Guns N' Roses is a hard rock band from Los Angeles that was founded in 1985. And insanely successful: their albums have sold over 100 million copies worldwide. In 2012, Guns N' Roses will even be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Tickets for Guns N' Roses' live concerts are still highly coveted today.
The founding members of Guns N' Roses - Axl Rose, Izzy Stradlin, Duff McKagan, Steven Adler and Saul Hudson, better known as "Slash" - met in Los Angeles in the 1980s. The rock musicians initially try out in various bands until Rose finally forms the band Guns N' Roses together with guitarist Traci Guns.
While Guns soon leaves the band again, Guns N' Roses enter a recording studio together for the first time in the line-up with Rose (vocals), Adler (drums), Slash (guitar), Stradlin (guitar) and McKagan (bass). In 1986, the hard rockers release their first album "G Nְ' R Lies" in the USA, which is also released in Germany shortly afterwards.
In the same year, Guns N' Roses embark on their "Hell Tour", during which they are forced to hitchhike almost 1,100 miles after their car breaks down outside Los Angeles. Amazingly, the ordeal brings the members closer together - perfect conditions for them to soon catapult to the top of the charts together.
Over 17 million records sold
After their tour, Guns N' Roses sign a record deal with Geffen Records and release the extended-play recording "Live ? !*@ Like a Suicide" in 1986, followed by the groundbreaking album "Appetite For Destruction" in 1987. Rose's catcalls and Slash's guitar fireworks make the album a huge hit, selling over 17 million records.
After this smash hit, Guns N' Roses step it up a notch: In 1991, they released "Use Your Illusion I" and "Use Your Illusion II", two absolute hit albums that went double platinum and five times gold in Germany. In 1995, the album "The Spaghetti Incident?" was released, on which Guns N' Roses covered their favourite punk and rock classics.
Changing line-up, solo projects and new album
After this musical high point, Guns N' Roses discussed what the future of the band should look like and which musical style they wanted to pursue. The result: except for frontman Axl Rose, all the others leave the band and devote themselves to new projects. After that, Guns N' Roses went quiet for many years.
Only Rose continued to work on a new album from 1994 and returned to the studio. To do this, he kept bringing different musicians into the band. It was not until 2008, 14 years later, that the album "Chinese Democracy" hit the shops.
The band then went on several world tours with different line-ups: Guns N' Roses' live shows effortlessly fill large concert halls and entire stadiums. Even the line-up of internationally renowned festivals such as Rock in Rio or Coachella cannot do without the hard rock veterans.
In 2012, the band is granted a special honour: Guns N' Roses are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The music magazine Rolling Stone also ranked Guns N' Roses 92nd among the 100 greatest musicians of all time.
After 28 years, the album "Appetite for Destruction" returned to the charts in 2018 as a remastered version. In the American Billboard 200 charts, the album immediately climbs to number 10, while in the German album charts it even lands at number 2.
Today, founding members Rose, Stradlin and Slash as well as guitarist Richard Fortus, keyboardists Dizzy Reed and Melissa Reese and drummer Frank Ferrer are part of the permanent line-up of Guns N' Roses.
The most successful albums by Guns N' Roses
Top 10 albums by Guns N' Roses in the German charts:
- "Appetite for Destruction"
- "Use Your Illusion I" and "Use Your Illusion II"
- "The Spaghetti Incident?"
- "Chinese Democracy"
