With international hits such as "Sweet Child o'Mine" and "November Rain", Guns N' Roses provided legendary musical moments and secured themselves a place in rock history. But there were also other times when Axl Rose still had to smoke for money.
It's been a whopping 31 years since Guns N' Roses first came together in Los Angeles in 1985. Today, they are icons of rock: the original line-up and - with interruptions - still part of the band today are greats such as Slash, the world-famous guitarist with his hat, sunglasses and mane, heartbreaker and rock singer Axl Rose plus Duff McKagan, the band's loyal bassist. "New" are Dizzy Reed on keyboards/percussion, Frank Ferrer on drums and Melissa Reese, also on keyboards.
What is glamor and fame today had a rather humble beginning. Axl Rose, for example, was so poor that he took part in a UCLA medical study that paid him 8 dollars an hour to smoke. But now his band has already sold over 100 million albums.
Most successful debut album of all time
The most successful debut album of all time comes from none other than the gentlemen of Guns N' Roses. After a somewhat difficult birth, the band made their breakthrough with their debut album "Appetite for Destruction" in 1987. The classic "Sweet Child o'Mine" is to blame, a song that was written in five minutes, was originally intended as a string exercise and is described as a joke by Slash. The excessive rock'n'roll lifestyle and the associated scandals further increased the band's popularity.
However, the band didn't let their success stop them, and further hit albums such as "Use your Illusion 1 & 2" and "The Spaghetti Incident" followed, as well as mega gigs in front of 140,000 people and many, many line-up changes and breaks.
In May 2006, the band gave their comeback concert in New York, followed by a performance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in July 2016, with founders Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan for the first time in 23 years. The 180,000 tickets were gone after just one hour.
"The Machine is Back At It In 2017!"
Over the years, with an incredible 22 changes in the band, Guns N' Roses made headlines again and again, after a few more breaks plus trials and tribulations, Guns N' Roses now proudly announce on social media: "The Machine is Back At It In 2017!" As part of their "Not in this lifetime" tour, they will also be playing at the Letzigrund in Zurich in July 2017.
It wasn't long ago that Axl Rose visited our beautiful Alpine country: this summer, he replaced AC/DC singer Brian Johnson at the Stade de Suisse.
GUNS N' ROSES
17.7.17, Letzigrund Stadium Zurich
TICKETS
