N' Roses album Use Your Illusion II. It was written by Axl Rose, West Arkeen, Del James and Billy McCloud. This song is featured in the 2004 compilation Greatest Hits, and the Vegas version below was included on the album Live Era '87–'93. The song reached number eight on the UK Singles Chart and peaked at number 72 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
The discography of Guns N' Roses, an American hard rock band, consists of six studio albums, one live album, two compilation albums, four extended plays (EPs), 24 singles, nine video albums and 26 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.
The Not in This Lifetime... Tour was a concert tour by hard rock band Guns N' Roses, spanning from April 1, 2016, to November 2, 2019. It featured classic lineup members Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan, marking the first time since the Use Your Illusion Tour in 1993 that the three performed together. After the previous tour in 2014, guitarists DJ Ashba & Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal, bassist Tommy Stinson and keyboardist Chris Pitman left Guns N' Roses, leaving the band with several open spots. Former members Slash and McKagan rejoined the band and Melissa Reese joined as keyboardist. The group embarked on a world tour that spanned all continents except Antarctica. They performed 175 shows making it their third longest tour ever, just behind the Use Your Illusion Tour and the Chinese Democracy Tour. The group welcomed former drummer Steven Adler to the stage for several shows as a guest spot, the first time he had played with the group since 1990. The tour has been a financial success, grossing over $584.2 million, making it the fourth-highest-grossing concert tour of all time. The tour was 2016's highest-earning per-city global concert tour as well as the fourth-highest-grossing overall that year. In 2017, the tour ranked as the second highest grossing worldwide tour. The tour was honored at the Billboard Live Music Awards in November 2017, winning Top Tour/Top Draw and being nominated for Top Boxscore.
"Shadow of Your Love" is a song by the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, originally released as a B-side in 1987. It was later released in an alternate take as a single in 2018, which entered at 31 on the Mainstream Rock chart in its May 12, 2018 edition, and peaked at No. 5 the week of June 23 the same year. It would later be included in the 2020 re-issue of the band's Greatest Hits album.
