Guns N’ Roses[a] is an American hard rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1985. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band comprised 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.
Guns N’ Roses’ debut album, Appetite for Destruction (1987), reached number one on the Billboard 200 a year after its release, on the strength of the top 10 singles “Welcome to the Jungle”, “Paradise City”, and “Sweet Child o’ Mine”, the band’s only single to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The album has sold approximately 30 million copies worldwide, including 18 million units in the United States, making it the country’s bestselling debut album and eleventh-bestselling album. Their next studio album, G N’ R Lies (1988), reached number two on the Billboard 200, sold ten million copies worldwide (including five million in the U.S.), and included the top 5 hit “Patience”. Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II, recorded simultaneously and released in 1991, debuted at number two and number one on the Billboard 200 respectively and have sold a combined 35 million copies worldwide (including 14 million units in the U.S.). The Illusion albums included the lead single “You Could Be Mine”, covers of “Live and Let Die” and “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”, and a trilogy of ballads (“Don’t Cry”, “November Rain”, and “Estranged”), which featured notably high-budget music videos. The records were supported by the Use Your Illusion Tour, a world tour that lasted from 1991 to 1993. The covers album “The Spaghetti Incident?” (1993) was the last studio album to feature Slash and McKagan before their initial departure.
Work on a follow-up album stalled due to creative differences between band members; by 1998 only Rose and Reed remained from the Illusion-era lineup. Rose, wanting to expand the band’s sound with industrial and electronic elements, enrolled an eclectic lineup of musicians, including punk bassist Tommy Stinson, virtuoso guitarist Buckethead, synth player Chris Pitman and several touring members of Nine Inch Nails, among others. After a decade of work, Guns N’ Roses’s long-awaited sixth studio album, Chinese Democracy (2008), was released, featuring the title track as lead single. At an estimated $14 million in production costs, it is the most expensive rock album in history. It debuted at number three on the Billboard 200, but undersold industry expectations despite a mostly positive critical reception. Following the expansive Chinese Democracy Tour, Slash and McKagan rejoined the band in 2016 for the Not in This Lifetime… Tour, which became the third-highest-grossing concert tour on record, grossing over $584 million by its conclusion in 2019.
In their early years, the band’s hedonism and rebelliousness drew comparisons to the early Rolling Stones and earned them the nickname “the most dangerous band in the world”. The band’s classic lineup, along with later members Reed and drummer Matt Sorum, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012, its first year of eligibility. Guns N’ Roses have sold more than 100 million records worldwide, including 45 million in the United States, making them one of the best-selling acts in history.
History
Formation (1985–1986)
Main articles: Hollywood Rose and L.A. Guns
The original lineup of Guns N’ Roses in March 1985. From left to right: Rob Gardner, Izzy Stradlin, Axl Rose, Tracii Guns and Ole Beich.
In 1984, Hollywood Rose member Izzy Stradlin was living with L.A. Guns member Tracii Guns. When L.A. Guns needed a new vocalist, Stradlin suggested Hollywood Rose singer Axl Rose. This led to Guns N’ Roses being formed in March 1985 by Rose, rhythm guitarist Stradlin, along with L.A. Guns founders lead guitarist Guns, drummer Rob Gardner and bassist Ole Beich. Guns recalled the formation of the band in a 2019 interview, stating: “Axl got into an argument with our manager and our manager fired Axl but we all lived together so it was all really weird. So, that same night he got fired we started Guns N’ Roses and I called Izzy the next day and said ‘Hey, we are gonna start this new band called Guns N’ Roses, do you want in?’ It was as simple as that, no paint or cocaine involved. The band coined its name by combining the names of both previous groups; initially it was the name of a label they were going to release music on.Rejected names for the band included “Heads of Amazon” and “AIDS”.
After the band’s first two rehearsals, Beich was fired and replaced by Duff McKagan.The first rehearsal with McKagan was recorded and three songs from it (“Don’t Cry”, “Think About You” and “Anything Goes”) were played during the band’s first radio interview, aired two days before their first ever show at the Troubadour on March 26, 1985 Around this time, the band planned to release an EP with the three aforementioned songs and a cover of “Heartbreak Hotel”.However, Guns left the band after an argument with Rose, and plans for the release fell through.Guns was replaced by a former Hollywood Rose member, Slash.Gardner, the last remaining L.A. Guns member to remain in the band, quit soon after.Steven Adler, another former Hollywood Rose member, filled Gardner’s spot.
We had a singer (Mike Jagosz) that our manager didn’t like, so we fired him. So then I asked Axl to join L.A. Guns and he was in the band for about six, seven months. The same manager ended up hating Axl and he wanted to fire him. We’re all living together at this point and Axl and I sat down and went ‘What are we going to do?’ So we both said ‘Fuck that’, and came up with the name Guns N’ Roses, which was going to be just a record label that we’d put singles out on.
—Original guitarist Tracii Guns
The band’s “classic” lineup was finalized on June 4, 1985, when Adler and Slash officially joined.After two days of rehearsals, the band played their first show with the lineup on June 6, 1985.Two days later, the band embarked on a short, disorganized tour of the West Coast, from Sacramento, California, to McKagan’s hometown of Seattle, Washington.The band drove in a separate van and had to abandon their gear when both vans broke down on the way to Seattle, forcing them to hitch-hike up the coast and back home to LA with only their guitars.The so-called “Hell Tour” settled the band’s first stable lineup, with McKagan later commenting, “This trip had set a new benchmark for what we were capable of, what we could and would put ourselves through to achieve our goals as a band. The band then took up residence at a house and rehearsal space dubbed “The Hell House”.
Through the band’s increasing presence on the Hollywood club scene – playing famed bars such as The Troubadour and The Roxy – Guns N’ Roses drew the attention of major record labels.The group signed with Geffen Records in March 1986, receiving a $75,000 advance.They had turned down an offer from Chrysalis Records that was nearly double Geffen’s, due to Chrysalis wanting to change the band’s image and sound and Geffen offering full artistic freedom.
Guns N’ Roses classic lineup, from left to right, Izzy Stradlin, Steven Adler, Axl Rose, Duff McKagan, & Slash.
In December of that year, the group released the four-song EP Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide, designed to keep interest in the band alive while the group withdrew from the club scene to work in the studio.The EP release was designed to sooth over the label, who felt the band did not have enough songs to record an album.[30] The EP contained covers of Rose Tattoo’s “Nice Boys” and Aerosmith’s “Mama Kin”, along with two original compositions: the punk-influenced “Reckless Life” and the classic rock-inspired “Move to the City”.Although billed as a live recording, the four songs were taken from the band’s demo tapes and overdubbed with crowd noise. Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide was released on the Geffen subsidiary Uzi Suicide, with production limited to 10,000 vinyl copies.
Seeking to record their debut album, producer Spencer Proffer was hired to record “Nightrain” and “Sweet Child o’ Mine” to test his chemistry with the band.[33] The band eventually recorded 9 songs during these sessions, including “Heartbreak Hotel”, “Don’t Cry”, “Welcome to the Jungle” and “Shadow of Your Love”.[33] The band then recorded demos with Nazareth guitarist Manny Charlton.Paul Stanley of KISS was considered as producer, but he was rejected after he wanted to change Adler’s drum set more than Adler wanted. Robert John “Mutt” Lange and Tom Werman were also considered, but the label did not want to spend the extra money on a famous producer.Ultimately, Mike Clink (who had produced several Triumph records) was chosen, and the group recorded “Shadow of Your Love” first with Clink as a test.
After some weeks of rehearsal, the band entered Daryl Dragon’s Rumbo Recorders in January 1987 to record their debut album.Two weeks were spent recording basic tracks, with a month of overdubs.The drums were done in six days, but Rose’s vocals took much longer as he insisted on doing them one line at a time.
