Guns N' Roses

... Think of a rock stadium in the 1980s and one band instantly springs to mind: Guns N
Roses. Spurred by an egotistical frontman - and three indisputably excellent albums - the band
rocketed to stardom and a life of sex, drugs and rock and roll. As with so many bright stars,
the Gunners burnt out almost as quickly, enjoying only five years at the top. Their hedonistic
lifestyle defined them, but, ultimately proved to be their undoing.
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 a combination of the
last names of Guns and Rose, as well as making reference to members' affiliation with their
previous bands: Hollywood Rose and LA Guns.

Formation
Guns N' Roses was formed in March 1985 by singer Axl Rose and rhythm guitarist Izzy
Stradlin of Hollywood Rose, along with lead guitarist Tracii Guns, bassist Ole Beich, and
drummer Rob Gardner of L.A. Guns. The band coined its name by combining the names of
both previous groups. After only a short time, during which they reportedly played just two or
three shows, Beich was replaced by Duff McKagan, while Guns' lack of attendance at
rehearsals led to his replacement by Slash. Gardner quit soon after and was replaced
by Steven Adler. Stradlin had previously played with Slash in Hollywood Rose, while Slash
had played with McKagan and Adler in Road Crew.

In June 1985, just four days after the lineup was finalized, the band embarked on a short,
disorganized tour of the West Coast, from Sacramento, California, to McKagan's hometown
of Seattle, Washington. The so-called "Hell Tour" cemented 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."

Band member chilldhood

The members of Guns n Roses were misfits who came together in Los Angeles in the midEighties. William Axl Rose grew up in Lafayette, Indiana, as Bill Bailey. He adopted the
surname Rose when he discovered his birth fathers identity. He was in a hometown band
called Axl, which he took as his first name. After moving to Los Angeles, he legally changed
his name to W. Axl Rose. An inveterate troublemaker, he claims to have been arrested more
than 20 times in his hometown and to have spent as long as three months in jail. One of his
best friends in Lafayette was Jeff Isbell aka Izzy Stradlin, who headed to Los Angeles after
graduating high school. Rose hitchhiked west and joined him. British-born Slash, whose real
name is Saul Hudson, grew up in L.A. with parents who worked as designers in music and
film. Duff McKagan was a multi-instrumentalist who moved down from Seattle, where hed
played in numerous bands. McKagan met Slash via a musicians ad in a local paper.

Breakthrough and mass popularity

Appetite for Destruction was a tough act to follow, but Guns n Roses were up to the
challenge. In 1991, inspired by Queen and Elton John two similarly prolific and bombastic
role models Guns n Roses released two volumes of the highly ambitious Use Your Illusion
on the same day. It was a remarkable outpouring of music, totaling 30 tracks on two CDs.
Each volume was also issued as a double vinyl album. Of course, virtually no one bought just
one volume; those who were among their fervid following had to have Use Your Illusion I
and II, and each sold millions of copies and shared adjoining positions on the charts, peaking
at Number Two and Number One, respectively. The epic singles November Rain and Civil
War proved how far the band had evolved in a few years. The two years worth of
international tours that followed Use Your Illusion were epic as well, breaking records for
attendance and the speed at which venues sold out.
Sweet Child o Mine was among the earliest singles by a hard rock group to top the chart,
and Paradise City and Welcome to the Jungle made the Top 10. An extensive period of
touring, during which Guns n Roses opened for the Cult, Mtley Cre, Alice Cooper, Iron
Maiden and Aerosmith, allowed them to build a grassroots following and graduate to
headlining status. Appetite for Destruction enjoyed one of the longest runs of any hard rock
album in history, remaining on Billboards Hot 100 for nearly three years. As of 2012, it has
sold 18 million copies in the U.S. alone.
After the success of "Sweet Child o' Mine," "Welcome to the Jungle" was re-issued as a single
and reached No. 7 in the U.S. By the time "Paradise City and its video reached the airwaves,

peaking at No. 5 in the U.S., Appetite for Destruction had reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
To date, the album has sold in excess of 28 million copies worldwide, including 18 million
units sold in the United States, which makes it the best-selling debut album of all time in the
U.S.
Guns N' Roses toured extensively in support of their debut album, embarking on the 16month-long Appetite for Destruction Tour. In addition to headlining dates in Europe and the
U.S., the band opened North American shows for The Cult, Mtley Cre, and Alice
Cooper throughout the second half of 1987. The following year, they played headlining tours
of the U.S., Japan, and Australia, and served as openers on North American treks by Iron
Maiden and Aerosmith. Tim Collins, Aerosmith's then-manager, remarked, "By the end of the
tour, Guns N' Roses were huge. They basically just exploded. We were all pissed that Rolling
Stone showed up to do a story on Aerosmith, but Guns N' Roses ended up on the cover of the
magazine. Suddenly, the opening act was bigger than we were."[

Legacy,influence,style and controversy

Guns N' Roses signed with a major label within eight months of their inception and topped
national sales charts weeks after garnering late hours airplay on MTV. Appetite for
Destruction is the highest-selling debut album of all time in the United States.Their peers in
the music industry often spoke highly of the band. Joe Perry said that they were the first band
to remind him of Led Zeppelin.Ozzy Osbourne called Guns N' Roses "the next Rolling
Stones." Steve Lukather called Slash the "Keith Richards of our generation." The music of
Guns N' Roses is a fusion of punk rock, blues-rock, heavy metal, progressive rock and glam
rock. In the 1990s, the band integrated keyed instruments (played by either Rose or Reed, and
accompanied on tour by Teddy Andreadis) into the band, and for roughly half of the Use Your
Illusion tour, added a horn section to the stage. While Reed has remained on some of
the Chinese Democracy demos, tours since 2000 have not included wind instruments, though
the band has employed synthesized horns on some of their new songs.
A heavy influence on both the image and sound of the band was Finnish band Hanoi
Rocks (singer Michael Monroe and Rose have collaborated on various occasions). Rose has
stated that the band was massively inspired by groups like Queen, AC/DC,The Rolling
Stones, and Rose Tattoo and that the sound of Appetite for Destruction was influenced by
AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Cheap Trick, Aerosmith, Van Halen, the New York Dolls, and Hanoi
Rocks. Guns N' Roses has influenced many modern rock bands such as Fall Out
Boy, Avenged Sevenfold, Mother Love Bone (which featured members who would later
form Pearl Jam), Buckcherry, Hinder, The Darkness, Limp Bizkit, and Manic Street
Preachers, among others.
In 2002, Q magazine named Guns N' Roses in their list of the "50 Bands to See Before You
Die". The television network VH1 ranked Guns N' Roses ninth in its "100 Greatest Artists of
Hard Rock" special, and also ranked 11th on "Top 50 bands". Appetite for

Destruction appeared in Rolling Stone magazine's special issue "The 500 Greatest Albums of
All Time". In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Guns N' Roses No. 92 on their list of the "100
Greatest Artists of All Time". "Welcome to the Jungle" had also been voted "Best Hard Rock
Song" out of 100 others by VH1.Guns N' Roses were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame in April 14, 2012, along with Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Faces/The Small Faces and
the Beastie Boys, although Axl Rose refused to attend the event.
The U.S. release of the Playstation game Mega Man X5 had the names of the games bosses
changed in honor of the band.

Guns n Roses reign was not without controversy. A hue and cry over the initial cover of
Appetite for Destruction, a bizarre painting that intimated a scene of robotic rape and
violence, resulted in record stores refusal to carry it. That cover image was replaced by one
in which five skulls (each representing a band member) adorned a cross, while the offending
painting was moved to the albums inner sleeve. Some offensive lyrics in One in a Million
a song from GNR Lies, issued in 1988 as an interim release between Appetite for
Destruction and Use Your Illusion provoked another firestorm. There were violent incidents
at concerts, usually incited by comments, tardiness, premature exits or no-shows by Axl Rose.
He sparked a riot at a 1991 show in St. Louis that resulted in injuries to more than 50 people
(including 15 police officers), caused $200,000 in damage to the venue and resulted in
lawsuits. The group was notoriously heedless of starting times and curfews. Yet Guns n
Roses often played shows lasting upwards of three hours, and few questioned their intensity
and commitment.
Guns n Roses are perceived as dangerous because were so unpredictable and willing to
take chances, Slash commented in 1991. To be a real anarchist, you have to have a lot of
integrity to be able to follow through with it. Rock and roll is all about attitude and rebellion.
Its supposed to be fun, spontaneous, a release.
In 1994, the band took a hiatus that led to a breakup. Already there had been defections from
the core membership. Drummer Steven Adler was fired in July 1990 for drug-related
problems. Drummer Matt Sorum joined a month later, during sessions for Use Your Illusion,
and Dizzy Reed a friend from Guns n Roses' club days joined on keyboards. Izzy Stradlin
left in 1991 and was replaced by guitarist Gilby Clarke.
By 1997, the only original remaining member was Rose, and Guns n Roses appeared to be
history. However, a rather stable if only intermittently active lineup including keyboardist
Reed has existed under Roses leadership since the late Nineties.
Over a period of a decade, Rose and his comrades labored in secrecy on an album entitled
Chinese Democracy. In 2008, the long-awaited album finally appeared. It had been two
decades since Appetite for Destruction originally ignited the Guns n Roses phenomenon.
Times had changed, however, and Guns n Roses had been so long out of the limelight and

Chinese Democracy so long in the making that its arrival was a relative non-event. It entered
the Hot 100 at its peak position of Number Three.
While the revamped Guns n Roses hasnt exhibited the earth-shaking impact of the
prototype, a fascination with Rose continues to fill arenas on the bands occasional tours. He
has welcomed original members Duff McKagan and Izzy Stradlin onto his stage on a few
occasions. Meanwhile, the other members have pursued solo careers and various group
projects, such as Slashs Snakepit, Izzy Stradlins Ju Ju Hounds and Velvet Revolver (which
included Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum).

Sources:
http://rockhall.com/inductees/guns-n-roses/bio/
http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biographies/guns-n-roses.html
http://gunsnrosesweb.yaia.com/biography.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guns_N%27_Roses

Images with the band

Slash

STEVEN ADLAR

ASDAS

Duff Mckagan

IZZY
STRADLIN