A
fantastic and very
controversial rock band for the
brief time they were
together.
GN'R was a
welcome break from the
big hair pop metal bands of the mid '80s, and they had a
major impact on
hard rock in the late
1980s and early
'90s.
Founded by frontman
Axl Rose, guitarists
Slash,
Izzy Stradlin, and
Duff McKagan, and drummer
Steve Adler (later replaced by
Matt Sorum), Guns N' Roses cranked out
blues-influenced
hard rock with a
gritty,
dirty,
angry edge that
pop bands like
Poison and
Warrant couldn't
dream of duplicating (not that they didn't try...).
GN'R released three major
albums ("
Appetite for Destruction", "
Use Your Illusion I", and "
Use Your Illusion II"), one
EP ("
GN'R Lies"), and an
album full of
punk rock cover songs ("
The Spaghetti Incident?").
At their
best,
Guns N'
Roses were capable of producing
everything from
blistering rock riots ("
Welcome to the Jungle", "
Paradise City", and "
You Could Be Mine"),
beautiful love songs ("
Sweet Child O' Mine", "
Patience", "
Don't Cry", and "
Estranged"),
funk/
blues/
metal combos ("
Breakdown", "
Bad Obsession", and "
You Ain't the First") and more
ambitious works like "
Civil War", "
Rocket Queen", the
breathtaking "
November Rain", and the
epic "
Coma".
The
band was no
stranger to
controversy.
Critics claimed that "
Mr. Brownstone" promoted
drug use and "
Used to Love Her" was
misogynistic, but the
racism and
homophobia that
oozed out of "
One in a Million" was much harder for
fans to
dismiss.
Eventually,
creative differences and the surging
popularity of
grunge killed the band, though Axl's
overblown ego and
hedonism didn't
help things much.
Personal note: I've
forgiven GN'R for every
pompous song, every
late concert, every
trashed hotel room, even for Axl's
politically incorrect beliefs. Guns N' Roses changed my
life for the
better, shaking me out of my
small-town slumber, giving me a
tool to
break free of the
labels I'd been
branded with in
high school, and convincing me to grow my
hair long. They get my
eternal thanks for that, if nothing else.
Discography!1986:
Live?!*@ Like A Suicide1987:
Appetite for Destruction1989:
GN'R Lies1991:
Use Your Illusion I1991:
Use Your Illusion II1993:
The Spaghetti Incident?If this "new" GN'R album sounds any good, I'll add it here. Honestly, they'll have an uphill battle to convince me that it's really Guns N' Roses and not just an Axl vanity project.